How do you kill a hard drive?

[Guest Len]

So, I have an old hard drive with some, ahem, "sensitive data" on it.

I need to destroy this hard drive so the data is not recoverable. My fireplace is gas and my gun club does not allow this sort of fun (I was thinking it would make some excellent rifle practice...) Hitting it with a hammer seems to do little/nothing, as does running over it with the car.

So, how does one dispose of a hard drive in such a way that makes the data on it unreadable? (Extra points for creative/funny solutions!)

[Guest GUTTERbOY]

Sledgehammer oughta do it.

[DRM]

lighter fluid

match

[Guest eyebedam]

Toss it in a Bon fire. I did that once. Or go fishing for sharks & use it as a weight.

[Guest Boomhower]

You can't. Regardless of what you do, the information on a hard drive can always be recovered.

Edited September 3, 2008 by Boomhower
Forgot to add tin foil man

[Guest eyebedam]

if it's completely melted from a Bon fire I believe your good. I'll get a super hot fire going thursday evening in my fire pit. Feel free to come toss it in the fire. Just bring a 12 pack with ya cuz it's thirsty Thursdays.

[Guest Bronker]

Len, take it down to CNN headquarters in Atlanta, and announce that it is running for the GOP VP. That ought to do it. They'll pick it all to pieces. I wish you luck!

[Oh Shoot]

If you had in puter when you decided to do it, there are proggies (even freeware) that write several layers of 1/0's over it so that even NSA couldn't recover from it.

Physically, you should be able take the two levels of covers off with allen or star screws and get to actual platters. A little hammer work on them will do for everything short of a full double naught 7 NSA/CIA attack.

Of course, even if you have unseen Grassy Knoll footage or secrets of how the CIA unleashed AIDS, just a trip to the local landfill in your garbage is 99.999% effective.

Unless you are already under surveillance :-)

- OS

[Guest FuzzyLee]

Hi all, first post.

If you disassemble the drive you can pull the neodium magnets from the read/write

head assembly and then slide them all over the surface of the platters. Bye-bye data.

Another option would be an arc welder setup. ZZZZAAAAPPPP!

[Guest gsbell]

We line them up on the curb like good little soldiers and whack them into oblivion with a little 2lb sledge. We make a big show of it with pieces and parts flying, big fun.

[Guest JavaGuy]

I guess it all depends on how paranoid you want to be..

As previously stated, if the drive is still in a computer, you could format it, over-write the entire disk with ones and zeroes, and thereby make it pretty secure in terms of no one being able to read your data.

Not quite good enough? Then you do that (if it's still in a computer) and then remove the drive and take it apart. After you get it apart, heavy duty magnets will jumble sections of any data (including those ones and zeroes), making it still harder to read. Physical destruction of the individual disks (read that as massive deformation of the disk platter) next on the list.

Yes, as someone else said, data can be recovered from a disk after it has sustained massive damage. There are companies which specialize in that and have recovered data from computers where the drives were burned, shot, demagnetized, etc. Therefore, you've got to use a layered approach to protect your data. Good luck.

[Guest gsbell]

I've used http://www.cbltech.ca/data-shredder.html when I wanted to have a usable computer to recycle or sell. I did a couple hundred when my former employer went **** up. Very unlikely that anyone is going to read your data after using some of the advanced options available.

[Guest monsterking138]

thermite

[Guest c_o_jones]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/

[Daniel]

thermite

does wonders with aaa

[strickj]

[ame]

[/ame]

[ShaunM]

Eat it, then the acids in your stomach will disolve it. Make sure you drink plenty of water and a fiber drink.

Edited September 3, 2008 by Hunting101

[Guest bkelm18]

One word: Thermite.

[Mark@Sea]

Drill several holes through the platters.

[Guest sling]

Ditto. DBAN the thing and then run a nail through it. Its what we do at the hospitals.

Then sometimes we send them off for incineration.

Or take a grinder to it so that all thats left is dust. Done that too.

[saintsfanbrian]

The hospital I used to work at had a special device that basically bent the drives in half. This was done after an NSA destructive wipe of the hard drive was performed.

[Marswolf]

It really depends on how sensitive the info on the drive is. If it's still workable and installed, you need a bootable eraser disk. The ones you run under Windows will not fully work. But they will probably keep spouses and local cops away from the data.

If it's out of the computer, I'd drill some holes through it, disassemble it, and scatter the parts in woods in three states.

[Guest Hyaloid]

I vote for funeral home cremation.

[DRM]

I think the main point here is that PHYSICAL destruction of the drive is the ONLY way to be sure the data cannot be recovered. That means you make sure nobody can take those pieces and put them back into something that can read the data. Drills, shotgun blast, fire, grinder, etc. - pick one and go for it.

[saintsfanbrian]

I'd drill some holes through it, disassemble it, and scatter the parts in woods in three states.

We are still talking about Hard Drives aren't we?