What is a good way to physically destroy an old hard drive?
2006-06-05 14:45:40 · 29 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
I'm going to go the extra mile, first destroy any data on the hard drive by wiping it with a utility, I like Eraser 5.7, http://www.download.com/Eraser/3000-2092_4-10231813.html some have said burning it, sadly, burning the drive will not destroy the data. Any data restoration firm will simply replace the control board, make any repairs necessary to the read write heads and if your data has not been wiped from the drive, they will be able to recover ~98% of the data that was on it.
Moving on, after you have wiped the drive using a utility, get yourself a drill, and drill holes in the drive, no particular pattern, you just want to break it to a point where the platters themselves are damaged and the read/write heads can't make sense of what to do. Damaging the controller board doesn't make sense because those are easily replaced, heck, I've done that.
Household magnets won't do the trick either. You'd need an industrial strenght powered magnet to do any damage to the drive. If you want to destroy your drive, follow my instructions and no one will be able to access your data. Even the FBI would have issues with it. The thing is, you can damage the control board, you can damage the read/write heads but if you don't damage the platters themselves then anyone (okay not anyone) but some would still be able to access your data.
The platters can be removed from a drive, popped into a working hard drive and voila, whadya know, the data can be read by any old working hard drive. I've done that too. You have to physically wipe the data (okay you get my meaning) before damaging the drive with tools. If the data is still there, people like me, heck, your mom and pop PC shop and of course, hackers could still access the data.
2006-06-05 14:56:19 · answer #1 · answered by conradj213 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Grab a philips head screwdriver and take it apart. The circuit board is pretty easy to destroy. The outside case is just a case and you can toss that with any cables pretty simply. A hard drive is magnetic, you can just run a magnet over the discs several times. You can take a drill and put a bunch of holes in it. You can take a hacksaw and cut it into pieces and use a torch to melt the discs. Many things. Simplest way to keep people from seeing your stuff is to format the drive and then fill it with a bunch of data files (MP3s work well) and then format the drive again. This will get rid of any incriminating evidence. Be sure to completely fill the hard drive before you format it again to get rid of any ghosts of the information you want to hide.
2006-06-05 14:53:41 · answer #2 · answered by spudric13 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Burn it in a fireplace is the best way, second best would be to hammer it to pieces and then submerge it in water for a while, and finally just toss it because chances are no one will bother to use it. Selling it might be a good idear too.
2006-06-05 14:47:52 · answer #3 · answered by John Luke 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm guessing you want to physically destroy it so no one can take it and get your information?
Open up the housing and use sandpaper to scratch up the entire disk surface. That way it will be unreadable and no one will be able to steal your info.
2006-06-05 14:50:22 · answer #4 · answered by babyjenks1784 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Give it to a younger sibling. It'll be completely destroyed in a matter of days.
2006-06-05 14:48:49 · answer #5 · answered by dacihak 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
blow it up
but thats a bad idea cuz you'll prob be picked up by the fbi
so in other words drill thru it with a drill in alot of spots
but before doing that possibly tearing it apart and then destroying the individual parts
2006-06-05 14:50:59 · answer #6 · answered by PurdueFan1900 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Anything, but assuming that you want to make sure old data isn't recovered. (but we all know that assumptions make an *** out of you and... mumptions...)
magnets dont always work,
heat doesnt always work either.
seriously, a hammer will do better. The more peices the merrier.
2006-06-05 14:52:13 · answer #7 · answered by ducttape_impalas 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The most secure method is to have the entire drive shredded into itsy bitsy pieces. They have special machines do do just this. You can also hire a company that does this.
2006-06-05 14:48:42 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
One blow with a hammer will do it.
Burning it in a fire works.
Throwing it onto a driveway will do it.
If you are like me just putting some important information on it will cause it to die.
2006-06-05 14:49:04 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Physically?
Think sledge hammer, then explosives
2006-06-05 14:49:58 · answer #10 · answered by a person 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