Why You Should Destroy Your Old Hard Drives - Part 1

Why and how to destroy your old hard drives.
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[@Durfadorfano]

I love this channel. I just started a new job which requires a bit of cable, switch, and rack knowledge and I have some, but more on the Computer side and not the infrastructure. This site has been extremely helpful in getting me at least familiar with that aspect of data transfer and cabling.. Than you sooooooo much for being here.

[@jimflys2]

I watched a number of these videos. After doing so, I thought the way to get rid of it was with a .270. Mission accomplished. Lots of fun. Scope is verified zeroed. Ready for deer season.

[@CableSupply]

that will work

[@cenos8521]

Thanks for making this video Jim ! very informative , well done and appreciated :) I know nothing about this stuff , so hats off to you !

[@Sushihunter250]

Personally, I don't see the need for the average person to have to destroy a hard drive. If I pull one out of an old computer, I simply format it and wipe the disk clean and then use it as a data storage disk for movies & TV shows. I don't sell them or give them away. If the disk has gone bad and I'm not able to recover it, it goes back for warranty replacement or I pull it apart for the magnets, and I will destroy the platters. For the average business use, then something like Ccleaner to write zeros to the entire disk should do the job, then you can use the disk for data back-up or whatever other purpose you may have for it.

[@yourredcomrade717]

i had a friend pull up old data from my hard drive that was written over using a program he downloaded. i dont recall the name. but it pulled files i had deleted as far back as the day i bought it. so people can still pull data off your old drives.

[@thetension4882]

When data is overwritten it can not be recovered. Only the parts and fragments which were not overwritten. Also depending on the OS, the filesystem which is used and it's methods for formating, do not overwrite the complete filesystem by default. See "Overwriting Hard Drive Data: The Great Wiping Controversy" by Craig Wright, Dave Kleiman Shyaam Sundhar for example.

[@josemedeiros007]

Good video Jim! I have used DBAN to do a Department of Defense 7 pass data wipe at ADP Probusiness a payroll company back in 2005 before donating our decommissioned Compaq servers to a local non profit, it seems a shame that you rather destroy a hard drive rather then e-recycle them as they are still useful, however if the hard drive failed then I would take the platters apart and sand down the surface.

[@Giftkone]

Like your videos, and your advice, keep sharing.

[@janicewright9502]

very good video Jim Thank you soooo much I have needed to remove my hard drive for years before putting in garbage

[@CableSupply]

You are welcome thank you for watching. I appreciate it but if you remember when you have a chance, please subscribe it helps the channel.

[@esisolina1]

I wonder if it is possible (big companies with special laboratories) to recover some data from the remaining parts or we need to make the disk small small parts by throwing the disk into a machine that cut it in small pieces to be sure the data are gone for sure?

[@scottandrews8019]

Great video and very good advise. Thanks 😁😎

[@seekershouse]

Thanks. Really helpful. Mine just shattered while drilling.

[@HugDeeznueces]

good vid Jimmy! Got any vids on labeling cables and current industry standards? Thanks!!

[@travv88]

I like this guys overall style. I reckon I'll sub.

[@yourredcomrade717]

i had someone tell me that fire, smashing the disc etc could in theory could still be read with the proper equipment. so when asked "how do i make sure that nobody reads this thing ever again? i threw it in my forge in a crucible and literally melted it down. good luck reading the drive now. its a puddle of slag lol.

[@pipletjomphe6804]

Brutal and straitforward but one of the only way to securely protect data propagation, I personnaly like to dismantel my drives to spare the magnets for small hobby projects and at the same time collect the alluminium for my fondry witch is about 400 pounds a year melted and casted in lingot. The platter serves as lazer beam mirror and/or building variable capacitor. I definitively like the recycle part of hard drives but your method is more accurate for data protection. Thank's for the video, it's convincing...

[@cenos8521]

That was very interesting . thank for your help because I know very little about computers !

[@CableSupply]

Glad it was helpful!

[@2101case]

I use the platters for target shooting. Quit satisfying.

[@CableSupply]

good idea

[@shant-o]

If you want to secure your deleted data and still wish to use the Hard Drive, Find a Partition Manager app.. there are many that provides free service. Break the partitions and then fill the whole drive with "zeros" (it does exactly what it says, overwrite the used/unused data sectors with zeros). Once successfully done, no data can be recovered. It's not difficult at all but time consuming.

[@jaymund1130]

I love to recover the magnets. these are extremely strong magnets and can be used to hang things in the garage.

[@jimmydandy9364]

Yeah be careful, they can pull out fillings from your teeth, they will come flying off ! Don't try this at home (or anywhere)

[@jean-lucpicard5510]

I used a weed burner on the platter that I removed from the drive itself. scorched it till it was falling apart from the heat.

