Why not just use a log splitter, and dispose of the disc fragments separately, as I’ve done for years.

But surely there’s more fun in smashing it to eentsy-weentsy tiny pieces with a 7lb lump hammer and a cold chisel?
Or seeing how red you can get it using a blowtorch. Angle grinders can be fun too!!

I used to work on MOD sites where classified disc drives had to be destroyed from time to time; I was told that a cutting torch was to be used. This seemed reasonable; the temperature of the flame would destroy the magnetic patterns even if the fragments could still be read by some method!

Wouldn’t it be good if we could have one of these at every public rubbish tip!

The link at the end of the article, to the Bustadrive website, is missing a “http://” prefix.

ReCAPTCHA: Thomson cocooned

Link now fixed, thanks

August 17th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
Link now fixed, thanks

Well it would have been better if the link hadn’t been fixed. It’s been slashdotted.

I take mine en masse to the local scrapyard and have them use the electromagnet at the end of the crane. Destroys the heads and the data simultaneously.

they do it for free. They think its funny to watch the drives fly up towards the magnet about 10ft above.

Just to be pompous and buzzkilling – it’s a shame more people don’t just use a good powerful disk-wiping program and then send their redundant hard drives to the Third World rather than filling up landfill with toxic waste. I speak as a total hypocrite of course – yesterday afternoon I smashed three HDDs with a hammer rather than remount them and wipe them. But I did feel bad about it.

Check out this machine that was demonstrated last week at a hacker conference. http://www.security.nl/artikel/30648/1/HAR_Video_-_Harde_schijven_shredden.html

Thermite is more fun and less expensive

I use .22 for 2.5″ and .45 for 3.5″ and if the data is critical a 12ga slug works wonders

Rod

If you punch through the spindle, and leave the platters intact, the data is in fact not destroyed, only the mechanism that reads them. Any hard drive recovery place can just take the platters out and read the data. I’d use DBAN or something first, then use this thing 7 or 8 times in various places. Personally, I use a spot welder on the platters.

You should make a new version of this machine that also forces 2 prongs into the platters and then runs 10 amps through them. This should take care of the magnetic stuff.

I work for a computer reburbishment nonprofit. Physical destruction of drives along with defective and failed units creates a major shortage of usable drives for our business. These computers go mainly to poor individuals and poor organizations. Please just use DBAN or wiper of choice as the last official act of any system (before retirement).

The un-nameable folks who can recover the data are NSA types.

“Yes, they can”

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda && dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda && dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda

Sproggit has the right idea. Just wipe with random data using DD and call it a day. Takes 30 seconds to boot from a Linux CD to run DD.

I suppose there is a time/place for physical destruction, but most requirements for physical destruction come from the types of people who want to feel “bad-ass”, the same types of people who feel tough while wearing their Captain America underwear.

Lame is lame. DD the drive, repartition, reformat, and give it to charity.

I find shred simpler to use than DD

shred /dev/sda

[...] With 0 comments Barence writes “All businesses have sensitive data they need to destroy when they replace PCs, but disposing of hard disks properly can be an expensive business. This has led one IT manager in the UK to come up with his own, home-made solution — Bustadrive. It uses a powerful ‘hydraulic punch’ to physically deform a hard disk, rendering it virtually unreadable, and requires nothing more than a pull of the lever on the front — similar to a drinks-can crusher. PC Pro tested the Bustadrive, and also sought the opinions of data destruction companies as to whether the device was really as effective as hoped, or just a fun way to mangle a hard disk or two.” [...]

I could use one of those at work!

Oh, I really like the thermite idea. We should all think about placing thermite above our disk arrays in case hackers breach the DC.. Just a thought.

Overwriting the data with zeroes? with /dev/random? What happens if the drive doesn’t function–the circuits are dead but the platters are fine?

I prefer using a combination of a pickaxe to punch the platters then a 10 lb sledgehammer to curl them for good measure.

open the drive remove the platters and grind it into the concrete? If you worked for a large company replacing hardware that could take weeks of non-stop HD destruction. The bustadrive serves a purpose just a very limited one.

[...] Seeks relief on Word injunction! Comcast comes swinging at the FCC! Portable Nuclear Power Station DYI HD Crusher! District 9 did you see it, should I go see it? Newspapers have no one to blame but themselves. [...]

why not use a hammer?
Same job at the end of the day?

[...] Seeks relief on Word injunction! Comcast comes swinging at the FCC! Portable Nuclear Power Station DYI HD Crusher! District 9 did you see it, should I go see it? Newspapers have no one to blame but themselves. [...]

[...] appears that our investigation into the Bustadrive, a home-made hard disk destruction device, has unleashed the latent violence that lurks among the [...]

I don’t think £200 is a good investment when surely an industrial office shredder with a powerful magnetic field at the entrance would do the same, if not better.

[...] fine folks over at PC Pro had reviewed a device called the “Bust A Drive“.  Apparently this led to a massive firestorm of comments including may ways to destroy a [...]

My daughter invented this last winter, hydraulic punch included.

http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/dailystar/283776.php

I thought that most people use random overwriting software when possible, at least I do. However, there are many situations when the hardware is busted, and the drive cannot be written to. But that does not mean the data is no longer on the drive, and that’s when these methods are useful.

thank you for this article. Ive looked at the end.

It is pointless for 99.99% of people to physically destroy drives. The equipment, expense, required to get information off a drive wiped with a single pass of zeros means you are only at risk if you are doing something very illegal. Ask yourself this question: why would someone use a few million dollars in equipment and a handful of PhDs to get my data? Would it be worth it to them? For nearly everyone, the answer is no. There was a standing challege for $1000 for anyone to get data off a drive that had been erased with a single pass of zeros: http://www.root777.com/unix-linux/the-great-zero-challenge/ and after several years, not one person/group took the challenge. If you are still paranoid, we use a small sledge … your neighbor may have one. I have also used a heavy hoe to great effect. But please don’t destroy perfectly usable drives without a very good reason.

Cheapest option would be to use a bolt cutter – same effect but from an item that only costs £20

OR, instead of destroying them, we use DBAN. I don’t think anything survives 32 pass deletion.

I would like to change my blogger archive frequency from 1 month to longer, like 3 months. How do I do this?.

I like that blog, really interesting