Been asked to "DESTROY" a hard disk drive... best method? ;o)

sniper007 · 23 Jan 2006 at 11:42

So come on, how should I destroy this little laptop Hard disk drive ive been officially asked to destroy. It doesnt work anyway but there is data on there that is classified and incase it ever started working...bla bla bla.

Whats a good way without causing TOO much mess, preferably suitable for an office environment?! lol

Hate · 23 Jan 2006 at 11:50

anyone sufficiently interested enough and with an electron microscope can find data - so best bet would be a blast furnace

col20 · 23 Jan 2006 at 12:03

LOL ^^
maybe try using ms dos delete ?

*.* delete anybody??

benjo · 23 Jan 2006 at 12:05

Burn tbh

sniper007 · 23 Jan 2006 at 12:07

Drive is buggered anyway in that I can only randomly see it as a device. Can hear it spin but very unreliable and dodgey. Need to actually destroy it. Been given orders (no i dont work in the military/FBI etc.)

Jimbo Mahoney · 23 Jan 2006 at 12:08

Spend the WHOLE day running various programs and zero-fill utilities on it

Cuchulain · 23 Jan 2006 at 12:14

Take it apart and take a lump hammer to the platters repeatedly, then nuke it from space, it's the only way to be sure.

AndyC · 23 Jan 2006 at 12:17

Burn it

Overlag · 23 Jan 2006 at 12:57

2 seconds in the microwave......however it might mess the microwave up too

FrankJH · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:02

sledge hammer - you have fun doing it also lol

VaderDSL · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:04

Thermite

mightynimrod · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:06

Water?

james.miller · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:09

yeah stuff it with thermite.

Sandmaster500 · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:09

VaderDSL said:
Thermite

Good idea! I think Open it all up, run magnets along every platter. Then sand the sand them down a bit. Then spend remaining time taking everything that can be taken apart, apart - causing as much damage in the process as possible.

*edit - spray each bit with deodrant and light

*

PieMaster · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:11

Shattering the platters with some big nails should do it nicely.

Amazing, all this technology and all thats needed to destroy it is some nails and a hammer

Melm0 · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:12

Bash it into 4 pieces and put each bit in a separate corner of the universe

mightynimrod · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:13

Better still, just give it my 3 year old - you wont recognise it afterwards, let alone get data off it

Malenko · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:17

At work, some sort of wiping software is run for 24 hours (as long as the drive actually works).. then the platters are sanded and ground into tiny pieces in a big un-holy muching machine.

Oh yeah, they usually bash em around with a sledge hammer before mincing

sagaboy2 · 23 Jan 2006 at 13:27

Home made electro magnet

240V a lot of wire and a lump on iron and just stand the magnet ontop of the platters.

The just to make sure sand them down and just use any method you can think of to damage the drive

benjo · 23 Jan 2006 at 14:02

TTIUWP