Destroying a hard drive

[JD]

Hi. I have a faulty hard drive I want to get rid of but a story that
appeared in the news recently (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7816446.stm ) has made me wary of
simply throwing it out. I'd prefer to destroy it. The thing is, this
drive seems as tough as hell. I can't figure out how to open the thing,
let alone destroy the disk inside. There are star-shaped screws on the
back but I don't have any driver to fit them.

So how do I go about making it impossible for anyone to get data off
this drive before I toss it? It's a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8.

 

[VanguardLH]

I can't figure out how to open the thing, let alone destroy the disk
inside. There are star-shaped screws on the back but I don't have any
driver to fit them.

Drill off their heads. After all, you don't care about damaging the
closure.

 

[Bryce]

Hi. I have a faulty hard drive I want to get rid of but a story that
appeared in the news recently (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7816446.stm ) has made me wary of
simply throwing it out. I'd prefer to destroy it. The thing is, this
drive seems as tough as hell. I can't figure out how to open the thing,
let alone destroy the disk inside. There are star-shaped screws on the
back but I don't have any driver to fit them.

So how do I go about making it impossible for anyone to get data off
this drive before I toss it? It's a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8.

Here's my approach:
1. Remove and break up the controller PC board.
2. Drill a few holes though the case, put it in
a plastic bucket of salt water for a week or
so, then discard.

 

[JD]

Here's my approach:
1. Remove and break up the controller PC board.
2. Drill a few holes though the case, put it in
a plastic bucket of salt water for a week or
so, then discard.

This sounds like the way to go because I don't have any drills or
hammers. However, I've exposed a small part of the disk by peeling the
silver sticker off the back of the case and removing a bit of plastic
held in place by the sticker. This hole would allow water to get in. But
can anyone else vouch for this being a reliable method of preventing
anyone accessing data on the disk? Thanks.

 

[John McGaw]

This sounds like the way to go because I don't have any drills or
hammers. However, I've exposed a small part of the disk by peeling the
silver sticker off the back of the case and removing a bit of plastic
held in place by the sticker. This hole would allow water to get in. But
can anyone else vouch for this being a reliable method of preventing
anyone accessing data on the disk? Thanks.

I would not depend on giving it a bath to destroy anything. If it were
really that simple then the "legal" methods of destruction would not be so
rigorous. The approved methods for classified information generally involve
true destruction of the drive -- shredding is approved. Burning to slag is
too and is more fun but not many people keep thermite around. I've always
figured that a pneumatic framing nail gun would be a great way of rendering
drives inoperable -- just nail it to a 2X6 scrap and toss it in the
dumpster. But it is not likely that your information has that great a value
to anyone anyway so you don't need to go so far.

The platters in modern drives are made of thin glass and are just about as
fragile as that would suggest. Find something to pound with (hammer would
be wonderful but a Manolo Blahnik pump would probably suffice if wielded
vigorously) and smash the thin aluminum-covered side of the drive
enclosure. Dent it deeply, take out your latent frustrations -- the
material is thin and soft -- and you can be sure that even the NSA won't be
getting anything off the drive.

Drilling is a fine alternative if you have the equipment and it will
certainly shatter the platters just as well as a good bashing but there is
no need to go beyond the nearest heavy object that can concentrate force on
the most vulnerable parts of the drive.

 

[Sjouke Burry]

Hi. I have a faulty hard drive I want to get rid of but a story that
appeared in the news recently (
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7816446.stm ) has made me wary of
simply throwing it out. I'd prefer to destroy it. The thing is, this
drive seems as tough as hell. I can't figure out how to open the thing,
let alone destroy the disk inside. There are star-shaped screws on the
back but I don't have any driver to fit them.

So how do I go about making it impossible for anyone to get data off
this drive before I toss it? It's a Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8.

Drive a 5 inch nail trough it.(Aim to hit the datatrack).

 

[Dan]

The article is misleading and "Which?" are completely
ignorant with their recommendation.  UNLESS a drive has
failed such that you cannot access it normally anymore, a
random multipass overwrite is 100% effective at preventing
everyone and anyone from recovering the data.