[@blankphoto]

There is software that can retrieve data from multiple overwrites. And limited physical destruction only makes a portion unreadable. Even chipping really isn't enough and, I don't trust degaussing. Thermite, I trust turning the drive to slag. Nothing less.

[@CableSupply]

Thermite will do it.

[@CableSupply]

Obviously, most small businesses do not destroy their hard drives and do not realize the risk of leaving easily accessible data on a hard drive. However if you are working with highly sensitive or government classified information, the hard drive MUST be completely destroyed and turning the drive to slag is absolutely the best way. Excellent answer!

[@jollygoodfellow3957]

What about putting the drive in fire? Or opening it and soaking it in saltwater to turn it to rust?

[@kamaldilli]

but i want to know which software recover overwrites data if you know or anyone know please suggest

[@kalemercer7053]

The debate on re-writing stems from the fact that some of the better data recovery software can detect whether or when a sector was changed from 1 to 0. A minimum of 4 overwrites is required to avoid this. The 1st pass will stripe all sectors to 0, 2nd pass will stripe all sectors 1, The 3rd pass will stripe all sectors to 1, and the 4th The 1st pass will stripe sectors 1, 0, or random. This renders the drive safe and nearly impossible to recover the data. That being said the Nuclear method requires 31 wipes and iv heard this is the SOP for the US military.

[@DanteLikesRock]

overkill.

[@TwoPlusTwoEqualsFive32]

Personally I disassembled the drives and remove the magnets(they can be useful) then remove the platters, use the removed magnet to scratch and degause the platters then add them into a thick plastic bag and smash away with a hammer until they are tiny fragments. From there I spread the destroyed platters into multiple bin loads over the weeks amongst my general waste. Maybe it's overkill but I am disassembling anyway for the magnets so might aswell take out the platters while I am there.

[@CableSupply]

It works for me! Thanks for watching! Please subscribe!

[@higustavo7982]

Could you make a video on how to set up your own VPN?

[@allenjohnson3290]

Good info.

[@SpryWeb]

I love your videos! How do you destroy SSD's? Since the individual chips inside can be read, is it time to put them through the wood chipper?

[@jollygoodfellow3957]

You have to destroy every chip in the SSD, so wood chipper, angle grinder, hydraulic press, vice, sledgehammer, whatever is necessary.

[@mikejb2009a]

Once while buying a paper shredder I said too bad the best shredders aren't as good as a fire place. The guy mentions air pollution from the fire place. Heating ones home or for that matter being alive causes pollution. I call heating a home with documents that need to be destroyed recycling. For your SSD to be destroyed identify the chips that are memory and burn them and don't let anyone smoke in your house. That is real pollution.

[@davidvickers8425]

Damn unless you are super wealthy, super evil, or military, its crazy to go to the length of destroying a storage media.

[@victorvodka]

those platters are a lot more useful for art projects if they don't have stupid holes drilled in them. remove the disks, put them on a nail somewhere, and make windchimes or whatever from them. nobody is going to steal data from a windchime!

[@ianbailey3978]

Last time I had to destroy one of these things, I drove an iron nail through it and then hit the case with a hammer until it sounded like a maraca. It didn't seem to work after that.

[@Gordon302]

Hard drives or any type of personal PC, should not ever end up in a trash can. However, if one is that concerned about their privacy, find a R2 certified electronics recycler. There is nothing wrong with a D.O.D. drive wipe. Yes; your used hard drive can be repurposed.

[@Cardetailingburnley]

As ever good video

[@kamaldilli]

but i want to know which software recover overwrites data if you know or anyone know please suggest

[@rounddancefan1]

ok i have a computer that is a emachine and its takes all day to boot up. what is it caused from. it was ok 1 day then the next it was gone. but i still have it been collecting dust for 3 years now. maybe 2 and a half years idk, but i was able to get all my photos off it that took like 3 days to do how slow it was booting up and pages opening up.

[@rounddancefan1]

i took it to a cpl compter shops and they took 1 look at the box and said they dont even wanna touch it because it to old. it must be like 8 to 10 years old now. e machine EL1333G-01w is what it is.

[@RomanDeagan]

Great video Jim. Have you or could you make a video about how to actually encrypt to cloud services like Dropbox,amazon etc..

[@davidvickers8425]

hard drives should just be encrypted from the start, it took the internet a while to have ssl as standard to make it harder for data harvesting and the type of person who needs to actually protect their data, military, wealthy, criminal, will just destroy them to lava anyway, the average person just needs to encrypt data and go, then wipe it when the get rid of it.

