Damage hard drives !

[OilSheikh]

There's a DO NOT REMOVE OR WARRANTY VOID sticker on the side. I have removed it and can see a bit of the platters. Can I just pour water or bleach ?

[GoNz0]

no
..

[ChaosSystem]

It is a pity that you are not recycling them. Don't destroy them by leaving them in the environment.
Drilling a hole through the drive/platters should them from being used.

What sort of information did they contain that you need to destroy them securely?

[GoNz0]

It is a pity that you are not recycling them. Don't destroy them by leaving them in the environment.
Drilling a hole through the drive/platters should them from being used.

What sort of information did they contain that you need to destroy them securely?

pr0n!!!!!

[ladcrooks]

nuke them!

[big_hairy_rob]

I've always been fond of a screwdriver, and a lump hammer. A few well placed holes will leave it almost impossible to be used again. However if you are really paranoid, why not contacting a power shredding service?

[csgohan4]

put them in hot water

[Dingo]

pr0n!!!!!

There you are....send them to the Taliban I'm sure they will destroy them for you!!

[Splash]

Surely Thermite is the only way to fly?

[OilSheikh]

Just binned it! Too much hard work ......... yawwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnn

[jim]

I just smash at them with a hammer until I'm satisfied that I've had a good day. Once at work I had a pile about 1m high... that was a fun afternoon.

I was originally going to take them apart, but despite removing all the screws I couldn't get any of the panels to budge.

[scaryjim]

The magnets in the drive heads are *worryingly* strong. I had a hell of a time destroying some a few years ago at work. But the platters are fun to bend once you get them out

I'd love to see someone try this with a bunch of old drives, testing each destruction method (the ones that don't involve dismantling them, obviously) to see which was the most effective ...

[Lee H]

I've found that the magnets in hard-drives make the best fridge magnets ever (if a bit difficult to remove at times )

[DannyM]

Degaussing would be your best bet without getting physical with damaging it or at least it would if been, however getting a machine to do it may of been tricky.

[lapyiwin]

Provided you have right screw driver, you can always unscrew the case and scratch on magnetic platters. It will take around 3 mins to do that.

Alternatively,
why don't you use HDD Low Level Format Tool 2.36 software from Hirencd 15.1? It can do low level format which cannot be recovered with any software.

[mikerr]

There's a DO NOT REMOVE OR WARRANTY VOID sticker on the side. I have removed it and can see a bit of the platters. Can I just pour water or bleach ?

pour in sand, then turn on