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Hulk SMASH Puny Harddrive
DarkWarrior
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So basically I have like 4 hard drives I want to physically destroy. I had a few fail on my in a short period of time but outside their warranties and ive had them sitting around for a significant amount of time since I can't plug them in and erase whatever is on them. In some cases I dont think ther ewas sensitive stuff on there but I think things like account and bank stuff may be on some so I want to obliterate them before I get rid.
But they seem to be built from adamantium or something, they're not easy to smash. I'd drop them out of the window except I'm afraid they'd just end up shattering the paving slabs in the garden.
Any tips on destroying these things? Can I just submerge them in something?
Thanks for reading.
But they seem to be built from adamantium or something, they're not easy to smash. I'd drop them out of the window except I'm afraid they'd just end up shattering the paving slabs in the garden.
Any tips on destroying these things? Can I just submerge them in something?
Thanks for reading.
DarkWarrior on
0
Posts
Or a bat.
Really any heavy, hard blunt object. Just make sure you're wearing eye protection when you do it.
Sledgehammers also work.
http://hackaday.com/2008/09/16/how-to-thermite-based-hard-drive-anti-forensic-destruction/
I think I may pass on the thermite.
Smashing the circuit board is enough to stop most people since you can't plug it in and have it work, but the thing with a simple smashing is that data can often be recovered afterward from the platters.
Honestly I drill mine old drives open and steal the magnets out of them with vise grips.
I've heard of soaking them in hydrochloric acid ($5/gal @ home depot) but never tried it.
Keep the magnets. Just don't stick them to the fridge unless you want them to stay there indefinitely.
Pretend the hard drive called your mother a whore.
You gonna let it get away with that?
What kind of hammer are you using? See if a neighbor has a framing hammer or something similarly beefy and just go apeshit on it. You'll destroy the drives, get some cool magnets, and you'll be able to vent some aggression to boot.
That mother fucker!
Its just a hammer, but I was holding back a little because I was afraid of something shattering or whatnot. Ill give it a crack tomorrow on concrete.
Haven't had much that stood in it's way and survived. Best.present.EVER
I really want one now.
I am partial to anything described as a "Demolition and Utility Bar".
Buy one.. they run $30 at lowes. Hammer + Claw + crowbar = bad ass
If there is any of the media material left on the platters, data can be recovered. This is why secure disposal requires multi-pass overwrites of data before the disk is physically destroyed. You've got to be pretty paranoid to worry about it though because it's not easy or cheap to do.
I remember seeing a cool article about data recovery from a drive that had been shot with a rifle, but could only find this old one.
They're usually neodymium, and ridiculously powerful. They're just fun things to have around.
Anyway, yes, you can recover data from a destroyed hard drive, but unless you're running a company that has some proprietary technology, it's not really a huge concern. You're just looking to make it difficult for some random jackass to pull it out of a bin and start trying to access it. You're not looking to protect it from the characters of 24.
You can also use a metal drill bit. The disk will shatter if someone tries to spin it up.
If you have any old speaker magnets you can try and mess it up a little that way. A guy on another forum I frequent works at a hospital, and he uses a decommissioned MRI in the basement to wipe their HDDs.