old hard drives

[Dave L]

I have had an old harddrive sitting in my desk at home for quite some time. I took it out of a computer I recycled a year or 2 ago (It was long retired). I plugged it into ax external hard drive enclosure I had. 2 - 10GB partitions, a whopping 20GB! I did however find some pictures that I dont think I had on the new computer.

I then remembered that I had another HD from an even older computer. I pulled that one out - 1083MB. State of the art I tell you. I need to plug it in to check the contents.

What do you do with old harddrives? Im not a conspiracy theorist but I dont like putting my information out there even if the drive has been formatted.

[m21sniper]

I like to shoot old hard drives. They're actually very tough because of the platters (they act like spaced armor), it's interesting to see what particular loadings and calibers will penetrate them.

Most pistol rounds will not penetrate a hard drive.

[slodave]

If there are multiple platters inside the drive, take the drive apart and remove the platters. The platters would need to be lined up exactly as they were before removal for the data to be read.

A sledge hammer will render them useless as well.

[m21sniper]

Using a 12 gauge shotgun is much more fun.

[stealthn]

Drill a couple of holes in them with a metal bit, then send they to the recyclers.

[widebody911]

I was doing some cleaning in my home office last weekend, and found a few brand-spankin'-new 4Gb fast-wide-differential drives, as well as a brand-new 1Gb Seagate Barracuda drive. Brand new, in un-opened ESD bags.

[mikester]

I have a stack of them still. I keep meaning to plug them in and see what's on them.

[Scott R]

I'm with sniper, shoot them. We pay a small fortune at work to have them shredded, At home they are target practice.

[Dave L]

sorry to disappoint but no guns so I wont be shooting them. I took the 20GB and removed the partition and will be backing up all my photos onto it and putting it in our little fireproof box. The 1gb sadly wouldnt boot up, it spins up okay but it wont come up in my computer.

I will probably take a hammer to the 1gb

[m21sniper]

Line the dead spaces between your walls with them....bullet proof your home or office with your old scrap hard drives.

[HardDrive]

They are great for plinking.

Drill press works as well.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by stealthn

Drill a couple of holes in them with a metal bit, then send they to the recyclers.

Geek told me to just drill 3 holes all the way through. Done.

[MT930]

Toss them in the wood stove.

Whack em with a hammer.

[TechnoViking]

I read an article in Wired once about how you can build a false drive full of phosphorous or magnesium or some schit that you put in the top bay. If you push "self destruct" it ignites and melts through your lower, operating drives.

You know, for when the FBI comes through the door.

[slodave]

I suppose drilling would work...

Some platters are metal, some are a glass like substance that shatters (and will cut your hand and leave little glass shards)...

[porsche4life]

Ship it to me.... I'll think of some creative way to blow it to smitherens on video.

Hmm... pack the case full of tannerite and shoot it with a .223 That sounds fun

[dhoward]

Take it apart and get the really cool, incredibly strong magnets out of it.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by mikester

I have a stack of them still. I keep meaning to plug them in and see what's on them.

***ahemvintagepornahem***

[mikester]

Originally Posted by cstreit

***ahemvintagepornahem***

Goes without saying doesn't it?

crass...

[equality72521]

Drill holes and then the sledge hammer.