How to destroy a hard drive

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what bran HD do you have? WD has a tool where you can writh a '1' to all the HD spaces ( its ment for testing the HD's surface etc.. but it also destroy's all data)
 
Thermite will melt anything. I have heard stores of a man who was pissed off at his neighbor so he put thermite on the hood of his neighbors car. Long story short the thermite when all the way thought the engine block and 4" into the asphalt.


So I guess use thermite
 
werdna5225 said:
I got a new computer and I don't want any of my personal information getting into the wrong hands.
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I'm in a similar situation, except that I have an old 4GB hard drive from an off-brand laptop from like 1998 or so that doesn't even boot anymore.

Anyway, I've decided that a 12 ga. shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot and fired from about 20 or so paces should do the job. If not, a few rounds of 7.62x39mm FMJ should punch some nice holes in it, rendering it completely inoperable (and the data unrecoverable). I'll let you know how it goes whenever I get around to it.;)

-Charles
 
cmreinke said:
I'm in a similar situation, except that I have an old 4GB hard drive from an off-brand laptop from like 1998 or so that doesn't even boot anymore.

Anyway, I've decided that a 12 ga. shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot and fired from about 20 or so paces should do the job. If not, a few rounds of 7.62x39mm FMJ should punch some nice holes in it, rendering it completely inoperable (and the data unrecoverable). I'll let you know how it goes whenever I get around to it.;)

-Charles
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Wow I like you idea but still use thermite just because it's so cool
 
Nini said:
Take it apart and destroy every piece with a hammer until it turns into dust :)
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Yes,

What i would do is take the cover off the Hard drive and scratch all those disks inside very badly then smash the whole thing up with the biggest hammer i could find:D
 
A destructive format with random write should make the data unrecoverable since modern file systems do not keep several copies of a modified file on the HD, they overwrite the existing one each time.

Unless, you are wanting to hide this info from like the CIA or FBI, then you can do the format and write 0's to the drive. Otherwise the only way to be 100% safe from big brother is to physically destroy the drive beyond repair. Government and Private agencies do have technologies to rebuild destroyed drives, so you would have to destory it to a point where it was un fixable.

I guess it depends on your paranoia.

Another way would be to install a linux distro with reiser file system, and then sudo rm -rf /. and this will erase everything. Since that file system doesn't keep track of all the random sectors where data is store it makes it very hard to perform any kind of data recovery. Or download a free utility called killdrive.exe and run that, you should be able to find it on google.
 
He actualy didnt mention if he wanted to keep and use the hard drive again or just get rid of all the info and sell it or something or trash it?
 
cmreinke said:
Yeah, thermite is cool, but I wouldn't try it at home unless I had a reeealy long fuse, like these guys: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrCWLpRc1yM&search=thermite.

Maybe I should start a service: destroying people's HDs for them using firearms, while recording the whole thing on video.:D

-Charles
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I wouldn't try to use thermite without a really long fuse you would have to be really dumb not too.


Go to town with it. Shoot it, use thermite on it, smash it up using dry ice then ship it to random people all around the world.
 
tlarkin said:
Unless, you are wanting to hide this info from like the CIA or FBI, then you can do the format and write 0's to the drive. Otherwise the only way to be 100% safe from big brother is to physically destroy the drive beyond repair. Government and Private agencies do have technologies to rebuild destroyed drives, so you would have to destory it to a point where it was un fixable.
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lol really that sensitive for the government to want it?
 
I really don't like posts like this, but fair enough. If you simply open the drive and mess up the platters, the data will be gone. Any dust that gets in there could make it practically unsable...
 
why dont u just throw the thing in the bottom of the ocean or somethin... nobody would go to the bottom of the ocean to look for a hard drive and even if someone found it, it would be rusted out to the point that it wouldnt work anymore
 
The other peoples ideas would work, but aren't practicle. It depends on how secure you want to be. If you are an average joe, a format would be sufficient. If you wanted to be even more secure, then taking a hammer to the hard drive would be a better option. If you want to be really secure, you can open the hdd and smash all the internal components with a hammer.
 
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