Disposing of a hard drive.

Bill Ward wrote:
Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
Bill.

If a platter is bent just a little bit, that's sufficient.

You can use a screwdriver to gain access to the platters.

Paul

On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 17:47:31 +0100, Bill Ward wrote:

Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
Bill.
Sounds good to me except for the pollution.

I take a 3 pound "engineer's hammer" to them. It can destroy the cast
aluminum housing and platter beneath.

If you take a cover off you can use a Neodymium magnet over the
surface of the disk...

On 15/06/2018 18:28, Mayayana wrote:
"Bill Ward" wrote

| Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
| disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
| Bill.

Open it up. You'll find that the actual disks are
very brittle and shatter into *lots* of pieces.
You could probably also achieve that by just
bending it a bit in a vice.

PS - Watch out for tiny shards. They can be
very sharp. It's best to contain the destruction.


I could hand it in to a police station and say that I found it and let
them destroy it. Story behind that is I once found a digital camera and
handed it in. I asked what would happen to it and they said if it was
not claimed after a certain time I could have it or it would be sold on
the police auction site. I checked and it had not been claimed and went
to collect it. The PCSO on the desk was about to give it to me when his
colleague said that anything with memory on it could not be returned. I
said I'd take it without the memory card and was told that a clever
person could get at anything that had been deleted on the card or the
internal memory and so would have to be destroyed.
I was told that this also applied to laptops, phones and anything else
with memory. I'd not heard of the police auction site and had a look to
see what was being sold. The camera, as well phones and laptops were all
on the site. I contacted them and was told they had been put on in error
and it would be removed.
Bill.

On 15/06/2018 19:02, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
On 06/15/2018 12:28 PM, Mayayana wrote:
"Bill Ward" wrote

| Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
| disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
| Bill.

Â*Â* Open it up. You'll find that the actual disks are
very brittle and shatter into *lots* of pieces.
You could probably also achieve that by just
bending it a bit in a vice.

PS - Watch out for tiny shards. They can be
very sharp. It's best to contain the destruction.



I take them apart to salvage the very powerful magnets They come in
handy and they are super strong.

Rene

I've never managed to take one apart. Is there a Youtube video for it? Bill.

--
Bill.

On 15/06/2018 19:08, default wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 17:47:31 +0100, Bill Ward wrote:

Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
Bill.
Sounds good to me except for the pollution.

I take a 3 pound "engineer's hammer" to them. It can destroy the cast
aluminum housing and platter beneath.

If you take a cover off you can use a Neodymium magnet over the
surface of the disk...

Could end up in a Basking sharks stomach. There was a big one off shore
recently.
Bill.

In article , Paul
wrote:


If a platter is bent just a little bit, that's sufficient.

for an average person, yes.
for someone intent on scavenging it, no.
for the nsa, not even a concern.

On 06/15/2018 1:22 PM, Bill Ward wrote:
On 15/06/2018 19:02, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
On 06/15/2018 12:28 PM, Mayayana wrote:
"Bill Ward" wrote

| Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
| disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
| Bill.

Â*Â* Open it up. You'll find that the actual disks are
very brittle and shatter into *lots* of pieces.
You could probably also achieve that by just
bending it a bit in a vice.

PS - Watch out for tiny shards. They can be
very sharp. It's best to contain the destruction.



I take them apart to salvage the very powerful magnets They come in
handy and they are super strong.

Rene

I've never managed to take one apart. Is there a Youtube video for it?
Bill.


Mostly all you need is a set of small Torx screw drivers, Remove cover
than all visible screws.

Rene

Bill Ward wrote:
Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of disposal ? I do
live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
Bill.

Take the magnet out. Those things are powerful!
I have a couple with ropes attached that I use to retrive parts, wrenches, etc.
They make good fridge magnets, too. Capable of holding up an entire newspaper.
The platters hang from the trees out front and they spin and flash in the wind.
The small magnesium parts are kind of cool and go in the junk box.

On 06/15/2018 1:24 PM, Bill Ward wrote:
On 15/06/2018 19:08, default wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 17:47:31 +0100, Bill Ward wrote:

Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
Bill.
Sounds good to me except for the pollution.

I take a 3 pound "engineer's hammer" to them.Â* It can destroy the cast
aluminum housing and platter beneath.

If you take a cover off you can use a Neodymium magnet over the
surface of the disk...

Could end up in a Basking sharks stomach. There was a big one off shore
recently.
Bill.

Here's some info for you Bill.

https://makezine.com/2015/12/10/salv...ld-hard-drive/

Rene

In article , says...

Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
Bill.

