2006-11-16 13:59:26 · 7 answers · asked by caviegold 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Other - Hardware
I want to get rid of it without someone being able to dig it out of the garbage and somehow gaining access to personal stuff that may be on there. Not even sure if that is possible.
2006-11-16 14:03:45 · update #1
Take a small phillips head or Torx driver and take of the cover plate of the old hard drive. Grab a pair of plyers and rip the disks out doing as much damage as you can when you get the disks all pulled out destroy them, mutilate them, render them completly useless and dead. Now dig the real powerful little magnet out and save that. Good magnets have 1001 uses. Now recycle all the metal elements and plastic peices. You have done a good job protecting your I.D. and helped the Envirement by recycling. Now it's miller time. "PEACE"
2006-11-16 14:18:39 · answer #1 · answered by dj viper 4 · 37⤊ 5⤋
There are pieces of software on the internet for "shredding" files. When you format a drive or delete a file on it, you really just erase the refferences to where the files are located. They are still in existence. When you shred something, you actually attempt to overwrite the area where the file was stored with random 1s and 0s. Google "Ultimate Boot CD" and download it. If you can use it there are several disk wiping utilities available. One of them even has a option to do "25 structured passes, Unbearable slow, but probably secure against the NSA" lol.
According to a well known writer"If the data on your drive is valuable enough for someone to try to recover it after a full shred or your paranoid, the only way to truly secure your data is to take the drive out of your computer hit it multiple times with a sledgehammer, then burn it. Seriously."
2006-11-16 23:42:00 · answer #2 · answered by Area 51 1 · 5⤊ 1⤋
If you have a strong magnet, pass the magnet over the hard drive. Most people don't have one handy however. If still in the computer, re-format it. Otherwise, take a screw driver and remove the screws and inside is a disc that you can scratch the thing or just take a hammer to the thing and/or damage the prongs that are used to connect it to a power supply.
2006-11-16 22:44:24 · answer #3 · answered by wayne m 1 · 3⤊ 4⤋
Unscrew the thing, ..
de-solder a few microchips here and there...
short circuit alot of stuffs on the board
take out any pcboard you can find, snap it in two...
or three..
Throw one piece near your home garbage area, and the second piece near your work place.
:)
2006-11-16 22:14:07 · answer #4 · answered by arevoir 3 · 0⤊ 4⤋
before disposal u should format the hard drive and throw it away or burn it
2006-11-16 23:03:23 · answer #5 · answered by Caboose 3 · 0⤊ 5⤋
Format it might work, Im not sure really if that gets everything out but try it
2006-11-16 22:07:29 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 7⤋
With a sledgehammer and a bucket of gasoline.
2006-11-16 22:11:28 · answer #7 · answered by Dmanestdman 2 · 8⤊ 8⤋