Destroying a Hard Drive

[Almost There]

Can someone suggest a simple method (I need easy... ) of dealing with the hard drive in an ancient laptop that needs to go to recycling while I'm emptying the apartment.

I have no idea how to remove the drive from the laptop and I don't think I can even boot it up.

All my google searches had fancy programs that I needed to download to erase the drive.

If I can get it out, will a hammer work....

 

[B and C]

A drill will do wonders before the hammer is employed (both).  Be sure to break the circuit board on the back.  These tend to be drive specific and not very many people would have the correct one to make it work again.  Of course, if you have a STRONG elecromagnet, that works too.  You can always disassemble the hard drive (the magnets inside are strong neodymium) and destroy the platters.

 

[Queen]

Like B and C, I use a hammer, a drill, and usually some leftover liquid; bacon grease, motor oil, coffee grounds in veg oil.  You just need a little screwdriver to get the case open, then liberally trash the innards.

I'm not a techie so I don't know if this actually accomplishes anything, but it makes me feel better. 

 

[Almost There]

Whaaaa 

I can't get all the #$%^ screws out of the back. There's 3 left that won't come loose!! My hands are sore and my temper is even sorer!

If the computer won't even boot, what is the danger of sending it to the electronic recycling bin intact if I soak it in bacon grease - no coffee grinds to be had in this house!!

Hey I also have some hazardous waste - cans of old assorted chemicals that the dump won't take cause they only have 'hazardous waste days' twice a year and this month ain't it!! I also have a 1/2 gallon of really old gas that needs disposing of!

 

[rvpopeye]

This is SO much easier than how to fix one..............................

A drill , Hammer + nail , Screw driver + screws , pick axe , regular axe ,a BIG hammer , drive over it several times with the van , crush it with a big rock , use your imagination !
EX:
If you live near an ocean , go out till you're in an area a hundred feet of more deep and just drop it over the side !
EX:
I have a friend that has an electronics repair biz and he has "smash parties"
They hoist a big safe about 10 feet in the air and place dead electronic items below , then drop the safe,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,(loud noise,parts fly) wear safety goggles !

Let us know if you need any more ideas !!!!!

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I think if you beat it some with a hammer no body would be interested in trying to see what's on it

 

[Almost There]

Ha, an old pillowcase to confine the flying parts and a hammer!!

I can do that....

I have 16 more days before I promised myself I'd be outta here and I'm starting to panic that I'll never be ready!! Little things like killing a 9 year old laptop are annoying the hell out of me...

My rent is paid to the end of the month but my out of country health insurance kicks in on the 15th and I have already arranged for disconnect on the tv, internet and landline as of the 16th.

I want to be gone dammit!!

 

[TMG51]

The hard disk is magnetically encoded. Doing things like pouring bacon grease on it does nothing to remove that data. Technically, even breaking the disk into pieces does not remove the data, as the bits of magnetically encoded information could still be read and pieced together by the right equipment.

But seriously, do you think someone with technology on par with the FBI is going to pick your dead lap top up and see what you were doing 9 years ago... ?

...however, if you answered yes, thermite is a fun home project.

 

[GotSmart]

Old school solution.  

Just use`a shotgun.

 

[Almost There]

Old school solution.  

Just use`a shotgun.

Umm, that's not part of any program I can put in place..will have to settle for the hammer technique!!

 

[GrantRobertson]

Former network manager of a hospital here.

Just bash the F out of it with anything handy. All you gotta do is bend the platters just a little bit and they are done for, as far as reading anything off of them. Sure, the data is still there, but all but the most insanely expensive equipment can only read from a flat, spinning platter. Drilling a hole leaves the rest of the platter flat.

P.S. "F" is short for "ferric oxide." Why? What did you think it meant.

 

[WheelEstate USA]

I'm with John on the shotgun

AT...we're awaiting your arrival with open arms down here in Q ?

 

[GrantRobertson]

I'm with John on the shotgun

AT...we're awaiting your arrival with open arms down here in Q ?

No pun intended?

 

[Almost There]

I'm with John on the shotgun

AT...we're awaiting your arrival with open arms down here in Q ?

As long as you're not also holding your breathe...

I've got a long list of things to do between here and Q - expect me sometime between Xmas/New Years or maybe skidding to a halt on the 5th of January.... I'm practicing planning in jello...

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

 All you gotta do is bend the platters just a little bit and they are done for, as far as reading anything off of them. Sure, the data is still there, but all but the most insanely expensive equipment can only read from a flat, spinning platter.

When working for Control Data, I read platters that were heat warped like potato chips.

Hammering the F out of it should be OK.  Unless you have the national nuclear codes or Taylor Swift's private phone number on it, I doubt anyone will expend the $$$ and effort to read your damaged disk.  For banks and other critical data, we had a routine that wrote the whole disk with masking patterns five times to ensure no one could read the original data.

Please dispose of your hard disk as hazardous waste, as the circuit boards have mercury and other stuff in them (as does your laptop).

-- Spiff

 

[Almost There]

When working for Control Data, I read platters that were heat warped like potato chips.

Hammering the F out of it should be OK.  Unless you have the national nuclear codes or Taylor Swift's private phone number on it, I doubt anyone will expend the $$$ and effort to read your damaged disk.  For banks and other critical data, we had a routine that wrote the whole disk with masking patterns five times to ensure no one could read the original data.

Please dispose of your hard disk as hazardous waste, as the circuit boards have mercury and other stuff in them (as does your laptop).

-- Spiff

Ha, there's nothing on there but old personal information - no nuclear codes, no VIP phone numbers..darn it anyways...

While we don't have hazardous waste disposal at the municipal dump they do have an electronics recycling bin available year round...sounds dumb to me that they can provide one but not the other...but such is politics I guess!!

 

[LeeRevell]

Toss it on a bonfire.  Guarenteed the platter will be destroyed.  

 

[eDJ_]

In my area the Public Libraries have IT people who will give the public a hand with something simple like this.  Especially if they think you wish to destroy the HD so you can donate/recycle the rest of it.   Today most people are
replacing the LapTop HD's with the SSD's (solid state HD's)  as the price on those are coming down.

It's just a thought and wouldn't hurt to make a call and ask.  They will give you your HD and let you go find a
hammer to bend it all up....and perhaps a camp fire to fry it in.   Then you can give it a burial.  This would leave
the LapTop recyclable. 

Just a thought.

 

[Almost There]

In my area the Public Libraries have IT people who will give the public a hand with something simple like this.  Especially if they think you wish to destroy the HD so you can donate/recycle the rest of it.   Today most people are
replacing the LapTop HD's with the SSD's (solid state HD's)  as the price on those are coming down.

It's just a thought and wouldn't hurt to make a call and ask.  They will give you your HD and let you go find a
hammer to bend it all up....and perhaps a camp fire to fry it in.   Then you can give it a burial.  This would leave
the LapTop recyclable. 



Just a thought.

Thanks for the suggestion but in a village of a 1,000, the library is hard pressed to handle their own IT, I know the head librarian....

I'm going to go at it with a hammer tomorrow and then take it to the dump with the rest of todays' shredding and sorting!! The landfill staff are starting to recognize me...   

6 years of running a remote office from home has had me shredding paper for 2 months now - down to the last 2 file cabinets... :dodgy:

 

[highdesertranger]

if it's old and you can fire it up, just go to the DOS prompt and do "format C" you need some of those DOS thingys in there like /: can't remember now. but that will erase your hard drive. if you can't do that beat the C**p out of it. highdesertranger