Destroy a hard drive on purpose ?

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Pardus

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2000
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Came across 1/2 dozen old ibm deathstar hard drives had in a box forever it seems now.. want to somehow rip open the metal casing and destroy the platters inside.

Did one with a hacksaw and hammer but it took too damm long, anyone know if a dremmel would cut the casing? The platters inside were glass and easy enough to break.

I don't want to put them in microwave or anything crazy and don't want the trashman to have them either.

Any sensible advise appreciated :)
 
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Pardus

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2000
8,197
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Originally posted by: Powernick50
FBI on yer tail or somefin? ;)
Click to expand...

No FBI, my life isn't that exciting. These drives won't boot, bad sectors all over the place.. they click and clank like crazy.. call me paranoid, but i rather destroy the headers they put them out to pasture.
 
N

Net

Golden Member
Aug 30, 2003
1,592
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go dig a hole, put the hard drives in and pour gasoline over them. light a match and let them burn. don't put to much or else it will blow up in your face.

i've never done it but it seems like it will do the trick.

for best results let them soak in a bucket of gasoline. then put them in the hole with more gasoline ;)
 
Yellowbeard

Yellowbeard

Golden Member
Sep 9, 2003
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If you are only worried about someone trying to use them, as opposed to permanently destroying the data, just crunch the IDE header with pliers or a hammer. Anyone that manages to use them after that gets what they deserve.
 
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montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
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I was brought in to ensure that some old hdd were destroyed for a firm of solicitors a few years ago.

I found that a good hammer and a strong screwdriver or small chisel worked wonders.
1 -- Get chisel/screwdriver,
2 -- Place sharp end on somewhere on casing - somewhere in middle is fine, and it doesn't matter whether on circuit board or not
3 -- Strike handle of your chosen implement with hammer several times.

Must warn you that I did get into a bit of trouble for leaving odd bits of metal around the office (wear goggles)

Alternatively, get a drill and metal drill bit - drill several holes in the platters. Cleaner but not as much fun.
 
Modelworks

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
DON'T do this indoors or without being seriously careful.

Mix muriatic acid (buy at hardware store, used to clean concrete) with hydrogen peroxide (the cheap stuff from a drug store).

Pour the solution on the platters, agitate for a minute.
It will dissolve the coating on the drives , used to store the bits.
 
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imported_BadBlock

Junior Member
Jul 13, 2008
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If you are dead set on doing this you can open those with torx screwdrivers. Since I don't know exactly what deskstar you have I don't know the screw size but if I had to guess it's probably a t9. Assuming you don't have one of those you could walk into a place like sears with the drive and get the appropriate screwdriver for a dollar or two if you wanted to get a cheap one.

If you don't want to use a screwdriver you could do the hammer/chisel thing as others have suggested and then peel the lid off like a sardine can with pliers but you may spend a half hour doing this.

Once you have the case open the platters will be attached to a shaft with more torx screws. The platters will probably be either aluminum or glass/ceramic depending on the age of the drive, if they are aluminum they can be bent pretty easy but good luck getting them out. If they are glass they will shatter without much effort.
 
A

andrei3333

Senior member
Jan 31, 2008
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The American spy agencies apparently take out the damaged platters themselves out of hard drives that bad guys tried to destroy and put them into these top secret magnetic readers. anything left on the platters gets copied to another hard drive inside a pc.. and then they play around with the data and use reconstructive software to try and unscramble the data....so if you want to destroy the data - go to the source... unscrew the hard drive casings and burn the platters until they are unusable...melt them with a lighter which is the safest thing to do !!!

its not a funny joke, my mom knows a guy who works for the fbi
 
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imported_BadBlock

Junior Member
Jul 13, 2008
21
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I suppose if the platters in that particular drive are glass/ceramic you may be able to hit it hard enough with a sledge hammer or squeeze it in a vice to shatter the platters, though I have never tried that.

If you want to securely destroy the data with as little effort as possible just use the dban boot cd set on default wipe and put it in a drawer afterwards, though I guess that isn't as dramatic.
 
S

Soundmanred

Lifer
Oct 26, 2006
10,780
6
81
Originally posted by: andrei3333
The American spy agencies apparently take out the damaged platters themselves out of hard drives that bad guys tried to destroy and put them into these top secret magnetic readers. anything left on the platters gets copied to another hard drive inside a pc.. and then they play around with the data and use reconstructive software to try and unscramble the data....so if you want to destroy the data - go to the source... unscrew the hard drive casings and burn the platters until they are unusable...melt them with a lighter which is the safest thing to do !!!

its not a funny joke, my mom knows a guy who works for the fbi
Click to expand...

