Disposing of a Hard Drive

Marky · 21 Feb 2008 at 18:35

Hey all,

If I want to throw a Hard Drive away - is a simple format okay or should I poke it abit with a screwdriver?

Just don't want anyone getting their hands on any information

Thanks,

Marky

Dingleberry88 · 21 Feb 2008 at 18:37

Open it up and use the platters as coasters.

jak731 · 21 Feb 2008 at 18:37

what powertools have you got?

completely destroy it to be completely safe is my advise and have fun doing so

Meridian · 21 Feb 2008 at 19:31

You know you want to...

M

Marky · 21 Feb 2008 at 20:01

Hehe awesome thanks

MikeHunt79 · 21 Feb 2008 at 20:04

would it be possible to use the alu case of a HD as some sort of heatsink?

jak731 · 21 Feb 2008 at 20:06

i think so, but it will be a very very poor HS as it doesnt have much surface area

MikeHunt79 · 21 Feb 2008 at 20:13

jak731 said:
i think so, but it will be a very very poor HS as it doesnt have much surface area

I have a cunning plan.

It might involve some cutting and sanding, but an old HD may be perfect for what I want to do... I'm glad I stumbled on this thread now.

It won't be a computer heatsink, that's all I can say right now...

decto · 21 Feb 2008 at 20:51

Just fill the drive with trash.... lots of Mp3's or mpgs or something.

Each bit can only be set to a value of 1 or 0

AD

ChrisLX200 · 21 Feb 2008 at 21:31

Drop it into a bucket of water... preferably while it's still spinning :-)

ChrisH

sosrandom · 21 Feb 2008 at 23:24

Fill the inside with anthrax and remove the connectors, that way if someone does want to goto the trouble of reading your data they wont survive.

Leave it in a rucksack at a tube station / trainstation.

Put it in a compose heap and wait for the tigerworms to eat it, or wait for it to degrade.

PhillyDee · 22 Feb 2008 at 00:02

Open up the hard drive and remove the neodynium (sp?) magnets. The are mucho powerful, plus removing them will destroy the HDD.

MikeHunt79 · 22 Feb 2008 at 00:28

Do you know when did hard drives started having neodymium magnets?

Only in the past few years speakers have started using them, I guess they must started using them in hard drives ages ago, and the tech has only recently filtered down to speakers...

I have removed these magnets before and they are very powerful. Be careful with them!

semi-pro waster · 22 Feb 2008 at 08:41

Meridian said:
You know you want to...

M

That looks awesome. The platters might still be readable at that stage but someone would have to be pretty dedicated.

PhillyDee · 22 Feb 2008 at 09:46

MikeHunt79 said:
Do you know when did hard drives started having neodymium magnets?

Only in the past few years speakers have started using them, I guess they must started using them in hard drives ages ago, and the tech has only recently filtered down to speakers...

I have removed these magnets before and they are very powerful. Be careful with them!

Considering the first hard drive i pulled to bits was a 45mb one and that had it, years. Ive got about a dozen inside my locker at work.

fat-600 · 22 Feb 2008 at 14:22

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sQYPCPB1g3o

MikeHunt79 · 22 Feb 2008 at 14:27

PhillyDee said:
Considering the first hard drive i pulled to bits was a 45mb one and that had it, years. Ive got about a dozen inside my locker at work.

Nice, I may rip apart some of my older drives then... These magnets often come in useful.

That shreddar is :eek:

Noufas · 22 Feb 2008 at 16:30

man those magnets you are talking about are amazing, can be very dangerous if you dont know what you are dealing with

as for the OP, i would doubt that someone would go into trouble of looking what a hard drive has inside, unless you are a spy

MikeHunt79 · 22 Feb 2008 at 16:42

Noufas said:
man those magnets you are talking about are amazing, can be very dangerous if you dont know what you are dealing with

Yea I think neodymium magnets are the strongest magnetic thing available right now... :cool:

Schnippzle · 22 Feb 2008 at 16:44

Take cover off hdd, let it spin up, get mates to stand around it in a circle and tell them to throw nails, screws etc at it whilst it still spinning.

I accept no responsibility for any harm caused