OT: Computer Hard drives

[cmbicycles]

So I was cleaning today and rediscovered some old hard drives I pulled from a computer for disposal. Since it was around 10-20 degrees there wasn't much else to do so since the guy that came to repair our konked out furnace had left after telling us the heat exchanger was cracked. So I started taking them apart to dispose of a soon to be rendered unreadable hard drive. It wasn't too much trouble taking them apart to pull out the platters, now I just need to figure out what to do to them to make them unreadable. Any suggestions? Sanding, cut or break in half... assuming they aren't glass of course

As an aside... holy cow the magnets inside are strong. I though id just modify them into fridge magnets. Pulled them out and set them on the counter near each other and POW! they slammed together like nobody's business. I'm convinced they would hold the phone book to the fridge.

[NYCfixie]

Break them apart no matter that material. Physical destruction is the only sure method of complete data destruction.

[Gsinill]

https://youtu.be/gzCXowhks80

On a serious note: not sure what you had stored on those disks but since they are now taken apart, what is the likelihood of someone going through all the hassle of trying to read them directly off the bare platters?

FYI: I have a HDD dock (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0099TX7O4?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItKfZjv_G2AIVkbXACh01-QXPEAAYASAAEgJVW_D_BwE) to securely wipe out drives before I get rid of them.

[MattTuck]

Hope you didn't have any bitcoin keys on them :)

sorry to hear about your heating troubles. it was -7 this morning. not the time of year to be dealing with problems keeping warm.

[ultraman6970]

Burn them in your backyard, u dont even need to take them appart for that.

U really have a lot of time to waste eh? :P

[NYCfixie]

The 1 and only way to make 100% sure that data is unrecoverable is to destroy the drive. Take a sledgehammer to it or drill a hoe through it.

https://youtu.be/gzCXowhks80

On a serious note: not sure what you had stored on those disks but since they are now taken apart, what is the likelihood of someone going through all the hassle of trying to read them directly off the bare platters?

FYI: I have a HDD dock (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0099TX7O4?gclid=EAIaIQobChMItKfZjv_G2AIVkbXACh01-QXPEAAYASAAEgJVW_D_BwE) to securely wipe out drives before I get rid of them.

Burn them in your backyard, u dont even need to take them appart for that.

U really have a lot of time to waste eh? :P

[cmbicycles]

Hope you didn't have any bitcoin keys on them :)

sorry to hear about your heating troubles. it was -7 this morning. not the time of year to be dealing with problems keeping warm.
Oh shoot, forgot about those and the Swiss bank account numbers. ;)

Yeah, we got down to about 1 degree last night. Thankfully the main problem was just the filter that froze up, and its working again. So we have a little time to figure out what to do. It's an old system so it didn't really owe anyone anything at this point. It's currently a heat pump with oil for colder temps, and we'd probably rather just go HP only but we'll see what recommendations/offers we get.

I was mostly just curious about the hard drives... and bored... a bit of cabin fever these past few days so when I sat them on the counter and saw a torx screwdriver in the open drawer next to me I seized the opportunity. Not sure there is that much to worry about on the hard drives, it's my folk's influence about people digging through the trash... I'm not really that paranoid... but just because I can't see them doesn't mean they aren't watching. ;)

[gavingould]

at work (IT guy here) we use a punch, something like this guy:
http://nsadegausser-dataerasure.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SEM-harddrive-crusher-manua.jpg

[seric]

For the biggest entertainment factor, Thermite is the correct answer.

[zmudshark]

The magnets are rare earth, and make great cadence sensors. Breaking them can be hit or miss, though.

[tbike4]

Hard drive shredder, crazy expensive. Sledge hammer= less.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQYPCPB1g3o

[sales guy]

shredder or drill a bunch of holes in the drive/disc.

any way you can think of will be fine.

[zzy]

Just drilling it is all you need useless you're guarding against corporate espionage. In that case you can also get wacky with electromagets. For non mission critical stuff, bitshredder is fine.

[FlashUNC]

https://static.wixstatic.com/media/29c5bb_1bea1143fa25425b816a4e52b247ae2d~mv2.gif

[eric01]

If it’s personal data, just take a hammer and whack it a few times. Data recovery is an expensive and time consuming process. No one will go through the time or cost unless they know there is something worth trying to recover.

[paredown]

Interesting topic. I'm always surprised when people do nothing to their computers and just throw them out.

I had a tower power supply go dead a couple of years ago--and I happened to see someone's Dell tower curbside. So I grabbed it, thinking I would salvage the power supply. Got it home and found out it was much newer than what I had, so I revitalized it instead.

It took me less than an hour to crack the Windows password, then clean up a serious virus infestation (probably why it was tossed)--and voila--I had access to some stranger's whole digital life--pictures, files, bank logins etc.:eek:

Being a former IT guy, it's not in my nature to destroy data, so I asked my lovely wife if I should burn stuff onto DvDs and drop it back in the person's mail box--she convinced me that that would cause the person more alarm, so I didn't do it. Later, I ended up donating the computer to Habitat for its third incarnation.

One of my many jobs in a former life was destroying hard drives--had to do it in the furnace room of an unnamed gubmint agency--sledge hammer, and then the parts went into the furnace under supervision...

[Bob Ross]

For the biggest entertainment factor, Thermite is the correct answer.

I love you man.

[C40_guy]

One of my many jobs in a former life was destroying hard drives--had to do it in the furnace room of an unnamed gubmint agency--sledge hammer, and then the parts went into the furnace under supervision...

Many years ago I worked for a company that supplied some pretty interesting tech hardware (original AI workstations) to some of those same unamed gubmint agencies.

We had an unusual arrangement with them for hardware break/fix. If we had to repair any of the hardware, we didn't take the old components back (drives, memory, CPUs, etc.). They retained the items and disposed of them accordingly. :)

[ariw]

IT guy here, we use a couple of different solutions to erase drives securely, but for destruction, one of our customers has a rebar bending machine that makes “folding” hard drives very entertaining.

Ari