Shred Hard Drive

[MatthewL]

I have a box of hard drives here at home that are old but do work, I want to shred them and see the results. Any recommendations?

[elsiegee40]

An electric drill? It's not shredding, but quickly makes them unreadable

[AJWhite1970]

Three or four drill holes at various circumferences around the spindle followed by a gentle tap from a sledge hammer does the job here.

 

At a previous job, I once ran over a box full of mildly data sensitive disks with a chieftain tank but that caused surprisingly little damage and they were still readable but I'm reliably informed by the same people that a bucket, some petrol and some C4 does a cracking job. Don't try that at home though....

Edited September 7, 2017 by AJWhite1970

[Bedders]

All I've done in the past is opened each one using a screwdriver and cut the platter with scissors. Relatively quick, and I can see the results. I've never had more than 10 to do in one session though...

[bald_pig]

drives are surprisingly tough...

 

[elsiegee40]

All I've done in the past is opened each one using a screwdriver and cut the platter with scissors. Relatively quick, and I can see the results. I've never had more than 10 to do in one session though...

 

That sounds similar to the technique I used when my son was younger. He would happily spend hours taking drives apart, removing the platters and then scratching them beyond any possibility of reading them. It made vacuuming a little noisy as the little screws embedded in the carpet though!

[AJWhite1970]

Way back in the day part of my BSc was studying the efficiency of triple head disk latency in hard drives (bit like an early RAID system). I'd already seen enough insides of a metallic platter HDD by the age of 20 to last me a lifetime!!! The work with the Army guys was like closure of past bad memories. I did want to shoot one using a shell from the tank but apparently the paperwork wasn't worth the effort

[pete]

For 2.5" drives we put a stumpy bolt on a concrete floor, place drive on top and then stamp on the drive - the bolt deforms the casing and smashes the glass/ceramic platter.

3.5" drives get the pillar drill or smacked with a lump hammer on the anvil in the workshop, depending if we want efficiency or exercise.

 

At home, I remove the platters and then fold them into quarters, placing recovery beyond the means of 99% of people. The remaining 1% are perfectly capable of taking a black-and-decker to my kneecaps to retrieve the information.

 

[korifugi]

I have a box of hard drives here at home that are old but do work, I want to shred them and see the results. Any recommendations?

 

1 ADHD student + 1 Hammer + 1 can of Red Bull*

 

 

 

 

 

 

*I take no responsibility for collateral damage caused to equipment/fixtures/structures/sanity

[cpjitservices]

AHhh I made a topic about this.

 

I am getting one of these made by a friend

 

Pure Leverage - Hard Drive Crusher

[cpjitservices]

Edited September 7, 2017 by cpjitservices

[Mark182]

AHhh I made a topic about this.

 

I am getting one of these made by a friend

 

Pure Leverage - Hard Drive Crusher

 

 

You need to go on robot wars with that bad boy.

[cpjitservices]

My mate can build one on his lunch hour, wont cost a lot either

 

RobotWars is it - or ScrapHeap Challenge

[synaesthesia]

Thermite.

 

I rest my case. Effective AND entertaining. If you need convincing look up Colin Furze's Thermite Launcher.

[DJ-1701]

Thermite.

 

I rest my case...

 

Hopefully not on the Thermite.

[korifugi]

look up Colin Furze's Thermite Launcher.

 

Or, to be fair - look up ANYTHING by Colin Furze, a nutter with lots of tools and too much time.

[unixman_again]

Or, to be fair - look up ANYTHING by Colin Furze, a nutter with lots of tools and too much time.

 

I'm a fan of JoergSprave, maker of lethal slingshots and assorted rubber band powered weapons. This would destroy an hard drive

 

[Dos_Box]

Three or four drill holes at various circumferences around the spindle followed by a gentle tap from a sledge hammer does the job here.

 

At a previous job, I once ran over a box full of mildly data sensitive disks with a chieftain tank but that caused surprisingly little damage and they were still readable but I'm reliably informed by the same people that a bucket, some petrol and some C4 does a cracking job. Don't try that at home though....

 

A little known thing is that tracked armored vehicles are designed to put down as little ground pressure as possible via the tracks to prevent them getting bogged down so are not very good at crushing small tough objects.

Putting the entire weight of a tank on top of a car however is always very impressive

[ozydave]

Pass them to my teachers! They have an uncanny knack of screwing up most things electronic

[synaesthesia]

Absolutely, I have a lot of time for the bloke. Certified genius. Certified nutter. Constantly up the road from us at Santa Pod driving some contraption!

[GrumbleDook]

A little known thing is that tracked armored vehicles are designed to put down as little ground pressure as possible via the tracks to prevent them getting bogged down so are not very good at crushing small tough objects.

Putting the entire weight of a tank on top of a car however is always very impressive

 

They still ruin roads though. Especially when some jockey decides to do lots of spins.

[Garacesh]

For 2.5" drives I just whack them with a ball-peen hammer a lot. Once it starts rattling, the platters have shattered and we're done.

For 3.5" drives I disassemble it, take out the metal platters, then stick them in a vice and batter/deform them beyond usability with the aforementioned ball-peen hammer.

[ozydave]

For 2.5" drives I just whack them with a ball-peen hammer a lot. Once it starts rattling, the platters have shattered and we're done.

For 3.5" drives I disassemble it, take out the metal platters, then stick them in a vice and batter/deform them beyond usability with the aforementioned ball-peen hammer.

 

I'd like to do that for a few teachers