Disposing of old hard drives - data removal

[#1]

From a practical point of view would this do the job
Unscrew the circuit board (4 or 5 screws) and remove - put in dustbin
Take remainder of the hard drive to metal recycling skip

[#2]

Might help if you could drive a 6" nail through it too..... before disposing of it...

[#3]

Dismantle. Safety glasses. Sledgehammer. 

[#4]

Playing about - dismantling is easy one you find the hidden screws (except for the Quantum Fireball where the screws aren't moveable)
Lovely bearings - rotates beautifully - now to hit the rotating part with a ball peen hammer 
my stock of small screws has increased significantly

[#5]

Bury at sea.

[#6]

I have a few ex Laptop HD's in caddies for extra storage, they all work OK, the Laptops failed in various ways, two broken screens, power socket burnt off Mother board etc.

[#7]

Password protect all data as you go along ....... then
Wipe securely with software.
Or overwrite with large files several times.
Open up drive
Remove reflective discs
Bend in vice
Use as mirrors
Keep discs in back of drawer for years, until data is out of date.
Cook in oven with next roast ?(Not tried this, do NOT do this in microwave !)
Dispose of one per bin collection
Is what I do.
Did you see this last weeks TV programme Bang Goes the Theory on this very subject ?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01fbfhg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01fbfhg/Bang_Goes_the_Theory_Series_6_Episode_3/


For CD's and DVD's, I use a cheap manual shredder.
Similar to this one, cost me £5
http://www.engadget.com/2005/01/26/hand-cranked-cd-paper-and-credit-card-shredder/

[#8]

remember to remove  any neodymium magnets as they are fun to play with.

[#9]

i didn't think of that 

[#10]

Quote from: artificer

remember to remove  any neodymium magnets as they are fun to play with.

I had to look up what they were:

Quote

The tetragonal Nd2Fe14B crystal structure has exceptionally high uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy (HA~7 teslas). This gives the compound the potential to have high coercivity (i.e., resistance to being demagnetized). The compound also has a high saturation magnetization (Js ~1.6 T or 16 kG) and typically 1.3 tesla. Therefore, as the maximum energy density is proportional to Js2, this magnetic phase has the potential for storing large amounts of magnetic energy (BHmax ~ 512 kJ/m3 or 64 MG·Oe), considerably more than samarium cobalt (SmCo) magnets, which were the first type of rare earth magnet to be commercialized. In practice, the magnetic properties of neodymium magnets depend on the alloy composition, microstructure, and manufacturing technique employed.

Could someone paraphrase that for me please?

[#11]

They are very strong for their size

[#12]

Or: Tough little bu**ers. 

[#13]

Quote from: jelv

Could someone paraphrase that for me please?

They're basically explaining why, once anyone starts playing with a couple of them, it doesn't take them all that long to find out how really damn strong they are. The conclusion is usually reached only moments after two of them have snapped together pinching your sking in the process.
Buying them mail order causes all sorts of problems, particularly the bigger ones, because unless they are extremely well packaged they have a habit of sticking to anything and everything ferrous whether that's Royal Mail's sorting machinery, the inside of the postie's van, etc!
Mathew

[#14]

I assume things are merrily destroyed now, however for future reference if the drive is functioning you can always boot and nuke it - http://www.dban.org/
Warning! Remove all other hard drives, usb drives, floppies, re-writable CD/DVD/BD before use as dban just goes after all and any drives it finds on the system!

[#15]

They actually wouldn't work when connected to my computer - I don't know why