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If you've ever had to get rid of a hard drive, you've probably spent a little bit of time thinking about your data. You can't just throw a hard drive in the trash, even if it's broken, because an identity thief could steal your information. Most people look for programs that overwrite the data on a hard drive, thereby rendering it completely clear of info even to a professional data recovery company.
That's all fine, but what if you want to get creative? Here are a few fun ways to permanently destroy the data on your computer's hard drive.
1. Magnets. Hard drives store information magnetically. They've got a number of little read/write heads that apply a magnetic charge which can be read as information--and hey, if you've taken a computer course at any time in your life, this probably isn't news to you. What you might not have known is that it takes a lot of magnetic energy to destroy a hard drive's ability to hold data, but if you're up for it, you can totally permanently destroy information that way.
A professional-strength magnet should do the trick when applied directly to the outside of a hard drive. Remember, it may be hard to get the magnet off, so you might want to get one of those expensive electronic magnets with an off switch if you're trying to delete dozens of drives. It's always a good idea to have a huge magnet laying around--you'll come up with a bunch of fun ways to use it, I'm sure.
2. Fire. While hard drives are fairly heat-resistant--data recovery companies recover data off of fire-damaged platters all the time--enough heat will warp the platters and burn away the thin layer of magnetic material that holds your data.
I once worked at a data recovery lab where we'd use thermite on occasion to destroy a drive. Not because it was necessary, just because it was cool and we wondered what would happen. Needless to say, data's unrecoverable if the platters of a drive are a pile of gelatinous goo.
3. Platter Art. At the same data recovery company, we had a competition to see who could make the coolest art out of discarded hard drive platters. I should mention that all of these platters had already been wiped
clean via DOD7 measures, so there was no chance of a client's data leaving our office. I should also mention that hard drive platters are an awesome art medium. We had toy cars, mobiles, and portraits, all made of shiny, clear metal. What's more, even if they hadn't been erased, they'd be permanently deleted--drilling a hole or painting a platter will do that.
Courtesy of Yahoo Contributors Network.
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