How to properly destroy a hard drive - Tip Tuesday: Episode #006

Here's how to completely destroy a hard drive, with 0 chance that anyone will be able to pull your data off of it. Perfect for when recycling your old computer!

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@The_ChrisBryant

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[Bigbuddyandblue]

Best way to destroy an external hard drive, is to buy a Seagate: it will self-destruct after about 2 years, or as soon as you try to use it to restore a backup that was on it: which ever comes first 😡

[MinecraftToonLink]

If you decide to destroy your hard drive into multiple pieces of metal, don’t dispose all of it at once. Dispose separate pieces of the hard drive one at a time. This way, at least you’ll know that all the pieces of the hard drive are scattered in different physical locations, as apposed to having all the pieces in one convenient place in the pile of other garbage, ready for trash explorers to pick up and potentially recover something off the drive. It is possible to physically reconstruct a destroyed hard drive, maybe not every single time, but it can be done with some success, so doing this will decrease the chances of someone coming across your broken hard drive and recovering it.

[hammerchisel]

Pull the drive apart, remove the platter(s) from the spindle and use the likes of an angle grinder to grind the entire magnetic coating of both the platter's side then cut the platter into quarters or shatter it if made of glass.

[sleavesleather]

We do have Best Buy up here, EH! Another great Tip Tuesday Chris - I used to work at Future Shop and we had a tech center where we did upgrades. This was the same method we used - I was the poor soul that had to drill through over 100 hard drives in a day!!!

[leyroy]

Here's a tip for you. Never operate a drill at face level. One catch will knock you or your teeth out.

[adithyanv]

I destroyed by old hard drive by smashing it with a hammer and then divided the debris to 3 parts, I then disposed it in 3 different waste centers

[mlgoverrated]

Btw there is a strong magnet inside. So if you can take it out, it’s pretty worth it

[justwillc]

Best video explanation I could find and reassuring too. Thanks buddy 👍🏼

[mickeytheviewmoo]

Do not drive your Hard drives. There is a chance you miss the platter. Best to dismantle the drive and take the platter out and dispose accordingly.

[mantasm.]

use of a metal drill instead of the one for the concrete would be more efficient

[NilsAlbertsson]

Forensic data recovery agents could *STILL* recover information from that drive, by taking out the remaining bits of undrilled platters, (which are still about 80% to 90% physically intact) and, using microscopic magnetic resonance under-scanning techniques to get around the earlier data wipes, recover information fragments... And some of those fragments could be *EXACTLY* the bits of information you didn't want to expose.

OK, for most people, under-scanning is not going to happen because the technology is expensive, and only top government agents who REALLY want your data, will have access to it... But who knows, maybe you're James Bond, and you're trying to hide your German scat porn collection from "M"

[alainabrandt]

What do you do with the drive you drilled through?

[itrasheditgood]

We have staples in our area, you can take your electronics there too for recycling.

[OkieDokie.]

What do you with the destroyed hard drive after it has been destroyed? Through it in the dumpster?

[luckyduckydrivingschool]

Seems like taking a cheap pack of sand paper to the platter surfaces would be the most effective and energy efficient way to do this...

[GregGrace]

My laptop was so old I lost the charger and can no longer power on the machine. I was able to remove the hard drive but could not wipe the data because I can’t turn the power on the laptop. Is using a hammer AND drilling through the plates enough to make sure no one can recover data from the hard drive? Is there any memory on the computer that people could recover?

[cosmicaudio]

Take the platters out and use them in art projects or repurpose them for something useful, unless they contain really sensitive data, in which case I would remove the platters and etch the surfaces with many deep scratches or chemical! Just one or two holes does not seem to be enough for a government not to be able to garner some information as the remaining data can be recovered even it a disk has been formatted. If you are so worried about the content, remove the disks and melt them down!, aluminium disks melt easily!

[billf]

About Best Buy: That is no longer the case. I went there a few months ago with two monitors to recycle and they wanted to charge me $20. So they are just sitting in my garage still, lol.

[rogerhudson]

When the UK GCHQ(NSAs partner) went to the Guardian newspaper to obliterate the Snowden files they used an angle grinder, drilling holes isn't enough.

[randomknight]

You could always use thermite it is cheep and it can destroys the entire hard drive