[Gllug] Securely disposing of old hard drives

[Chris Bell]

On Mon 20 Aug, James Roberts wrote:

> A few points:
> 
> - If a drive is ATA and over 3 years old its obsolete :)
> 
> - Water will not bother the electronics. The electronics are washed in 
> water with a citrus additive to clean them after assembly.
> 
> - DBAN is great for drives that will be reused.
> 
> - Smashing the electronics does not prevent connecting new electronics 
> from another drive.
> 
> Simplest cheapest quickest solution is:
> 
> - take each drive and mount in a bench vice vertically board to the top 
> and facing you
> - drill at least one 6mm hole through case, platters, electronics
> - don't try and drill through the head assembly
> - Dispose of legally (remember WEE).
> 
> Notes of caution:
> 
> - some platters are glass so will shatter, especially 2.5" drives. Wear 
> goggles and use gloves to handle the drilled drive, just in case.
> - don't drill through the larger power transistors on the board. Some of 
> them are manufactured with toxic materials (Beryllium, amongst others). 
> Choose an area with tracks and small components.
> - on your own head be it, don't blame me.
> 
> This procedure will prevent all but the most well-funded and dedicated 
> of investigators recovering data (though it is still possible), and is 
> quick and easy (given a sharp drill bit).
> 
> A further step (for the cautious) is heating to above 450C which 
> destroys and sheds the magnetic surface on the platters and 
> de-flattens/melts some platter materials.
> 
> But a quick hole will do for most purposes and will prevent embarrassments.
> 
> MeJ
> 
   Agreed on all the safety advice, but that all sounds like hard work
compared with plugging it in and using software to over-write the data a few
times while you get on with something else.

-- 
Chris Bell

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