Destroying A Hard Drive Permanently

25 years ago when we had to destroy 5.25" full height 32MB SCSI drives (ha, ha, ha!), we'd zero them several times, then open 'em up and run the platters through Captain Crunch, the industrial shredder/grinder. A pile of chips, each about the size of a grain of rice, came out the other end.

This was in the Navy at an acoustic analysis center.
 
Most laptop drives have glass platters. Disk wipes take FOREVER to finish. There aren't that many desktops around anymore so metal platters are just not a big deal to worry about. Because of those things, it's prolly easier and quicker to just do something that causes the platters to shatter. I mean, if you're just getting rid of a dead/old/going bad hard drive from a home computer. If it's like a company or organizational thing then there's probably some disposal procedure that you hafta follow anyhow.
 
I'm just jumping on the end here but the best solution I ever saw was the Army's, Thermite Grenades rule :D
 
That thing qualifies as an SBR. If that's really yours and not just a photo plucked off the 'net then I hope you have a permit for it.

Well, first off, in the US it's not a permit, it's a TAX Stamp.
Then of course their are cops who can buy them in Full-Auto which is really the only way they are worth a damn.
Then there are all the people on this forum who are from other countries where US laws don't even apply.

So you can hold onto your hopes, I'll satisfy myself with a little reality, awareness, and my extreme good looks :p
 
Standard secure military destruction process for most electronics involves zeroing out the device if possible, a big hammer and an enclosed environment.
The broken up pieces are gathered, ground up and or burned depending on the situation.
 
I used to run a dod formatting on them, then take them out to a range and pepper them with 5.56 rounds at lunch. Pick up the scraps then drop them at the recycler just down the hill.
 
That thing qualifies as an SBR. If that's really yours and not just a photo plucked off the 'net then I hope you have a permit for it.

QUICK, TURN HIM IN TO THE PROPER AUTHORITIES FOR A PAT ON THE HEAD AND AN EXTRA DOSE OF SURVEILANCE FOR YOU FOR KNOWING WHAT AN SBR IS!!!!
 
I used to run a dod formatting on them, then take them out to a range and pepper them with 5.56 rounds at lunch. Pick up the scraps then drop them at the recycler just down the hill.
A hammer is cheaper and faster but probably not as much fun.
 
So.... about 2-3 years ago, my Battery Commander ran into some ransomware on his old laptop. He came home to find the usual "send us $300+ or lose all of your data" lockout screen on his computer.
Instead of calling me to fix it, he took it out back and put 6 rounds of .41 magnum through the damn thing.
 
We use a harbor freight shop press to crunch the drives. I've also used a 50lb pull magnet while the drive was spinning to ensure the data was gone. You usually hear grinding as the heads run into the platters.
 
So...Wipe it and then download as many porn torrents as it takes to fill it up again?

I mean, no one might believe you have a drive full of gibberish, but everyone would believe a drive full of porn.

Brilliant_16e506_307269.png
 
do you ask everyone you see in a car if they have a license too :p

No.

Well, first off, in the US it's not a permit, it's a TAX Stamp.
Mr. Technicality strikes again. It amounts to the same thing, a "you have my permission" stamp from Big Brother. Call it what you want, but it's still a permit by effect. :rolleyes:


QUICK, TURN HIM IN TO THE PROPER AUTHORITIES FOR A PAT ON THE HEAD AND AN EXTRA DOSE OF SURVEILANCE FOR YOU FOR KNOWING WHAT AN SBR IS!!!!

*sigh* This is the knee-jerk internet, where everything is misunderstood and conclusions are jumped too, so I'll EXPLAIN, since nobody seems to be able to do anything but overreact, and maybe one of you MIGHT grasp this.

I said I hope he has a permit for it, meaning I hope he's NOT going to get into any kind of trouble because there ARE people that would knee-jerk and try to turn someone in for something like this. If he's a US citizen and unaware that slapping a stock on a pistol turns it into an NFA weapon, which is a "throw you in jail forever because we hate you" kind of weapon according to the ATF, then he could get into serious trouble. I do not want to see him get into serious trouble. OK? Let me spell it out again:

I DO NOT WANT TO SEE HIM GET INTO TROUBLE.

We all on the same page now? Good? OK, go back to talking about destroying hard drives and I'll go back to lurking. You people are too tiring.
 
Standard secure military destruction process for most electronics involves zeroing out the device if possible, a big hammer and an enclosed environment.
The broken up pieces are gathered, ground up and or burned depending on the situation.

