Destroying a computer hard drive

Sac Arrow

Sac Arrow

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Okay I need to destroy a hard drive that I don't want bad guys to get banking information off of. For the life of me, I can't find a tool that will undo the screws on it.

But, there is a seal, when penetrated, allows access inside, and I -think- I scraped the disc up pretty good with a screwdriver. For good measure I gave it a bunch of whacks to the top of the case with a hammer.

Good enough? I don't feel like spending the time to drill in to it, or to place a shaped charge over it.
 
Own a dog? Put in the trash in a dog poo bag, that has a good load of poo... Unless your last name is Gates or Musk, you should be good.
 
GaryM said:
.223

or similar or bigger
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I was thinking a 12GA slug...

But most hard drives are held together with ordinary torx screws, you can get torx drivers anywhere. The actual disk inside makes a great emergency signaling mirror.
 
I just run a drill bit through mine

What not to do (ask my neighbor how he found out): Don’t hit it with a hammer while it’s sitting on the corner of an expensive granite countertop.
 
I've had the opportunity to destroy a few that needed to be really securly destroyed so we did a lot of testing.

Drill press or nail gun (sans nail just plunter) enough that it shatters the platter or bends the media enough that it can't be spun so for those be sure and hit it enough times.
 
Pugs said:
I've had the opportunity to destroy a few that needed to be really securly destroyed so we did a lot of testing.

Drill press or nail gun (sans nail just plunter) enough that it shatters the platter or bends the media enough that it can't be spun so for those be sure and hit it enough times.
Click to expand...

Well that is what I am thinking. I'm pretty sure I'm there with the hammer whacks.
 
Torx screws. They're under the label. Peel the label off, there should be 4 to 6 under it.

I disassemble the drive, remove each platter, clamp one side in a vise and bend the free side to 90 degrees. Doubt any could read it. Sometimes the platters are plastic and shatter.

Ron Wanttaja
 
There are supermagnets in there. They are part of the record/read arm movement. In old, larger drives the magnets are fairly large. I have one I used occasionally, looking for missing tools in airplane bellies. A bit of masking tape so it doesn't scratch and run it over the exterior surface. It will find the tool or hardware or whatever so you can go straight to it. Don't get it anywhere near any instruments. Or the belly of any airplane that has Amsafe airbag restraints. It will set them off.

And it's fun just to put it on the anvil of my vise and challenge people to pull it off.
 
GaryM said:
.223

or similar or bigger
Click to expand...
Add some tannerite and it sounds like a good time.

Or Sac you could recreate the printer scene from Office Space with the drive.
 
Arm3 said:
Add some tannerite and it sounds like a good time.

Or Sac you could recreate the printer scene from Office Space with the drive.
Click to expand...

Yeah but, like I say. I don't have access to tannerite or C4 or gelignite. The neighbors get uptight when I deploy shaped charges in the back yard. I know, restrictive CC'RS.
 
What @Dan Thomas said, those magnets are awesome and very useful. I've pulled apart many drives and have several here to open.
 
Drill press. A couple dozen taps and done.
 
A hole drilled through the platters will do it. The heads float on an air cushion and if there’s a hole the air cushion can’t form and the heads will crash. This defeats most professional data recovery methods on the off chance someone would try.
 
Two pound hammer, breaks the disk. The NSA could probably put it back together, but they aren't interested in you and me.

Back in the day there was something called a bulk demagnitizer that would do the trick, but with magnetic tapes becoming extinct, you'll never find one.
 
FormerHangie said:
Two pound hammer, breaks the disk. The NSA could probably put it back together, but they aren't interested in you and me.

Back in the day there was something called a bulk demagnitizer that would do the trick, but with magnetic tapes becoming extinct, you'll never find one.
Click to expand...

Yep. I'm not worried about the NSA. I'm worried about Yuri in the Balkans.
 
1. My first thought was the same as some others here. :)

Next thought... target practice.
 
FormerHangie said:
Two pound hammer, breaks the disk. The NSA could probably put it back together, but they aren't interested in you and me.

Back in the day there was something called a bulk demagnitizer that would do the trick, but with magnetic tapes becoming extinct, you'll never find one.
Click to expand...

They're still quite common in the industrial world, used for demagnetizing tools and such, usually called a "degausser".
 
ateamer said:
Put the drive in a trash bag, set it on the ground, and hit it a few times with a sledgehammer. Get your hips into it and accelerate through impact.
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Pretend it’s a vampire…Drive stakes through it. :cool: If you can find a shaker who trusts you. :eek:
 
A friend of a friend, yes really;-) recently sold a HDD on ebay or some such. They did "erase" the files, likely either a quick format or just "deleted" the files, don't know. Pretty sure it wasn't a low level format or better.

Got a message from buyer, "we found some of your data, would you like to buy it back?" Friend of friend says - no thanks.

Changed to, "we have gone to a lot of trouble to help you, unless you pay we will need to look for a buyer".

Haven't heard more, don't really want to know, but it is a lesson. The seller knows enough to know better but didn't action it.
 
In reality? If you make it not spin, or take the electronics off of it or destroy the connectors, whatever information you have on it isn't worth the cost or effort for anybody trying to recover it.

Holes in it would make it more of a PITA for someone in the business to recover. Driving a pin punch straight through it would make it a real pain to spin. I don't think scratches would do much of anything. External magnets likely the same. The local density on those are high. The only current generally acceptable industry methods are physically shredding the disks or incinerating them. I think most platters are still aluminum. Destroy the aluminum, or the coating, and the data is irretrievable.

source: https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/SpecialPublications/NIST.SP.800-88r1.pdf

As to selling a drive? There's no 100% method to remove the data from a drive and still have it operative.
 
If you are really worried, take it apart. Then blow torch the platters a good 10 seconds. That resets the magnetic flux to prevent some state nation from seeing your POA posts - or anything really. Safety glasses too !
 
I like a 45... but I'm sure 9mm would work too.

For functional drives that you want to sell or reuse "dban" is a common free tool that will get you close enough to perfect unless the CIA wants your data. Just remember to make the drive you're wiping is the only one in the system.
 
Sac Arrow said:
View attachment 108301

Okay I need to destroy a hard drive that I don't want bad guys to get banking information off of. For the life of me, I can't find a tool that will undo the screws on it.

But, there is a seal, when penetrated, allows access inside, and I -think- I scraped the disc up pretty good with a screwdriver. For good measure I gave it a bunch of whacks to the top of the case with a hammer.

Good enough? I don't feel like spending the time to drill in to it, or to place a shaped charge over it.
Click to expand...

A big magnet would destroy or scramble all the data on the drive.
 
The way we did it in the military was to use a device called a disintegrator (being disintegrated makes me very, very, angry). Big 3HP grinder that you could chuck a variety of media into and pulverize it. There are companies that will take your drive and feed it into one of those.
 
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