Destroying an old hard-drive

[RedMileDJ]

I just finished stripping down my wife's old PC and my old PC. Basically removing the hard-drives, so the rest of the PC can be recycled.

We transferred old files and erased what we could, but I wanted to know if there is a good (and easy and safe) way to destroy these old drives? I don't want to just take them to the recycling and possibly have someone try to recover what is on the drives.

Any tips?

[DownhillGoat]

Format and zero-out the information, or. Then drill a few holes in the platter. If you prefer not to drill, a hammer or sledge will suffice.

[Tyler12]

Hard drives are fun to take apart! Feel around over the sticker and you will find the bolts ( Torx bits usually T9 some are the safety one's with the hole in the middle) Remove the sticker with a knife over the bolt and start unscrewing.

Once you get in there you can take the HD platter off of the motor scratch the #### out of it and you won't have to worry about anyone getting what was on there.

[Rathji]

Put them in an enclosure or PC and use a utility like dban or the disk wipe feature of ccleaner to securely wipe them. Then stick them in a desk drawer in case you ever need them.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

Then drill a few holes in the platter.

This is my preferred method for killing hard drives when upgrading office PC's. We have a big drill press out back that makes nice holes in them. The bigger the holes the more secure your data is

[Super Nintendo Chalmers]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/

[MrMastodonFarm]

[HPLovecraft]

I enjoy smashing old hard drives, personally. Hobby of mine.

[RedMileDJ]

Originally Posted by Tyler12

Hard drives are fun to take apart! Feel around over the sticker and you will find the bolts ( Torx bits usually T9 some are the safety one's with the hole in the middle) Remove the sticker with a knife over the bolt and start unscrewing.

Once you get in there you can take the HD platter off of the motor scratch the #### out of it and you won't have to worry about anyone getting what was on there.

Originally Posted by Jacks

This is my preferred method for killing hard drives when upgrading office PC's. We have a big drill press out back that makes nice holes in them. The bigger the holes the more secure your data is

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Originally Posted by HPLovecraft

I enjoy smashing old hard drives, personally. Hobby of mine.

HAHA! Thanks for all the replies. Maybe we should have a hard-drive smashing party? HPLovecraft can bring the bats, MrMastodonFarm can bring the anger, Jacks can bring the drills and Tyler12 can bring the knives! Everyone else is welcome to bring their favourite tool for causing maximum destruction!

I took the drives out already. I just need to get the proper screw driver to open them up and start smashing.

Cheers!

[Minnie]

You could always get Tommy Jordan to take care of it.

[keratosis]

M80's

Sent from my SGH-T989D

[Jacks]

[rbochan]

[zamler]

Bulk tape eraser is my favourite method. Wave it across the drive while it's spinning, the 60hz magnetic pulse rips the heads off and they slam around inside the enclosure, destroying the platters in the process.