The Care and Destruction of Old Hard Drives
Getting rid of old, non-functional hard drives should be easy. But I have a swath of old internal and external drives sitting on my closet shelf that say otherwise. I’ve held onto these old drives because I am not quite convinced that the data on the platters are entirely unreadable. Throwing them in the trash isn’t an option.
I want to get rid of the drives, but I want a painless and simple method to ensure that the data on the drives is completely and utterly destroyed.
Given all the sophisticated methods of preserving data, I’m surprised that there isn’t a simple, elegant approach available when a drive needs to be disposed. In my view, such a system could be part of the drive’s design. The “destroy data” mechanism, whatever it might be, would require a method of deliberate activation, to prevent accidental “bricking”. It could be hardware based.
Formatting the drive by writing zeros on all blocks is an option for functional drives, but I am still on the lookout for a safe, elegant method to handle the disposal of a non-functional drive. Something akin to a hard drive “crusher” would be an option, if such a thing exists. There has to be a better way than taking a hammer to each drive…
Maybe I’m overthinking it.
How do you handle the disposal of old, non functional hard drives?
Krishna
Jake Eskel
December 2, 2014 at 11:04 amMy university disassembles them, discards all but the magnetic platters, and puts the platters through a huge shredder.
Krishna
December 2, 2014 at 11:05 amI wish something like that would be available to consumers. It would be a fantastic service.
Jake Eskel
December 8, 2014 at 2:13 pmWell, federal law only requires destruction of the platters. The rest is easy to dispose of and can be done so however is practical. But for physical destruction of platters… Do you have a local firing range that you can donate them as targets? I’m sure they would be happy to, at least let you bring friends and shoot them all up.
Dave Aronson
December 2, 2014 at 11:14 amOpen it up, take out the platters, and dump the whole thing in the recycling.
If you’re paranoid, scratch them up a bit, and dispose of them in separate trashbags (or better yet, recycling bins), maybe even separate houses, businesses, public trashcans, etc. Or take them to a shooting range that doesn’t mind, and use them for target practice. (Please do clean up after yourself.) After that, anybody willing to put in the effort to reconstruct the data probably already has it. ;-)
Okay, that gets a bit boring after the first few. Maybe instead take a sledgehammer to it. Or use the whole thing, intact, for target practice, and don’t worry about the individual platters. (Just make sure you get decent penetration, and again, clean up after yourself, and watch out for ricochets.)
Hmmm, come to think of it… since the magnetic medium is basically rust, maybe something to deoxidize (or in chemistry terms, “reduce”) it. Take out the platters, and leave them in a strong base solution. Or use them to make thermite.
Grahamf
December 2, 2014 at 12:36 pmHammer a bunch of nails through the hard drives. Boom.
Krishna
December 2, 2014 at 7:59 pmBut that takes way too much time, Graham…
qka
December 2, 2014 at 12:43 pmA defense contractor I worked for would take the drives out in a parking lot, scatter them about, and then run a multi-ton earthmoving machine over them repeatedly. At least that hows the stories went. Other stories had them running over whole computers.
I have also heard of outfits that put them on a drill press and drill holes in them. Ten to twelve holes should do it, in my opinion. A 1/4″ drill seems like it would be a good size.
Hammering is always a good option. Save them for when you have some frustration issues you need to vent. Also, some platters are made of glass, so I would guess that they are at least a little bit fragile. Other wise the platters are aluminum. Bend them, and then they are un readable. Bend and break, especially if the magnetic coating flakes off, and not even a three letter agency is going to recover that.
Tony J
December 4, 2014 at 3:32 pmEver tried taking a hammer to a hard drive? I have, and it takes A LOT more effort that you would believe!! Although platters are made of glass, there’s a huge amount of metal in them to don’t expect them to shatter like a ceramic plate or anything. If you don’t believe me, try it yourself and see just how tough hard drives actually are!
Krishna
December 4, 2014 at 10:43 pmI’d like a “Mission Impossible” way of destroying hard drives. Puff of smoke, and some fizzle – boom!
Thomas
December 3, 2014 at 1:12 amGive them to your daughter.
Problem solved.
Krishna
December 4, 2014 at 10:43 pmShe’s at the age where she would look at it, give it back, and play with my iPad.
Jake Eskel
December 8, 2014 at 2:11 pmWhat did you have a kid for anyway? ;- )
Michael
December 6, 2014 at 3:41 pmPower drill with a carbide bit, then recycle.
GJB
December 10, 2014 at 8:23 amI get to watch hard drives being shredded on Thursday when a truck comes to the organization I work at to shred our old hard drives. HIPPA laws apply to our organization’s data and we don’t take any chances.