[Tfug] hard drive destruction

[Bexley Hall]

Hi Richard,

On 2/25/2014 2:39 PM, Richard Clark wrote:
> 2 lb sledge always works for me. 3 hits and it's permanently unreadable.

Most of the drives I've "discarded" over the years were operational
at the time I dumped them.  Yet, I'd still "wipe" the drive (feed
a pseudo-random number generator to a routine that writes all physical
sectors of the drive), throw it on the ground a few times (silly,
really, but an amusing experience with something you've always been
taught to treat with care!), then drill 3 holes through the platters
(this last bit *shatters* some platters).

If the drive is not functional, I skip the "wipe" step and don't
bring the drive to a recycler but, rather, drop it in with the
regular trash (where it is less likely to be "discovered" by someone
capable of doing anything with it).

[That's the route this "WD Green" will take if I eventually determine
it is "trash".]

Of course, all of this is overkill with modern drives.  But, old habits
die hard... (and, its easier to keep doing the same thing than to try
to "educate" clients as to why I'm handling drives differently)