Destroying a computer hard drive

I would expect a newer drive to survive a head crash, at least for a little while. They have software to automatically map out bad areas as they run, and they must have multiple ways to index.

Solid state? I think you have to incinerate them. Which would be lousy, because burning epoxy smells terrible and is probably fairly toxic. But if you just want the data not recoverable by the average yo-yo, you could probably power them up way over voltage and burn out the onboard regulators, or take a small torch and pop the chips off. Whatever data you have wouldn't be worth moving the memory chips to another drive.
 
At work we used to remove the memory ICs then saw them in half to destroy a SSD.
 
Albany Tom said:
I would expect a newer drive to survive a head crash, at least for a little while. They have software to automatically map out bad areas as they run, and they must have multiple ways to index.

Solid state? I think you have to incinerate them. Which would be lousy, because burning epoxy smells terrible and is probably fairly toxic. But if you just want the data not recoverable by the average yo-yo, you could probably power them up way over voltage and burn out the onboard regulators, or take a small torch and pop the chips off. Whatever data you have wouldn't be worth moving the memory chips to another drive.
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The sledge works just fine on solid state as well. Might have to hit it a couple more times is all.
 
Or just give it to me and I will drop it off the main wall in Grand Cayman when I go diving, where is 2 or 3,000 feet deep... Of note, I have recovered few unmarked VHS cassettes from smaller depths around 250', but none could be watched. I will forever wonder what was on them that required dropping them into the deep sea
 
Pi1otguy said:
All 0s is bad as a slight pattern could still exist "under" the 0s. At least 5 passes alternating patterns, then 2 passes random or an arbitrary string. 35 pass Gutmann if you have too much time and paranoia on your hands.

The real question, what to do with old SSDs? They kinda lie to about actual location of data and idk if i can trust a hardware implemented "wipe" command.
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I saw that option on the list but didn’t select it as I didn’t want to listen the HD write head all night long next to my bed.

My CS roommate used old wafers as coasters for the dorm room. He tried to swipe mine but I told him I needed it for the warranty swap…:rolleyes:
 
ARFlyer said:
I saw that option on the list but didn’t select it as I didn’t want to listen the HD write head all night long next to my bed
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3 is plenty for any "bad guy" using off the shelf software based recovery. But what if the NSA/KGB/MI5 employs a multi million dollar super computer powered AI driven clean room?
 
Sifossifoco said:
Or just give it to me and I will drop it off the main wall in Grand Cayman when I go diving, where is 2 or 3,000 feet deep... Of note, I have recovered few unmarked VHS cassettes from smaller depths around 250', but none could be watched. I will forever wonder what was on them that required dropping them into the deep sea
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The VHS cassettes would be unwatchable from the point they touched saltwater. Computer hard drives? Probably could take it for a while.
 
Beat it with a hammer on the covers so it bends the disc inside, also smash the circuit board. If you have a big enough vise, clamp in the center
and squeeze it till badly deformed!
 
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