How to destroy a hard drive physically

[madtownidiot]

If you know someone with a welder get him to strike an arc on the case, 50 volts at about 300 amps will create enough of an electromagnetic field to fry any HDD

 

[thealmightyone]

The best options are to use a strong magnetic field to wipe the date, or to melt the platters (if you have access to high enough temperatures).

 

[INTELCRAZY]

Wouldn't a reformat do the trick?

 

[StrangleHold]

Hook up jumper cables to your car battery and touch both ends to the drive, that will (0) the thing out . No dont do that really, if it blew up or you got hurt it would be my fault!

 

[madtownidiot]

A plasma cutter will also do the job....

 

[madtownidiot]

Wouldn't a reformat do the trick?

Reformatting only erases the directory. Most data recovery software can bring it right back.
There's a free program which will wipe a HDD completely by overwriting the entire drive. You can get it at http://www.heidi.ie/eraser

 

[Verve]

I'd say an electric sander on the platters would be practical (but nothing is more practical than a hammer )