I just open'em up and use a set of sheet steel cutters to cut the platters into a few pieces.

 

personally I prefer a software approach. format in windows using disk mgmt.msc, dban a bootable open source disk wipe program, parted magic also similar. if want to actually destroy then try boiling them, drill a hole through them where platters are.
I prefer software then can use for parts for speakers, etc.

 

C) Most Fun: half dozen or more 5.56 AP (green or black tip) or .308 Rounds tend to do the trick as well, and it's a lot more fun. Be sure to spread the holes around the entire enclosure surface. Whenever the drives built up, we'd have a "Range Day". Again ONLY ON PRIVATE RANGE, observe all safety practices, distance, eye and ear protection. These were shredded afterward as well, but this keeps the shredding company from attempting to read them.

Our teacher at school is a some kind of security manager in a bank, and he used to destroy some of the harddisks on a shooting range. That is, until the day he read in news that police in Germany was able to recover data from a harddisk that was shot two times with a 9mm gun through the platters, using an electron microscope and lots of time.
After that he sent all the disks to a proper company that destroys them in a furnace.

Really the way of destroying the disks depends on what is on them and how much you value the data. I prefer dismantling them and using the platters as coasters, and magnets for various projects.

 

If they work, just deban them and donate them. There are charity recyclers that provide computers for people with special needs, and disabilities, sometimes funding themselves by selling some of their extra spare parts on ebay. IDE drives are getting hard enough to find that they can often get a premium.

Paranoia is okay.
If you are contractually obligated to be 100% secure then Dban, drill holes and send to a Mega Shredder.

I also know somebody that uses the platters to make wind chimes.

 

Fill them with porn. That way if anyone goes looking for sensitive information, they will get distracted.

 

All that is needed is a magnet and all data is gone.

 

All that is needed is a magnet and all data is gone.

Not true. Enough residual magnetism could remain on at least portions of the disk to allow recovery. This is why simply writing over existing tracks is *also* not a way to ensure destruction of the original data.

 

Joeyd999
if you use one of those 8 track tape magnets your data is GONE period. you can also build a 12 v version that works the same way.

 

This is why simply writing over existing tracks is *also* not a way to ensure destruction of the original data.

But simply writing is good to write new data. (?) In normal usage you write over existing tracks.

Same thing cannot work both ways.

 

Have you destroyed them yet? You can clear them completely through software and sell them to people who need them. As a matter of fact, I'm currently in the market. Are they SATA or IDE? What size? RPMs? I might be willing to buy them off you

 

But simply writing is good to write new data. (?) In normal usage you write over existing tracks.

Same thing cannot work both ways.

The heads are not perfectly aligned to the bit positions each time you overwrite it, so even though you overwrite the disk wil random data it is still possible to retrieve the previous, but it takes some real effort to do it.

 

An industrial nail gun is a good simple way to mechanically destroy them beyond recovery, especially in countries with strict firearms laws.

As noted by the drill method you need to punch several hits through.

I have found neither vise crushing nor a hammer (even an industrial steam hammer) to be effective as the outer cases are pretty tough beasts.

 

Here's what happened to the
Snowden hard drives

http://www.theguardian.com/world/vi...mputer-destroyed-guardian-gchq-basement-video

 

Is it possible to buy iron oxide and aluminum powder (to make thermite)?
Both components seem cheap enough, but the NSA is probably watching in case somebody wants some privacy.

Edit: Never mind. One google and it's $25/pound. A lot cheaper on eBay.

 

...not sure termites will do much with metal


..I usually go the route bertus described...

He said they were OLD hard drives, back with the platters were made from hard woods.

 

But simply writing is good to write new data. (?) In normal usage you write over existing tracks.

Same thing cannot work both ways.

Sure it can -- but recovering the data involves a lot more effort. When you write a bit to a disk you are changing the magnetization state, right? When you read it you are asking which state it is in, right? But what is "magnetization state"? Is it exactly two states and it must exactly be in one or the other? No. It is a degree of magnetization and when you read it you are just asking if it is above some threshold or below some threshold.

The key to recovering overwritten data is to realize that when you write a 1 to a bit that was a 0 you will not get the same level of magnetization as when you write a 1 to a bit that was a 1. Both will still be above the level that your normal read attempt will recognize as a 1, but if you actually measure the degree of magnetization you can a very good guess about not only the most recently erased value, but even a few beyond that.

And don't forget that hard drives have sectors that go bad. Software techniques that try to destroy the data generally won't even attempt to do anything with sectors marked as bad. So any data that was there before the sector got marked can just be extracted with ease.

It comes down to risk assessment -- what is the likelihood that someone will attempt to recover data from the drive, what level of effort are they likely to limit themselves to, and what is the potential harm if they successfully recover the data.

Remember the Watergate tapes?

 

Is it possible to buy iron oxide and aluminum powder (to make thermite)?
Both components seem cheap enough, but the NSA is probably watching in case somebody wants some privacy.

Very possible. You can get them on Amazon. Aluminum powder isn't very cheap (but it's not outrageous).

I like to use potassium permanganate and glycerin as my initiator. When I was a kid I used to just go to the local drug store and get both -- they were in the same aisle as the sulfur and potassium nitrate (ah, the joys of childhood!). Alas, they didn't carry charcoal, but we made do.

 

Just delete personal files + leave the rest on the drive.

If you have sensitive data, consult a professional company.

 

Just delete personal files + leave the rest on the drive.

If you have sensitive data, consult a professional company.

The point is that you can never actually delete anything from a hard disk. When you supposedly "delete" a file, all it does is simply reorganize the 1's and 0's on the disk, but with the right tools one could revert it and retrieve the data. That's why it is recommended that you DESTROY the drives altogether, to make it unreadable, rather than just mixing up the data.

 

After writing new files to the drive, holographically it retains the old files somehow.

When a recovery software can't recover the files, most people also can't recover them. At a recycling plant there are many computer parts chances are no one will read the data.