The article only mentioned cases where data was merely
"deleted" which as any technician knows does not actually do
anything to the file, only making the space available should
the OS want to write something and need that space to do so.

Every now and then someone tries to claim that in theory
some advanced technique, maybe some government agency, could
get data back after a multipass random overwrite.  Problem
is, there is no evidence of this ever being successful,
there are more hurdles than only being able to detect
residual traces of a few magnetic fields after a small (one
or two typically) number of overwrites.

It's a bit like someone saying that if they can jump really
high, this proves they can lump and land on the moon.

If the drive still works I recommend securely wiping it then
giving it to someone to use instead of adding to a landfill,
though if you want to completely prevent anyone in any
remotely implausible scenario from recovering even a bit of
data, you'll have to take the platters out (drill out the
screws on the cover or get the right bit to unscrew it) and
grind the surface, or etch it sufficiently with acid, since
in wildly implausible scenarios you wouldn't be able to
leave any part of any platter surface area intact even if
you shot through it with a shotgun a few times.

Being more practical, you could build a rocket and send it
out into space far enough that enough time will have passed
that nobody could possibly care what was on the drive by the
time it's found - if ever.  Slow them down an extra minute
by setting it in concrete and disguising the whole thing as
a tombstone.

Now the realistic answer to your question, take cover off
and bend the platters up slightly with a screwdriver, nobody
is going to make enough of an effort to overcome that degree
of damage, or set it sideways/open in a fire, or put a
bullet through it, or bury it somewhere, or dump some
concrete inside and let that set, or just keep the platters
on your person at all times and toss the rest of the drive,
or subject them to a strong electromagnet a few times.

Bottom line - people don't randomly make extreme efforts to
get data off a drive if they have no idea what was on it.
Multipass overwrite is effective if it works still, or just
about anything you can think of would be effective in normal
circumstances if it doesn't work.  There are just too many
hard drives in the world for people to randomly try to
revive them all without reason, it'd be far more likely
someone would just break into your home and steal a drive if
they had any desire to get your data.

Over the course of time I've opened up quite a number of bum hard
drives, mostly to demonstrate to computer classes for beginners how
stuff is made of inside. The info I'm giving here may be handy to some
of those following this thread in future, or for general knowledge:
1. The screws holding the hdd together are "torx" type, and many
toolboxes do have them. Appears similar to, but not to be mixed up
with "allen" type which is hexagonal.
2. When you take apart the hdd, there is a very strong magnet (i guess
for shielding something in heads coils) which can be handy for some
uses in the car or around the house.
3. The information we see on bios like 16 heads etc is different from
the physical reality where there is usually only one platter (2 heads)
or 2 platters (4 heads). It numbs mind to imagine the steep transition
of hard disk when you compare the 20 megabyte drive of the 286s in
1992 which was heaped up like a hamburger to the 160 gb drive of today
less than half thickness and weight.

 

[JD]

Just go ahead and send it to the police. Sooner or later they will catch you
anyway.

It was just a matter of time before somebody made a puerile post like this.

To everyone else: thanks. In the end it proved easy to prize the top off
and by that time, the platter was already scratched and bent so I figure
it's safe to get rid of. The drive didn't work, BTW, otherwise I would
still be using it.

 

[~misfit~]

It was just a matter of time before somebody made a puerile post like
this.

Well, someone makes such a big fuss about destroying data you do have to
wonder....

The article states: ""Unless you're a spook or the kingpin of a criminal
consortium, there's no need to go out and buy deleting software and no need
to put a hammer through the damned thing," Mr Goodwins told the BBC."

I reckon Mr Goodwins must be an upperclass sort of British gent (or the Beeb
edited him) to have not mentioned kiddy porn collectors in that statement.

To everyone else: thanks. In the end it proved easy to prize the top
off and by that time, the platter was already scratched and bent so I
figure it's safe to get rid of. The drive didn't work, BTW, otherwise
I would still be using it.

Ya know, I read that BBC article and I've seen all the sheeple all over
different fora bleating about it and I just have to wonder; Did this Which?
Computing magazine take a kick-back from HDD manufacturers for scaring the
simple folks into destroying perfectly good HDDs? That way they're not
available second-hand so more people will be forced to buy new. I mean, even
the BBC used the headline "Hard Drive Destruction 'Crucial'".