Not of tactical equipment in the field. For instance, a Tactical Military Intelligence Electronic Intercept vehicle, if the crew thinks they are going to be overrun or captured, SOP is Thermite Grenades on the electronics, the vehicle engine block, and in the fuel tank if possible. You burn it to the ground.
 
No.


Mr. Technicality strikes again. It amounts to the same thing, a "you have my permission" stamp from Big Brother. Call it what you want, but it's still a permit by effect. :rolleyes:




*sigh* This is the knee-jerk internet, where everything is misunderstood and conclusions are jumped too, so I'll EXPLAIN, since nobody seems to be able to do anything but overreact, and maybe one of you MIGHT grasp this.

I said I hope he has a permit for it, meaning I hope he's NOT going to get into any kind of trouble because there ARE people that would knee-jerk and try to turn someone in for something like this. If he's a US citizen and unaware that slapping a stock on a pistol turns it into an NFA weapon, which is a "throw you in jail forever because we hate you" kind of weapon according to the ATF, then he could get into serious trouble. I do not want to see him get into serious trouble. OK? Let me spell it out again:

I DO NOT WANT TO SEE HIM GET INTO TROUBLE.

We all on the same page now? Good? OK, go back to talking about destroying hard drives and I'll go back to lurking. You people are too tiring.

I suppose it should be all admirable and all that you want to look out for this guy and save him from himself. But that was just a picture man, and just because he posted a picture that looks like a MAC10 doesn't mean he actually has a MAC10, semi-auto, full-auto, toy, or whatever. The point being, if you look for these kinds of things everywhere you go on the internet and want to save all these people from the law, perhaps you should figure out how to make money off it cause man you just created a job for yourself.
 
That thing qualifies as an SBR. If that's really yours and not just a photo plucked off the 'net then I hope you have a permit for it.

You don't need a "permit." It's called a tax stamp, not a permit.
 
That thing qualifies as an SBR. If that's really yours and not just a photo plucked off the 'net then I hope you have a permit for it.

That is mine and no it is not a SBR. It is legal as it sits. As Dan says below you don't need a permit, just an approved form 1/4(or form 2 if you are a SOT, form 3 for dealer inventory, or form 5 for passing it on after someone died).

It is worth saying the forms say Application for Tax Paid Transfer and Registration of Firearm.

You don't need a "permit." It's called a tax stamp, not a permit.

Correct. Really you don't even need the canceled stamp, just the approved paperwork as if that was done via efile it wouldn't have a stamp on the paperwork. Same goes if someone lost the form 1 or form 4 and had the ATF send a copy. They would send a copy of their version that doesn't have a stamp on it.

Either way that gun has an approved form 4 with the tax paid on it. It also is not considered an SBR by the ATF.
 
I destroy/wipe drives for a lot of my medical client.

My usual method:

Disassemble the drives (I usually save the magnets for kicks), remove the platters, then rub each side with coarse steel wool.

Once the bits are in the form of oxide powder on my floor, I strongly doubt the data is recoverable.
 
BC Wipe the drive 7 times, then load the drive full of bmp images of goats. Let forensics wonder wtf is a guy doing with gigs of goat images.
 
You don't need a "permit." It's called a tax stamp, not a permit.

See my above post...

Either way that gun has an approved form 4 with the tax paid on it. It also is not considered an SBR by the ATF.

Usually anything that's a pistol with a stock attached gets automatically labeled an SBR by the Feds. As long as they can't throw you in jail that's all I was wanting here.

I suppose it should be all admirable and all that you want to look out for this guy and save him from himself. But that was just a picture man, and just because he posted a picture that looks like a MAC10 doesn't mean he actually has a MAC10, semi-auto, full-auto, toy, or whatever. The point being, if you look for these kinds of things everywhere you go on the internet and want to save all these people from the law, perhaps you should figure out how to make money off it cause man you just created a job for yourself.

I was going to post a rant about how much of a self-important douche I think you are, but I think I'll just log out and let you have this place. I've got better things to do than argue trivialities with self-important know-it-alls.
 
Usually anything that's a pistol with a stock attached gets automatically labeled an SBR by the Feds. As long as they can't throw you in jail that's all I was wanting here.

The ATF does not consider that a SBR. They couldn't care less what the barrel length is or if it has the removable stock on it or not. If you bought a new clone yes it would be considered one but that is a real m10.
 
the 100lb magnet attached to the side of my desk?

Does that actually work? These things have crazy strong magnets right next to the platter, would a magnet on the outside matter?
 
If I were set out to destroy a harddrive, I would prefer it done chemically, rather than physically.

EG scraping off the magnetic layer would be a good thing, but I would prefer DISSOLVING the said layer if possible. That way it would be literally impossible to recover data.
 
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