[@roberts.5790]

When one drills hard drives it is imperative to completely penetrate the platters in a way to totally disable. One best remove the cover plate to inspect the desired job. One or two HDD's don't take much effort to confirm total destruction of the data.

[@Alfamoto8]

I have a build named "junk pc" with old components and when I replace a drive I throw the old one in there. It's an extra backup for me. However when any drive fails then it should be destroyed!

[@CableSupply]

agree

[@DestructiveBurn]

Don't use a drill. If someone was smart enough they can recover data from the top and bottom of the holes. Your best way is to completely destroy your data is to shatter the platter. Once you hit it correctly it will shatter into time peaces just like a CD does. Or you can just keep the drives and use them for backups. I even have a couple of the 80GB IED drives used for storage. From time to time I load those drives.

[@setnaffa]

DestructiveBurn , I hope you meant IDE... Those IED drives are far too noisy for the average office... ;-)

[@mikemack6013]

ty

[@philsbbs]

What I find interesting is that offices do not remove the hard drives from there photocopiers/fax machines. Imagine how much is stored on a modern day to day office photocopier/fax machine.

[@dannythomas7902]

I heard photocopy hard disk most dangerous in world, library ones people scan pasports and shit all time

[@1pcmedic]

I know this is an old post, newer photocopiers have a setting to wipe the copy or not save the copy. Its always better to remove the drive and err on the side of caution. If you remove the platters and slide them around on raw concrete sidewalk like a sanding block, it removes most of the magnetic coating and leave the surface very rough.

[@darinb.3273]

I just can't see destroying a GOOD hard drive ... if it is still a drive that is working extremely well ... use it for backing up your own stuff ... no security risks there LOL

[@CableSupply]

OK, good point

[@josemedeiros007]

I agree, just do a DOD 7 pass wipe by writing zeros to the drive, DBAN or Eraser works great.

[@sipapito]

What about let it rust in water or put in the the microwave? Thanks fofr you videos.

[@brobryce64]

Glary Utilities has a very nice wipe utility that's super useful. It will do it to whatever repetitions you desire. The free version is very full featured.

[@CableSupply]

I have used that type of software. it is very effective. The software I used would overwrite the data nine times. I have had so many of these small old hard drives that I decided just cutting holes in them would make them unusable. Some of these. Hard drives were over 10 years old. Thanks for watching!

[@thomasmaughan4798]

Hammer on case doesn't quite do the trick if the data is still on the platters. Unscrew it, remove the platters and use the extremely powerful magnets that comprise the actuator to erase the surfaces. The platters are very pretty and maybe could be used for decorating, the magnets make dandy refrigerator magnets provided you can pry them loose.

[@Aussiedave54]

Paranoia will drive you mad 😂🇦🇺

[@CableSupply]

YES ! True! but a data breach or identity theft will ruin your life and make you mad. Take my word for it I have been a victim of identity theft. Now I am paranoid !

[@FoxRivers778]

You made the drilling look very easy. I've watched other videos and their drilling took more work, including using lubricant which you didn't even use. What am I missing?

[@CableSupply]

A sharp drill bit.

[@rebeccarainharrod]

Now, boys and girls, be sure to get CCleaner from a reputable source, such as Cnet.

[@mememe84]

Some people say 1 write over is enough, others say 30+ write overs data still can be recovered. Some say if you physically smash the HDD data can't be retrieved, others say you can use electron microscope to read it. So which is it?

[@travv88]

1 write over isn't enough. 30 might be overkill but really if you are high level government you could probably recover it. Just hitting it won't break the hard drive. Drilling makes it impossible to read regularly but it can be recovered.

[@dudeduderinoduderino9689]

Thanks for the video. destroying platters by acid? For me old h/d ONLY good for magnets.

[@hernancastellanos1353]

And for the motor, components, capacitors, chokes, ic voltage regulators, ultra fast diodes, resistors and a Lot more.

[@DougVandegrift]

I think the term is called "bleaching" in CCleaner. I may be wrong

[@CableSupply]

Ccleaner will also work. and there is other software out there that will work.

[@barndweller4573]

A more fun way is to take them to the range. A few rounds does them in and its fun!

[@mansharker8]

when I destroy hard drives, I prefer to use a claw hammer or a sledge hammer. A few good smack's and they turn into confetti inside lol.

[@CableSupply]

that works for small business.

[@HumbleTrader001]

I wanted to wipe an old 40 gb hard drive, but it started acting erratically, so, instead, I took the cover off and removed the platter which was just a single round metal disk, and then I took a Radio Shack Realistic high power audio/video eraser and held over each side of the round metal disk and hovered it over each side for 10 seconds. That should be sufficient to ensure the data on the disk got wiped out, right?

