Hard Drive

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
Did you ever destroy one? This is my second. The first one I did by putting it in a bucket with 2 pounds of salt for six months outside. I think I remember pounding it with a sledge hammer at the end. They are super tough. Today I used a big crow bar and chisel to open it up, then when I got the platter out I put the platter in a vice and beat it senseless. Do you think this one is still usable? There is a sad thing about destroying one.
 

Attachments

  • hd1.JPG
    hd1.JPG
    50.5 KB · Views: 200
  • hd2.JPG
    hd2.JPG
    44.4 KB · Views: 177

enormiss

Explorer
Aug 18, 2015
574
366
Atco NJ
I remove them but haven't destroyed any yet. I bought a plug (USB to something) and use two old ones as external storage after formatting.
Don't think anything will be recovered from yours LoL
 

Jon Holcombe

Explorer
Dec 1, 2015
967
1,934
Medford
Did you ever destroy one?

I destroyed a number of them, by doing essentially the same thing you did, and then cutting into the platter with metal shears.

I figured that Identity Thieves combing the landfill will move on from mine and look for intact platters.
 

Zach McGarvey

Explorer
Feb 11, 2018
248
168
37
Woodbury / Vineland NJ
You could theoretically wipe the contents with a strong magnet. I just threw away two very old ones and didn't bother because they were IDE interface and even if they wanted to steal my data, who has a computer with IDE anymore? I doubt there was anything on there anyway. A bunch of MP3s I got from Napster in 2001 probably.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,154
4,258
Pines; Bamber area
You could theoretically wipe the contents with a strong magnet. I just threw away two very old ones and didn't bother because they were IDE interface and even if they wanted to steal my data, who has a computer with IDE anymore? I doubt there was anything on there anyway. A bunch of MP3s I got from Napster in 2001 probably.

That reminds me. I have a few floppy discs with photos on them. I'll have to find a company who will put them on a CD or thumb drive.

Geez, remember the viruses in Napster?
 
Top