How to completely destroy an old hard disk so that no PC can read it?

Answer 1

Many people have already suggested using brute force to destroy your hard drive but it is a waste of a perfectly good hard drive. You can use the free Darik Boot and Nuke utility to completely erase your hard drive. The hard drive will be sanitized. Not even a forsenic lab will be able to reconstruct any files previously saved on the hard drive. You can download it at (http://dban.sourceforge.net/). The following is an article from PC World Magazine:

"Privacy Watch: Make Sure Your Old Computer Tells No Tales
Before you donate or dispose of your PC, wipe it clean of all sensitive data." -- written by Andrew Brandt (http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,123786-page,1/article.html?tk=caxhow#)

If your system's next owner doesn't need your Windows installation, your best bet is Darik's Boot and Nuke (free). Boot and Nuke does exactly what its name suggests: Once you've installed the appropriate files on a bootable floppy or copied them to a CD, just boot the computer with the DBAN disc to wipe the hard drive completely clean. Its advantages are speed and ease of use, but DBAN can't delete individual files, so it's suitable only when you want to get rid of all the data on an old hard drive.

Answer 2

Lol thermite. Um...you can slap a huge magnet on it for a couple of days or submerge it in saltwater overnight. There is some software that claims to be able to do the job as well like window washer and drive wipe.

These guys are right though, just beat the crap out of it. It's best to do it after a rough day at work.

Answer 3

Brute force would do the trick...a few good hits with a sledge hammer and it will never work in a PC again.

That does not mean that someone who is in forensic technology would not be able to read something on the unit still, but it will certainly be effective for any average joe who tries to steal info off it.

Answer 4

A strong magnet should do the job nicely.Hard discs,like tapes,floppy disks and credit cards store information on a magnetic medium.If the magnet is brought in contact or close enough to it, it modifies the magnetic field,to a point where the data becoms distorted/damaged/destroyed.I reccomend a woofer magnet,but anyy magnet with enough power should do it.Just run it over the hard disc 10-20 times and leave it stuck to it for about 5 minutes.

Answer 5

Sledge hammer, Axe, fall from 30 story building, Any number of ways. Be creative!!!! If your asking for a non-violent way, I suppose you could use a program like....

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm
Killdisk - DOS disk eraser

http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/download.php
Eraser - DOS, Win9x, WinME, Win2k, WinXP, WinNT 4.0 disk eraser

Answer 6

if you don't want any data to be recoverable the only way is to completely destroy the disk platers
keep hitting it with a 14lb lump hammer until it's completely destroyed and the platters are smashed into thousands of pieces
now no data can be recovered

Answer 7

if you want to reuse it ...obviously the answers so far dont help, but if you want beyand a doubt all info gone, and still reuse it, look at a product called evidence eliminater, it meets military code for data erasure. essentially it writes blank information over every part of the disk multiple times. very very slow, but effective. although at 100 bucks you could buy a new drive.

Answer 8

BEST thing to do is remove it from the computer, take the housing off and then drill holls through the disk. I read this once on a CNET.Com article. Its the ONLY failsafe way.

Answer 9

Beat the he|| out of it with a sledgehammer. Seriously. That's about the best and easiest way to make sure it's never recoverable.

Answer 10

Thermite

Key word was completely.