You included the terms "American spy agencies", bad guys", "top secret" and "reconstructive software", so it HAS to be a joke.
Nice line about the "my mom knows a guy" thing though, that was a great ending.
WOULD READ AGAIN!!! TWO THUMBS UP!!!111oneoneone
 
P

Pardus

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2000
8,197
21
81
I put them all in a metal garbage can, sprayed lighter fluid into the barrel, added some leaves to get the fire going.. let it burn for a good 15 mins, after they cooled off from the rain, the metal casing was all warped and after cracking open the case.. the platters were nicely toasted.

-EDIT-
Smashed the glass-like platters with a hammer, one drive platter was thick-not glass like, use a shear to cut them into strips.

If anyone from the govt, wants to get my data back after all that, good luck to them.
 
N

NXIL

Senior member
Apr 14, 2005
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Hard Drive Data From Space Shuttle Columbia Recovered

A data-recovery engineer was able to retrieve information on a hard drive that melted, crashed, and burned in the Columbia disaster.

By K.C. Jones
InformationWeek
May 12, 2008 02:09 PM

A data-recovery engineer retrieved information stored on a hard drive that melted, crashed, and burned along with the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

http://www.informationweek.com...ml?articleID=207602714

http://www.computerworld.com/a...asic&articleId=9083478

I think if you want the data gone, you have to shred the platters somehow: smash them, shoot them, etc.....

GL

NXIL
 
M

montag451

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 2004
4,587
0
0
Originally posted by: NXIL
Hard Drive Data From Space Shuttle Columbia Recovered

A data-recovery engineer was able to retrieve information on a hard drive that melted, crashed, and burned in the Columbia disaster.

By K.C. Jones
InformationWeek
May 12, 2008 02:09 PM

A data-recovery engineer retrieved information stored on a hard drive that melted, crashed, and burned along with the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

http://www.informationweek.com...ml?articleID=207602714

http://www.computerworld.com/a...asic&articleId=9083478

I think if you want the data gone, you have to shred the platters somehow: smash them, shoot them, etc.....

GL

NXIL
Click to expand...

You know that you can only retrieve information from a drive that has been burnt/crashed etc.
But, if you happen to have 2 years work on a drive and it decides to give the click of death, you watch those little heads go scraping over those platters so that even your $2000 recovery companies in clean rooms won't get anything off them (except your pron stash of course)
 
Cr0nJ0b

Cr0nJ0b

Golden Member
Apr 13, 2004
1,141
29
91
meettomy.site
Originally posted by: NXIL
Hard Drive Data From Space Shuttle Columbia Recovered

A data-recovery engineer was able to retrieve information on a hard drive that melted, crashed, and burned in the Columbia disaster.

By K.C. Jones
InformationWeek
May 12, 2008 02:09 PM

A data-recovery engineer retrieved information stored on a hard drive that melted, crashed, and burned along with the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

http://www.informationweek.com...ml?articleID=207602714

http://www.computerworld.com/a...asic&articleId=9083478

I think if you want the data gone, you have to shred the platters somehow: smash them, shoot them, etc.....

GL

NXIL
Click to expand...

great point. Note to self, don't try to destroy old hard drives by putting them on crashing space shuttle. Got it.

If you have cash, you could always just have a shredder come to you house. some are specifically designed to shred media, including old hard drives. That's shred!!! beat that NSA!
 
Modelworks

Modelworks

Lifer
Feb 22, 2007
16,240
7
76
Originally posted by: Cr0nJ0b
Originally posted by: NXIL
Hard Drive Data From Space Shuttle Columbia Recovered

A data-recovery engineer was able to retrieve information on a hard drive that melted, crashed, and burned in the Columbia disaster.

By K.C. Jones
InformationWeek
May 12, 2008 02:09 PM

A data-recovery engineer retrieved information stored on a hard drive that melted, crashed, and burned along with the Space Shuttle Columbia in 2003.

http://www.informationweek.com...ml?articleID=207602714

http://www.computerworld.com/a...asic&articleId=9083478

I think if you want the data gone, you have to shred the platters somehow: smash them, shoot them, etc.....

GL

NXIL
Click to expand...

great point. Note to self, don't try to destroy old hard drives by putting them on crashing space shuttle. Got it.

If you have cash, you could always just have a shredder come to you house. some are specifically designed to shred media, including old hard drives. That's shred!!! beat that NSA!
Click to expand...

If you truly want to do it to DOD standards for top secret material, they shred the drive, melt the shreds into blocks, and store the blocks in a secure location.

I'm not making this up. I learned it the hard way when I was in the navy and made the comment "Isn't that overkill ?"
Shredding over 200 drives ceases to be fun after the first 20 or so.

 
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