dobbslc
Forum Supporter
- Messages
- 13,129
- Location
- Hertfordshire UK
- Thread starter dobbslc
- Start date
Spark plug
Member
- Messages
- 4,062
- Location
- Durham, England
Yeah that's the hard drive.
Alan Reynolds
Member
- Messages
- 1,299
Remove the cover from the hard frive and destroy the platter. Mind your eyes! There are some very useful magnets under the head unit if you fancy getting them out.
Maker
Most folk just call me; Orange Joe
- Messages
- 10,623
- Location
- Keeler crater
There'll be 6 small torq screws around the edge and a 7th under the sticker. With the cover off you'll see the platten (Shiny 3.5" disc), smash or scratch it and it'll be useless. Be sure to squint when you hit it though, sometimes they're glass.
Spark plug
Member
- Messages
- 4,062
- Location
- Durham, England
brightspark
Member
- Messages
- 41,270
- Location
- yarm stockton on tees
a screwdriver punched through it kills them
There are two ways to destroy a hard drive, one is the physically destroy the platters (the metal plates) which contain the data by drilling holes through them or taking them apart and as another poster has said that way you can get the two very strong magnets out of it and then destroy the platters.
The second way involves destroying the data on the hard drive so it can be reused. This would involve downloading a live cd or usb (live cd = an operating system that runs from the computer memory), burn the image to a disc / usb and then overwriting the hard drive with random 1’s and 0’s several times. It must be random because in theory the ‘men in black’ could get back the data if they know the pattern of 1’s and 0’s used to erase the disc (I use dd for this purpose). The advantage of this method would be you could donate or reuse the computer but all the data on it would be destroyed.
Obviously there would be no operating system on the computer, but you can install a version of Linux which is available for free download and that way you would have a clean workable computer.
Do not format it and believe all your data is gone, this is not the case. It is possible to recover data from formatted hard drives. I have done.
The second way involves destroying the data on the hard drive so it can be reused. This would involve downloading a live cd or usb (live cd = an operating system that runs from the computer memory), burn the image to a disc / usb and then overwriting the hard drive with random 1’s and 0’s several times. It must be random because in theory the ‘men in black’ could get back the data if they know the pattern of 1’s and 0’s used to erase the disc (I use dd for this purpose). The advantage of this method would be you could donate or reuse the computer but all the data on it would be destroyed.
Obviously there would be no operating system on the computer, but you can install a version of Linux which is available for free download and that way you would have a clean workable computer.
Do not format it and believe all your data is gone, this is not the case. It is possible to recover data from formatted hard drives. I have done.
slim_boy_fat
Member
- Messages
- 29,532
- Location
- Scottish Highlands
Does the drive contain state secrets, or just personal data? Be sufficient to cut it in half and put each half in different rubbish collections.
Maker
Most folk just call me; Orange Joe
- Messages
- 10,623
- Location
- Keeler crater
How do you get generate (presumably thousands of gigabytes of) truely random numbers?
daleyd
Member
- Messages
- 10,427
- Location
- Wrexham, North Wales
Apart from a McDonald's apple pie. They are approx twice the temperature of the centre of the sun.
The_Yellow_Ardvark
https://www.death-clock.org/
- Messages
- 20,235
- Location
- Going Away.
As above.
1. Dismantle the drive. The magnets are strong and worth saving.
2. Remove the platter, put aside, in a safe place to be dealt with later
4.The case is normally good grade ally, weigh in or melt down.
5.The platter can be smashed, burnt or attacked with a power tool. .
6. Sit back and feel good.
Step 2 is now already happening.
1. Dismantle the drive. The magnets are strong and worth saving.
2. Remove the platter, put aside, in a safe place to be dealt with later
4.The case is normally good grade ally, weigh in or melt down.
5.The platter can be smashed, burnt or attacked with a power tool. .
6. Sit back and feel good.
Step 2 is now already happening.