I take it you want NO chance anyone else can ever read what's on the
drive. I state it that way because for 99.9% of the people simply
reformatting the drive is enough. What are the chances that someone will
come into possession of the drive and also have the inclination,
knowledge and tools to read a drive that is "toast". I have a whole
stack of drives here came out of pc's from who knows where, some of them
I know the person first using the drive had done nothing to them before
throwing away given there was pics, music etc. on them. Doesn't matter
to me, if it mounts I reformat it as I'm not intersted in what was on
drive but only if it works reliably. Bottom line is that if it works
reliably then buy an enclosure for it and use it as an external drive is
better than waste disposal and landfill.

On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 19:24:58 +0100, Bill Ward wrote:

On 15/06/2018 19:08, default wrote:
On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 17:47:31 +0100, Bill Ward wrote:

Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
Bill.
Sounds good to me except for the pollution.

I take a 3 pound "engineer's hammer" to them. It can destroy the cast
aluminum housing and platter beneath.

If you take a cover off you can use a Neodymium magnet over the
surface of the disk...

Could end up in a Basking sharks stomach. There was a big one off shore
recently.
Bill.

Basking sharks are filter feeders, and hard drives sink.

I did get to see one up close ~30 miles offshore fishing once. The
sheer size of the thing was impressive, longer than my 20' boat.

In article , says...

On 06/15/2018 12:28 PM, Mayayana wrote:
"Bill Ward" wrote

| Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
| disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
| Bill.

Open it up. You'll find that the actual disks are
very brittle and shatter into *lots* of pieces.
You could probably also achieve that by just
bending it a bit in a vice.

PS - Watch out for tiny shards. They can be
very sharp. It's best to contain the destruction.



I take them apart to salvage the very powerful magnets They come in
handy and they are super strong.

Rene

I do that also. What I don't understand is how they attract so strongly
on one side and there's no force at all when back sides put together. To
me and everyone I've ever shown this to it's like magic.

Any chance you know how that works as I assume the magnetic field is
somehow shaped ans not circular like a normal magnet.

In article , says...

On 15/06/2018 18:28, Mayayana wrote:
"Bill Ward" wrote

| Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
| disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
| Bill.

Open it up. You'll find that the actual disks are
very brittle and shatter into *lots* of pieces.
You could probably also achieve that by just
bending it a bit in a vice.

PS - Watch out for tiny shards. They can be
very sharp. It's best to contain the destruction.


I could hand it in to a police station and say that I found it and let
them destroy it. Story behind that is I once found a digital camera and
handed it in. I asked what would happen to it and they said if it was
not claimed after a certain time I could have it or it would be sold on
the police auction site. I checked and it had not been claimed and went
to collect it. The PCSO on the desk was about to give it to me when his
colleague said that anything with memory on it could not be returned. I
said I'd take it without the memory card and was told that a clever
person could get at anything that had been deleted on the card or the
internal memory and so would have to be destroyed.
I was told that this also applied to laptops, phones and anything else
with memory. I'd not heard of the police auction site and had a look to
see what was being sold. The camera, as well phones and laptops were all
on the site. I contacted them and was told they had been put on in error
and it would be removed.
Bill.

That all sounds like police bs to me.

In article , says...

On 15/06/2018 19:02, Rene Lamontagne wrote:
On 06/15/2018 12:28 PM, Mayayana wrote:
"Bill Ward" wrote

| Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
| disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
| Bill.

** Open it up. You'll find that the actual disks are
very brittle and shatter into *lots* of pieces.
You could probably also achieve that by just
bending it a bit in a vice.

PS - Watch out for tiny shards. They can be
very sharp. It's best to contain the destruction.



I take them apart to salvage the very powerful magnets They come in
handy and they are super strong.

Rene

I've never managed to take one apart. Is there a Youtube video for it? Bill.

Just take the screws off as you see them. Many are torx head so I've
even used a grinder and simply ground them off. I'v even done brute
force with a screwdrive jammed down the side. The thin tin top will give
with enough force. Takes some effort but not usually much. Onlt thing
usefull inside it the magnets unless you're sfter the electronics to use
as a spare part for another drive you need to get to work again in which
case but the proper tools ... no grinder .

Bill Ward wrote:
Most hard drives seem quite indestructible. What is the best method of
disposal ? I do live on the coast with some 500ft high cliffs nearby.
Bill.

Throw it into a volcano. :P
--
Quote of the Week: "I never kill insects. If I see ants or spiders in
the room, I pick them up and take them outside. Karma is everything."
--Holly Valance
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.home.dhs.org
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail privately. If credit-
| |o o| | ing, then please kindly use Ant nickname and URL/link.
\ _ /
( )