Question How to make old hard drives unreadable for easy disposable?

[JEDI]

i have a bunch of old IDE and SCSI hard drives from years ago.

i dont know whats on them. (might have my tax returns.)
i also dont want anyone looking into them either when i throw them away.

i no longer have a machine that has IDE or scsi connections so i cant format them.
i was thinking of drilling a hole through them. (maybe 4 holes?)

Whats an easy way to make them unreadable?

 

[mxnerd]

Just throw them on the concrete ground hard.

The read/write head and disc will be damaged.

==

I will take out the strong magnets inside the HDDs first before throwing them away.

 

[aigomorla]

open them up and dismantle them if you are not going to recycle it.

 

[Steltek]

If you don't want to take them apart, I've found that a 10 pound sledge (along with appropriate safety glasses) is a very useful tool to use for decommissioning hard drives.

It also helps with stress relief at the same time....

 

[pcgeek11]

I usually just run a drill though them several times.

 

[ArisVer]

If I was worried, I would open them and keep the platters.

 

[Muadib]

Get a gun!! They make great targets.

 

[mikeford]

Wow, you are talking a lot of fun out of buying recycled drives.

For about $5 you can buy a USB adapter for IDE, and for that modest amount you can take the most green option, REUSE, give or sell the drives to people that need them. SCSI looks like it might need a $10 PCI card.

Bonus for doing a software wipe, MAYBE you find some old file etc that you would like to keep.

 

[sdifox]

i have a bunch of old IDE and SCSI hard drives from years ago.

i dont know whats on them. (might have my tax returns.)
i also dont want anyone looking into them either when i throw them away.

i no longer have a machine that has IDE or scsi connections so i cant format them.
i was thinking of drilling a hole through them. (maybe 4 holes?)

Whats an easy way to make them unreadable?

Take them apart. You get good magnets out of them and use the platters for a hanging wind chime

 

[thecoolnessrune]

If you need to know there is no recoverability, most Data Asset companies will charge around $10 per drive in low quantities to shred and dispose of them for you.

 

[Soulkeeper]

The platters are very fragile and shatter easily if i'm not mistaken.

 

[dlerious]

I know a few people who use them for target practice. If you have the money, a degausser like the Proton 1100 ($515).

 

[WilliamM2]

I know a few people who use them for target practice. If you have the money, a degausser like the Proton 1100 ($515).

If you have to go to all the trouble of disassembling the drive to use the degausser what's the point in spending $500 on it? At that point it's easy to just break/bend/smash the platters. The drives not re-usable once opened anyways.

I just use a sledge, or sometimes squeeze the entire drive in a huge vise we have at work. Either way, the platters will never be read again, and it's much quicker. Maybe 10 seconds.

 

[dlerious]

If you have to go to all the trouble of disassembling the drive to use the degausser what's the point in spending $500 on it? At that point it's easy to just break/bend/smash the platters. The drives not re-usable once opened anyways.

I just use a sledge, or sometimes squeeze the entire drive in a huge vise we have at work. Either way, the platters will never be read again, and it's much quicker. Maybe 10 seconds.

How much does a good bench vise cost today? I've seen something similar in a machine - Aleratec HDD drive destroyer, but it's not cheap at $1500. For whole drive degaussers like the Verity V91, Datastroyer 105, or Proton T-1 you're going to pay $2400-$6000. I saw a few places that used to rent the machines but I'm not sure if they're still around. There's an add-on for the datastroyer for SSD, flash, phones that uses 95 spikes

Found a video where someone tried hammer, sledge, and nail gun. Found a drive that suffered a crash at about 8:05.

 

[WilliamM2]

How much does a good bench vise cost today?

Mine was about $50, but I was referring to one at work that is probably 40 years old, and huge. At home I use a sledge for old IDE drives, or drives that won't function. I use software for any sata drives, never know when you will find someone who needs one.

The guy in the video sucked with a sledge. He was just hitting the drive anywhere. You want to hit it on the edge, not the spindle. One or two hits and it's destroyed, all platters.

 

[Ajay]

I used to just take them apart and use tin snips to cut the platters in half. If you're paranoid, dip them in a strong solvent (MEK?) for an hour and then toss them.

 

[HomerJS]

HCL. Whatever is left over, use to dispose of the bodies.

 

[Ajay]

HCL. Whatever is left over, use to dispose of the bodies.

I heard a rumor that someone on these forums was a serial killer...

 

[Muadib]

If you still have the pc that can use them, there was software that would write zeros to them. If you still need it, I'll see if it's still around. If not, taking them apart and breaking the platters would be my next option.

 

[Leeea]

Unscrew the top cover.

Use your magnet of choice on the platters.

Snip the wires going to the heads. Unscrew the pcb and toss it in a different garbage can.

If your really motivated take a concrete (not wood) chisel and tap on the heads once or twice to bend them like a pretzel.


Your goal is not to make it impossible, your goal is to avoid being the low hanging fruit. Do not put to much effort in it.

 

[nosirrahx]

Don't take anything apart. Drive a nail through the drive. This will shatter the platters and the fact that you left the drive together keeps the mess contained inside.

 

[ArisVer]

For < $1, a shop in Japan destroys your disks, HDD or SSD. Nice article.

Akihabara shop lets you destroy your own hard drives for only 100 yen

Let Dark Past Final Disposal Site let you puncture your HDD.

soranews24.com

 

[pcgeek11]

For < $1, a shop in Japan destroys your disks, HDD or SSD. Nice article.

Akihabara shop lets you destroy your own hard drives for only 100 yen

Let Dark Past Final Disposal Site let you puncture your HDD.

soranews24.com

Why bother to pay for it when you can do it yourself at home with a few tools.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Why bother to pay for it when you can do it yourself at home with a few tools.

Indeed. As pointed out in the thread, there is plenty of scope to be creative about it too.

Although I suppose it's not a bad deal if you don't have somewhere to easily dispose of the remains (i.e. recycling station close by).

 

[lakedude]

The drives not re-usable once opened anyways.

I wouldn't say that it is good for a drive to be open to contamination but a drive can still function after being open. I've seen video of home drive repair/recovery where they open a drive, replace parts or unstick heads and then run the drive. The video points out some wipers on the drive designed to remove debris. Data was recovered without any special techniques.

Smashing/nail should suffice for all but the most paranoid.

There are easy/free ways to read deleted files or formatted drives.

Evidently even secure erased and smashed drives can be read using special techniques/hardware but your average identity thief will not have access to anything like that (something about new data bits not lining up exactly with old data bits so the data isn't completely erased). If I were a mob boss with sensitive data I'd want the drive melted down to slag...