How to Destroy an old Hard Drive

My 3 old hard drives are no more!!! Friend's husband had to work hard with his sledge hammer as he said they were a ** to smash up, but they're done now.

Love the old lady with a hammer!

Chestnut - your second photo below looks way more capable of getting the job done than the first pic

Chestnut

I was going to suggest leaving it in water for a day or two. Would that do the trick 'railman or would it spring back to life when it dried off?

I have a hard drive and some memory sticks I need to smash. I keep trying to muster the courage to go outside with a hammer, but if water will do it that would be much easier.

I've also considered buying a fire pit and burning them. Might also be useful for old diaries and letters, of which I have a lot.

Chestnut Just to be sure - if you have a garden waste burner, or 'fire pit' that would also do the job well.

Some data can be recovered from dried out drives, so 'drowning' them will work to a degree, but ....

Will an old lady with a hammer do? ???

A friend's husband is coming round with a sledge hammer on Friday!!

Elegran

If you are a weakling, hand it and a sledgehammer to a disgruntled teenager and stand well back.

????

If you are a weakling, hand it and a sledgehammer to a disgruntled teenager and stand well back.

Drive over them repeatedly?

Dottygran59

I might be a bit thick, but why do you need to destroy them before disposing of? Sorry if it's a daft question - I would have just put it in the bin

Most hard drives also contain passwords, credit card details if you have ever bought anything online, as well as personal photos, addresses, letters, emails sent and received, it’s all hidden away in there somewhere, even when you delete it, it’s still there lurking………

Ah right - yes, that makes sense

Dottygran59

I might be a bit thick, but why do you need to destroy them before disposing of? Sorry if it's a daft question - I would have just put it in the bin

I was thinking of identity theft amongst other things. It contains all my personal information, photos, etc.

I might be a bit thick, but why do you need to destroy them before disposing of? Sorry if it's a daft question - I would have just put it in the bin

Always the hammer …..repeatedly.

Water will not get rid of the information on it. I have worked in computers a long time and have software to completely wipe a disc but if it is going to be thrown away I always use the large hammer approach. The older 3.5 inch ones are quite strong and do need several good hefty hits before they bend and break.

Or put it in bleach? Would that do the job?

I was going to suggest leaving it in water for a day or two. Would that do the trick 'railman or would it spring back to life when it dried off?

I have a hard drive and some memory sticks I need to smash. I keep trying to muster the courage to go outside with a hammer, but if water will do it that would be much easier.

I've also considered buying a fire pit and burning them. Might also be useful for old diaries and letters, of which I have a lot.

I deliberately left my old computer out behind the garage where it got rained on. When I next saw it it was put in the bin rather the worse for wear.

And a big log to put it on whilst you smash it up Sparklefizz

My SIL took a hammer to it for me.

Thanks everyone. Looks like I will have to buy/borrow a sledge hammer.

These are a couple of UK Government links that might be of interest:

www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/secure-sanitisation-storage-media

www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/products-services/all-products-services-categories?productType=Data%20sanitisation

As an IT professional, and having had a lot of experience with security of systems, data and hardware I'm going to come at this from the - "well it depends what sort of 'old hard drive' you have" position.

If it's magnetic it needs to be degaussed, if it is a solid state (SSD) drive - as in high end devices there are software tools that can do the job, but it depends on the computer and SSD maker. Some suggestions are described in the security bible (ISO27001), but ....

From experience I would advocate the sledgehammer route in every case, before obviously complying with the WEEE Directive and take it the local recycling centre or tip.

(The "magnets overnight" will not do the job securely I'm afraid - stick with the hammer approach.)

I bashed one up with a sledgehammer but I wasn't happy with the result so then I threw it on a garden bonfire. After that, I buried it in the garden.

No half measures

I also magnetised one and then buried it deep in the wild part of the garden. Maybe some metal detectorist will find it and be puzzled a century or so hence.