Darkman Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I've just taken another old PC to the local dump, minus the hard drive. Now I have three old hard drives here waiting for disposal. It's paranoid perhaps, but I don't want banking details etc going out to anyone with the inclination to search for them. What's the easiest way to nuke a hard drive permanently? Soak in salt water, bury it, microwave on full power? jk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shipbuilder Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I've just taken another old PC to the local dump, minus the hard drive. Now I have three old hard drives here waiting for disposal. It's paranoid perhaps, but I don't want banking details etc going out to anyone with the inclination to search for them. What's the easiest way to nuke a hard drive permanently? Soak in salt water, bury it, microwave on full power? jk Literally smash it to bits and stick in the bin. The disc in the drive will shatter like glass. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_ichikawa Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I've just taken another old PC to the local dump, minus the hard drive. Now I have three old hard drives here waiting for disposal. It's paranoid perhaps, but I don't want banking details etc going out to anyone with the inclination to search for them. What's the easiest way to nuke a hard drive permanently? Soak in salt water, bury it, microwave on full power? jk Thermite. Unfortunately buying the ingredients for it will get you a visit by the police even though thermite is completely legal since it is not an explosive as it is stable and oxidises slowly. It is merely a welding process used mainly on railways. Yer see the ally powder and Fe02 can be used to make bombs. Alex made some, the store was required by law to report it to the cops. They handed over the tapes to the cops, who asked the DVLA for the address. Of the number plate, they knocked on his door 5am the next morning. They made some idle threats about terrorism etc. He then revealed he was a rail engineer which put egg on their faces. If they were armed police he;d have been shot 'by accident'. You should have formatted them before a few times used that norton tool which writes 1s all over the drive then opened the drive removed the discs and put them in the microwave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copydude Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Literally smash it to bits and stick in the bin. The disc in the drive will shatter like glass. Of course. There must be 50 Ways To Leave Your Hard Drive Throw it under a bus, Gus Erase the key, Lee Just wipe the LAN, Stan And get yourself free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blobloblob Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Just drill a few holes in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monks Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Nuke it from orbit - it's the only way to be sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bootsox Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I've just taken another old PC to the local dump, minus the hard drive. Now I have three old hard drives here waiting for disposal. It's paranoid perhaps, but I don't want banking details etc going out to anyone with the inclination to search for them. What's the easiest way to nuke a hard drive permanently? Soak in salt water, bury it, microwave on full power? jk Can you not just toss the HDs on next year's local bonfire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interestrateripoff Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Gun and bullets. Although doing a zero wipe several times will render the data unrecoverable - http://www.killdisk.com/ the free version will require you to run it manually say 3 times. However the only sure fire way to render the data unrecoverable is to smash the drive to pieces, however unless someone is prepared to throw thousands or millions plus lots of time at recovering your data wiping it will be sufficient, unless of course you have invented a perpetual motion machine which will solve the worlds energy crisis at which point smashing it with a happy to protect your data maybe the best option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkie Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 ...smash it into small bits then spread the bits out into a few bins around the neighbourhood when you next take the dog out for a walk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichB Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 If you like that kind of thing, whip the drive apart with your favourite tool, and acquire the nifty magnets. Take the magnetic platter out and bang it with a hammer. Take the bits you don't want to keep to the skip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ayatollah Buggeri Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Why not recycle and reuse it? If it's a full-size IDE or SATA drive, the chances are that there's a spare slot and power supply in your current PC into which it can go, be reformatted and used to make regular backups either of your OS system image, your data files, or, if it's big enough, both. If it's a laptop sized drive, you can buy USB caddies for them for a tenner or so. When I gave my last laptop to my cousin, I removed the hard drive that came with it, replaced it with a virgin one (partly because I didn't want to risk any data going astray, but also because a five year-old HDD is a bit of a liability, especially if it's been knocked around in a laptop) and put the original in a caddy. It lives in my office drawer, and every couple of weeks or so I take it home and backup the latest version of 'My Documents' from my main PC. Ergo, I've got a backup of my most important stuff in a separate geographical location in case of fire etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6538 Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I've just taken another old PC to the local dump, minus the hard drive. Now I have three old hard drives here waiting for disposal. It's paranoid perhaps, but I don't want banking details etc going out to anyone with the inclination to search for them. What's the easiest way to nuke a hard drive permanently? Soak in salt water, bury it, microwave on full power? jk Hammer??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6538 Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Of course. There must be 50 Ways To Leave Your Hard Drive Throw it under a bus, Gus Erase the key, Lee Just wipe the LAN, Stan And get yourself free I have one which I'm taking to the range and putting a bullet through.....in the interests of science, you understand. Okay, not science, idle curiosity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahBell Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 A hammer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twatmangle Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I have one which I'm taking to the range and putting a bullet through.....in the interests of science, you understand. Okay, not science, idle curiosity. Which of course, if found out, would probably get your range closed down as HDDs are not approved targets in NRA or NSRA ranges. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6538 Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Which of course, if found out, would probably get your range closed down as HDDs are not approved targets in NRA or NSRA ranges. ;-) How do you know it's one of those ranges? Besides, who would close it down as neither of those orgs certify ranges and the military stopped doing it a few years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkman Posted December 27, 2010 Author Share Posted December 27, 2010 Thanks for all the suggestions. I took a hammer and screwdriver to them. Tbh the most I could do though was dent them and remove the connective port parts. These things are damn tough. Hit one with a hammer and you're in danger of either A. something flying off and hitting you in the face or B. your hammer breaking ps - be careful taking these to a range. Bullets are liable to fly off them in all kinds of directions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hedgefunded Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 I second the 'nuke from orbit' idea. Hammers are for poofs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6538 Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Thanks for all the suggestions. I took a hammer and screwdriver to them. Tbh the most I could do though was dent them and remove the connective port parts. These things are damn tough. Hit one with a hammer and you're in danger of either A. something flying off and hitting you in the face or B. your hammer breaking ps - be careful taking these to a range. Bullets are liable to fly off them in all kinds of directions That sounds very much like a wager, good sir! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbonic Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Last time I wanted to destroy a disk I just dismantled it and took out the two or three metal disks themselves (the platters). Chuck the remnants in the council recycling bin; they're full of stuff worth reusing. They're fecked beyond reasonable doubt when you've used the platters as tea coasters. But if you really want to do a number on them then chuck it in a fire - the heat will seriously screw the magnetic domains. Then polish it and use it as a novelty coaster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ruffneck Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 drill holes in it is best way Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrashConnoisseur Posted December 27, 2010 Share Posted December 27, 2010 Remind me how to dispose of a hard drive again? Pop it in a Jiffy bag and post to: Mr. Julian Assange. c/o Ellingham Hall, Hall Road, Nr. Bungay, Suffolk. NR35 2EN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rxe Posted December 28, 2010 Share Posted December 28, 2010 Store your data in a RAID5 disk set. As long as you have two drives in your hand, however many other drives there are, the data cannot be brought back - by anyone. I just binned 8 drives from a single group. All were thumped with a log splitting axe. 4 went to the council tip, 4 went in the recycling. No chance of recovery. Physical destruction is the only guaranteed way. When you use some wiping programme...how do you know it hasn't mailed the contents of the drive to the CIA? Hmmm? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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