[@CableSupply]

Old 40GB ? buy a new hard drive.

[@HumbleTrader001]

@@CableSupply I already have newer drives, those were just old ones that I wanted to wipe before bringing to recycling center.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

Probably sufficient. The coercivity of disk drive platters is unusually high (requires strong magnets) but as it happens, disk drives come equipped with strong magnets; older and larger 3.5 inch drives have much stronger magnets.

[@setnaffa]

Security is like the story of the two hikers: Steve and Mark are camping when a bear suddenly comes out and growls. Steve starts putting on his tennis shoes. Mark says, “What are you doing? You can’t outrun a bear!” Steve says, “I don’t have to outrun the bear-I just have to outrun you!” Unless you are being specifically targeted by some nefarious government agency or international black-hat hacker society, your old hard drives, wiped with one of the 41 tools listed here ( " www.lifewire.com/free-data-destruction-software-programs-2626174 " ) and "double-tapped" by Black-and-Decker or Glock are as safe as anything. Of course, as Jim pointed out, encryption is your friend.

[@turnerherbek6912]

C: Cleaner was hacked recently! Be careful when using it

[@CableSupply]

your right!! Thanks for pointing this out. The affected versions of the software are CCleaner 5.33.6162 and CCleaner Cloud 1.07.3191. or... use another program.

[@macmike2]

Hello, Jim.. Previous posts you say when you have finaly finished with hard drives you have replaced, to make sure no one steals your data..Drill..Smash it up..Does this also apply with SSD HDs..Get your hammer and 'Whack it!

[@CableSupply]

The best way to destroy data on an SSD is to crypto shred. Crypto shredding is when you encrypt the data that is on the SSD and then destroy the key. At that point the data is unreadable. Now you can do whatever you would like with the drive.

[@thomasmaughan4798]

@@CableSupply It is important to completely fill the SSD. It writes into a different area than it reads, see "wear leveling". So the only way to ensure every cell is written is to fill it; but they typically have spares that you cannot see. SSD's are heat sensitive. I imagine that cooking them in a conventional oven for a few minutes out to discharge the stored charges that constitute its memory. I have not tested that theory. Magnets do nothing for SSD.

[@DeliciousDeBlair]

RDX works pretty good... ~( 'w')/

[@oswaldoriginal7587]

I thought a full format of harddrive resets all the data on the disc to 010101010101010

[@klaasj7808]

But only hitting it with a hammer is not enough. Open them, often the platters are still fine. Just take them out and put them in another identical. Not that hard.

[@mjsanchez2173]

You need googles to protect your eyes from flying debris.

[@oswaldoriginal7587]

Woow, I once drop or rather just bump my external hard drive and it stopped working. I had tons of digital photographs in them and I cannot recover, yet some one still can read them by what? opening the case and read the magnetic disk on some special equipments? Ha, can anyone do it for me for a reasonable price please? I dont worry as all my hardrives have no secrets, just data.... ha ha ha ha

[@xelarion8629]

Format is not enough?

[@njdevfan20]

I remove the plates and cut them up with tin snips.

[@CableSupply]

Good job! most people give their computers away with the hard drive and personal data intact.

[@crownedmedia7936]

The hard drive that I need is 200 on amazon

[@izoyt]

..and always check for some bitcoins.

[@joelcrocker1094]

I destroy them for the magnets in them

[@brandonmurphy8253]

Just let it dissolve in chems.

[@midnightshift3r647]

Get a solid state hard drive

[@grbloopers]

Are you sure you're a security professional?

[@CableSupply]

Yes CISSP and CCSP

[@sleetskate]

damn, you sound younger than you look

[@crownedmedia7936]

You just just wipe them

[@Amurphybartlett]

this guy sells hard drives doesn't he?

[@CableSupply]

No I don't. Thanks for asking.

[@Amurphybartlett]

@@CableSupply I appreciate you clearing that up. I’m just wondering what’s the point of destroying a perfectly good hard drive? In terms of data privacy, erasing and writing over the drive a bunch of times will keep 99.99% of people from reading past data, and if you’re worried about that .01% then couldn’t you just reflash the drive’s firmware to remove the last traces of the previous data?

[@jesusmylordsaviorking3726]

how bout recycle the parts for scrap instead of destroying it.

[@CableSupply]

Good point!!

[@CableSupply]

Please subscribe!

[@r3xx3r9]

SSDs are not hard drives

[@CableSupply]

Thanks. I miss spoke or thinking one thing and said SSD. This video is only about hard drives.

[@CableSupply]

I plan to do a video on SSDs in the future.

[@rochr4]

Many errors, SSD's are NOT hard drives, just drives.