It's quite funny watching the ripples on teh intarweb, scared folks running
around like headless chickens, panicking about that system they sold last
month....

The power of the media. (Pun intended.)

 

[Paul]

Over the course of time I've opened up quite a number of bum hard
drives, mostly to demonstrate to computer classes for beginners how
stuff is made of inside. The info I'm giving here may be handy to some
of those following this thread in future, or for general knowledge:
1. The screws holding the hdd together are "torx" type, and many
toolboxes do have them. Appears similar to, but not to be mixed up
with "allen" type which is hexagonal.
2. When you take apart the hdd, there is a very strong magnet (i guess
for shielding something in heads coils) which can be handy for some
uses in the car or around the house.
3. The information we see on bios like 16 heads etc is different from
the physical reality where there is usually only one platter (2 heads)
or 2 platters (4 heads). It numbs mind to imagine the steep transition
of hard disk when you compare the 20 megabyte drive of the 286s in
1992 which was heaped up like a hamburger to the 160 gb drive of today
less than half thickness and weight.

The magnet is part of the voice coil assembly. It works the same
way a speaker coil works. The coil generates a field with attracts
or repulses the fixed magnet. That is how the actuator arm is
moved across the platter. Using embedded servo (between user data
sectors), a closed loop feedback system helps keep the voice
coil controlled head assembly, centered over the track.

http://www.storagereview.com/guideImages/z_000874voicecoil.jpg

(Slightly different here)
http://c1.neweggimages.com/productimage/22-148-373-01.jpg

You'll notice that magnet is very strong, and yet it has no effect
on the user's data. Imagine how much stronger a magnet would have
to be held next to the drive externally, to erase it. That is why
is it hard to buy an eraser which is certified to erase all
modern (like 1TB) drives.

The full StorageReview primer is here.

http://www.storagereview.com/guide2000/ref/hdd/op/actActuator.html

One of the neat innovations, which might not be mentioned in the
Storagereview article, is the head assembly on the end of the arm
on a 1TB drive, has a heater. When the drive is reading, the
heater is turned off. When the drive is writing, the heater is
turned on, and a portion of the head assembly expands thermally
and gets closer to the platter. This is how they provide two
"flying height" values on the latest dense drives. Writing uses
a different flying height than reading.

Paul

 

[JD]

Well, someone makes such a big fuss about destroying data you do have to
wonder....

The article states: ""Unless you're a spook or the kingpin of a criminal
consortium, there's no need to go out and buy deleting software and no need
to put a hammer through the damned thing," Mr Goodwins told the BBC."

I reckon Mr Goodwins must be an upperclass sort of British gent (or the Beeb
edited him) to have not mentioned kiddy porn collectors in that statement.


Ya know, I read that BBC article and I've seen all the sheeple all over
different fora bleating about it and I just have to wonder; Did this Which?
Computing magazine take a kick-back from HDD manufacturers for scaring the
simple folks into destroying perfectly good HDDs? That way they're not
available second-hand so more people will be forced to buy new. I mean, even
the BBC used the headline "Hard Drive Destruction 'Crucial'".

It's quite funny watching the ripples on teh intarweb, scared folks running
around like headless chickens, panicking about that system they sold last
month....

The power of the media. (Pun intended.)

To me, ensuring that no data can be retrieved from a discarded hard
drive is just a sensible privacy measure, on a par with shredding bank
statements and other sensitive paperwork before chucking it in the
recycler. Physically wrecking the drive is the only option if the drive
cannot be accessed.

 

[GT]

The article is misleading and "Which?" are completely
ignorant with their recommendation. UNLESS a drive has
failed such that you cannot access it normally anymore, a
random multipass overwrite is 100% effective at preventing
everyone and anyone from recovering the data.

If it were possible to recover data on a drive after being overwritten, then
it implies that the drive is capable of storing 2 bits of information for
each 'bit' space!! That would double the capacity of every drive out there
instantly! Crazy!