How to Destroy a Hard Drive

Use hammer. The fastest and most direct method is to destroy the optical disc with a hammer. Place the disc on a surface that you can smash and easily clean, put on goggles and protective gloves, then, gather all your rage at your boss and pour it into the optical disc.

• Make sure you are the only person in the room as you proceed; partially smashed to prevent others from getting hurt by flying metal and glass, and also so they don’t start to worry about your sanity or send you to a mental hospital.
• Some types of optical discs are made from metal, others are made from glass and ceramic. The latter is more fragile. The former will inevitably be deformed and will no longer be usable, but if you are not sure, you can also apply some of the more interesting methods below.

Carefully dispose of debris. After the disc has broken into pieces, you need to carefully collect and dispose of them. You can sell ticks, or put them in non-biodegradable trash bags.

Experiment with a large magnet. The story of scanning a magnet through a computer to erase data has become a legend. If you want to destroy data with a magnet, you will need a giant magnet.

Buy a large quantity of rare earth magnets (a type of permanent magnet) that are large and heavy. This massive magnet block is enough to corrupt the data left over after rubbing on the drive (interesting level: 4). And in fact, who wouldn’t want to own a super-large block of magnets? You will surely discover many other uses (interest level: 9 stars).

• Or, if you live abroad, you can take your hard drive to a scrap yard or car graveyard… anywhere you can find a giant magnetic crane used to lift cars and other large metal debris. Watch your drive perform a world-class aerobatics and data become completely unrecoverable. Level of fun: 5 stars. However, many modern drives are resistant to magnetic fields. Therefore, structural destruction is best.

Acid experiment. Imagine that the optical disc of the hard drive that you are holding in your hand is a hunted little witch and you are executing by dipping “him” into a basin of electrolyte or similar strong acid. You can monitor the process of hard drive decomposition. Then, remember to dispose of the acid appropriately (pouring liquid into the yard is not a good practice, you should know that). Level of fun: 6 stars.

Experiment with microwave. Microwaves aren’t powerful enough to destroy data, so don’t expect another bang to finish this off. We just make the optical disc so hot that it can melt or damage and that will make the data unrecoverable.

• Buy or reuse an old microwave, you should use one with a push button to open the door. Hook a rope outside and set the oven to spin for 10 minutes. Back very far (glass optic discs breaking in conditions like these are dangerous). Open the microwave remotely with a broom handle, pull the cord to open the door, then use a long stick to completely destroy the optical disc if it hasn’t melted or damaged properly on its own. Level of fun: 6 stars.

Experiment with sandblasters. Rent a sandblaster from a hardware store, remove the optical disc from the drive, and sand the disc’s mirror. This will destroy the data storage layer on the disk. You will be very “cool” when holding a sandblasting gun, and can also use the time to clean many other things besides the old hard disk. Level of fun: 5 stars.

Experiment with saw blade. You should not use a saw (because it is not very effective). Instead, use an angle lathe, similar to a saw but louder. These types of machines are easy to rent in hardware stores. Use a cheap “C” table clamp vise to hold the hard drive’s optical disc on a suitable surface and cut straight down the center. In fact, you will have to cut more than once because sparks will shoot all over the place like fireworks in a garage. It’s okay, as long as you’re having fun. Level of fun: 7 stars.

• Just make sure you do it safely with proper eye protection. You should check out the pictures of lathe wounds. You’ll wish you hadn’t seen it.

Experiment with drill bit. This is a common, practical, but no less fun way to destroy hard drives. Get a drill (you’ll need a really hard drill) and drill holes in the optical disc of the hard drive. You may want to drill multiple holes of different sizes in different locations to ensure that the data cannot be recovered. Besides, be creative in an artistic way. These can be used as Christmas tree decorations. Level of fun: 4 stars.

Get a plastic container big enough to submerge the hard drive in water. Add in a packet of sodium bicarbonate. Do not use foam salt as it will produce harmful chlorine gas!

Find a large pencil. Carefully peel away the wood bark leaving the carbon core intact. The graphite part will be the negative (-) electrode (the electrode should be higher in electrochemical compounds than aluminum). Besides, prepare two extra large power leads.

Prepare a car charger. Do not use car battery because it is too powerful. Connect one end of the wire from the hard drive optical disc to the anode + (reducing electrode) and another lead from the graphite to the cathode (additional electrode).

Immerse the hard drive completely in water. Turn on the power supply. You will see the water start to bubble and bubble, oxygen and hydrogen are being released – you should open a nearby window for fresh air!