Solve : WHAT TO DO WITH OLD HD?

1.	Solve : WHAT TO DO WITH OLD HD?
Answer» I have several HD’s I have removed from my old dead computers. I want to dispose of them so that any personal information can not be recovered. I have heard suggestions ranging from taking a hammer and smashing them up to taking a old open reel tape demagnetizer and going over with that. What is the best suggestion? Blast Furnace...With Hard Drives that I destroy, I actually take the time to remove the platters from each drive with my tool set of torx etc by unlocking and removing the locking hub, and then I throw the hard drive body away without the platters containing the data. I then gave my daughter the platters to use for ring tossing game for the 3.5" HDD's. The 2.5" laptop drives crush easily in a vice with the soft aluminum body when placed edgewise in vice to crush and fold the HDD in half, also most laptop 2.5" hand drives when you throw them into a brick wall or concrete floor and pick them up you hear a rattle like broken glass inside and they are toast, but its more fun to crush in the vice. Most people take a hammer to them, but I have found that the outter shell actually even though gets dented in and may warp the top platter, its not damaged enough for me to be convinced that the data is unrecoverable, so I take the time to remove the patters or completely destroy them and inspect the drive of the destroyed platters before tossing it away.Mine's faster.... Quote Mine's faster.... Yah I SUPPOSE it is since C4 is not legal to destroy it faster, and Thermite can be dangerous. JUNKYARD grinder machines work pretty well also... I just cannot bring myself to toss one in on top of a 67 Buick Riviera. But that's just me...Doesn't HD's contain a little precious metal?? Quote from: anthonyb5615 on January 08, 2014, 05:00:33 PM Doesn't HD's contain a little precious metal?? Probably a little yeah such as gold on certain electrical connections but it's not worth the time/effort/money to extract them. Hard drive magnets are cool though so I tend to steal them before destroying the drive. Quote Hard drive magnets are cool though so I tend to steal them before destroying the drive. They are extremely strong and I have saved some of them myself. In my office I have a couple used to hold important papers to a metal cabinet, but they are also useful when you drop a small black screw to a laptop on grey carpet with black in its pattern. I have 6 of them duct taped to a piece of cardboard and then rubber band the cardboard magnet array to a broom, and then sweep the carpet with the Magna-Broom 3000 and whalla. I GOT my small laptop screw back without going crazy trying to find it...LOL Also find other washers and metal pieces, staples, paperclips, etc so its a great IT Shop Tool.... Just keep the Magna-Broom 3000 away from floppy disks, backup tapes, hard drives and/or CRT screens etc. Really...how many people have the credit card numbers stolen by crooks going through junk hard drives. Much easier nto log in to a department store website. Like Target here in USA. Millions getting new debit, credit cards after Target hack Quote Bank of America (BAC, and Wells Fargo (WFC) both SAID they are reissuing cards that they believe are "at risk of" fraud, while American Express (AXP) said it has replaced "a small number" of cards -- mostly at the request of customers. "Card replacement is not something we typically do in large numbers, as we feel it can inconvenience customers," spokeswoman Marina Norville said. I believe it is legal to store old hard drives in the antic of your house. Geek, He asked about HDD disposal. He was given replies although sometimes humorous are WORKABLE... He didn't ask about statistical analysis of data retrieval on HDD's not disposed of properly.

Answer»

I have several HD’s I have removed from my old dead computers.
I want to dispose of them so that any personal information can not be recovered. I have heard suggestions ranging from taking a hammer and smashing them up to taking a old open reel tape demagnetizer and going over with that.
What is the best suggestion?
Blast Furnace...With Hard Drives that I destroy, I actually take the time to remove the platters from each drive with my tool set of torx etc by unlocking and removing the locking hub, and then I throw the hard drive body away without the platters containing the data. I then gave my daughter the platters to use for ring tossing game for the 3.5" HDD's.

The 2.5" laptop drives crush easily in a vice with the soft aluminum body when placed edgewise in vice to crush and fold the HDD in half, also most laptop 2.5" hand drives when you throw them into a brick wall or concrete floor and pick them up you hear a rattle like broken glass inside and they are toast, but its more fun to crush in the vice.

Most people take a hammer to them, but I have found that the outter shell actually even though gets dented in and may warp the top platter, its not damaged enough for me to be convinced that the data is unrecoverable, so I take the time to remove the patters or completely destroy them and inspect the drive of the destroyed platters before tossing it away.Mine's faster.... Quote

Mine's faster....

Yah I SUPPOSE it is since C4 is not legal to destroy it faster, and Thermite can be dangerous. JUNKYARD grinder machines work pretty well also...
I just cannot bring myself to toss one in on top of a 67 Buick Riviera.
But that's just me...Doesn't HD's contain a little precious metal?? Quote from: anthonyb5615 on January 08, 2014, 05:00:33 PM

Doesn't HD's contain a little precious metal??

Probably a little yeah such as gold on certain electrical connections but it's not worth the time/effort/money to extract them.

Hard drive magnets are cool though so I tend to steal them before destroying the drive. Quote

Hard drive magnets are cool though so I tend to steal them before destroying the drive.

They are extremely strong and I have saved some of them myself. In my office I have a couple used to hold important papers to a metal cabinet, but they are also useful when you drop a small black screw to a laptop on grey carpet with black in its pattern. I have 6 of them duct taped to a piece of cardboard and then rubber band the cardboard magnet array to a broom, and then sweep the carpet with the Magna-Broom 3000 and whalla. I GOT my small laptop screw back without going crazy trying to find it...LOL

Also find other washers and metal pieces, staples, paperclips, etc so its a great IT Shop Tool.... Just keep the Magna-Broom 3000 away from floppy disks, backup tapes, hard drives and/or CRT screens etc. Really...how many people have the credit card numbers stolen by crooks going through junk hard drives. Much easier nto log in to a department store website.
Like Target here in USA.
Millions getting new debit, credit cards after Target hack
Quote

Bank of America (BAC, and Wells Fargo (WFC) both SAID they are reissuing cards that they believe are "at risk of" fraud, while American Express (AXP) said it has replaced "a small number" of cards -- mostly at the request of customers. "Card replacement is not something we typically do in large numbers, as we feel it can inconvenience customers," spokeswoman Marina Norville said.

I believe it is legal to store old hard drives in the antic of your house.
Geek,

He asked about HDD disposal.
He was given replies although sometimes humorous are WORKABLE...
He didn't ask about statistical analysis of data retrieval on HDD's not disposed of properly.

Solve : WHAT TO DO WITH OLD HD?

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