Hard Drive destruction question?

[Martinjmpr]

I'm taking the opportunity of the stay-in-place order to do some much needed spring cleaning.

As I'm sure many of us do, I have over the years gone through quite a few computers, external HDs, etc. Currently in my "junk pile" are probably half a dozen old HDDs pulled out of computers.

My concern is that there might be sensitive data (SSNs, account information, etc) on some or all of these. I don't have the time or inclination to hook them up to a computer to "wipe" them and the drives are of no value to me anyway. My question is how can I destroy them so that any data can't be recovered?

I know I can physically smash them with an axe or sledge hammer but I was hoping for something less messy. So here' my question:

What if I just immersed them all in a bucket of salt water and let them sit in the bucket for a week or so? Wouldn't that likely corrode the internals so much that for all practical purposes no data could be recovered? Then I could just throw them away or put them in an electronic recycle bucket.

[FoxtArt]

The outside circuitry might be harmed by saltwater, but it's unlikely any saltwater would get into the platters, where data is stored.

If you have the capability to burn a hole through it (oxy/acetaline comes to mind) that would work.

Smashing also would work. Which I know, you don't want to get messy. You could disassemble to get to the platters and then do whatever to physically damage those.

Shooting would work, but you really shouldn't shoot mild steel - ricochet risks.

Disclaimer: Now, there's specialized (partial) recovery that can be done even when platters are physically damaged, but it's not too likely someone's going to spend $5k on each of your landfill drives to do that. IMHO it's better to have a platter damaged along an entire axis (like a crack radiating out from the center-out) as opposed especially to a single hole, which could allow recovery in sectors of continuous tracks unaffected by the hole - even if it is unlikely and requires special equipment.

[izzy]

It's pretty easy to open them up and remove the platters. A few decent gouges on the platters should do the job.

ETA: the magnets inside are pretty fun too

[ray1970]

Just stick them in some plastic bags and obliterate then with a hammer. Shouldn?t be too messy.

[izzy]

I think you'll find they're pretty difficult to smash.

[Frac]

Back when televisions had cathode ray tubes, I used to carry a degaussing coil. You can wipe the data very well with those. You could actually hear the heads chattering in the alternating magnetic field.

If you?ve got some large neodymium magnets, you could pull the platters and wipe the data with a magnet.


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[whitewalrus]

Just drill thru them, unlikely that anyone will spend the money removing the platters and getting your data. Equifax already gave the world your SSN and other information anyway.

If you want to do via software, plenty of tools are out there to erase and overwrite the data the amount of times you specify (DBAN, for instance or if you have Linux you can use DD and overwrite with 0's). Note that this will take longer than drilling thru them.

[Irving]

What are the platters made out of? Can you burn them? Would a minute with a propane torch do the job? Is it surface read? Can you scuff it up with sand paper or something? You can tell how much I know about this.

[Gman]

I shoot them. Most of the platters are made of glass. They shatter when I shoot them (good luck putting that back together). .223/5.56 makes little holes, .308/7.62 makes bigger holes.

.22 rimfire will usually just dent the sheet metal cover.

[xiondavis]

Just drill thru them, unlikely that anyone will spend the money removing the platters and getting your data. Equifax already gave the world your SSN and other information anyway.

If you want to do via software, plenty of tools are out there to erase and overwrite the data the amount of times you specify (DBAN, for instance or if you have Linux you can use DD and overwrite with 0's). Note that this will take longer than drilling thru them.

+1 drill a couple 3/8” holes in them. Often, the drive platter will shatter when you drill it. Technically, data can be recovered from a drive with a couple holes in it but not by any casual scammer. Squirt some mayo in there if yer nervous.