How to Destroy a Hard Drive! - Part 2 | Bang Goes the Theory | Series 6 | BBC Studios

The Data Recovery Masters set to work on recovering the data on the hard drives that Dallas got medieval with.
Check out part 1 - • What's the Best Way to...
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[@UltraJoeSewell]

I have to admit, I was fairly confident that smashing the computer wouldn't do anything. The computer itself would protect the platters. Flash memory is notable for being very hard to beat up as well. I must confess, though, that learning that some thin drives, such as those used in laptops, had glass platters was an interesting bit of knowledge gained.

[@ant420]

It obvious that the tractor and sledge hammer wouldn't do anything, It barely touched the hard drive.

[@sbomorse]

Exactly what I was about to comment

[@CJonestheSteam72]

Would have been more useful if they ran over or hammered the HDs out of the case

[@ant420]

Colin Jones Indeed

[@nutier]

it's so easy to destroy a hard drive ; it's simply grind with a grinding machine , it becomes as iron sheet ; have a nice weekend !

[@michaelhawthorne8696]

Pretty damn obvious it doesn't matter what you do with the Electronics, the Platters is where you need to get 'medieval' with if you're talking about spindle drives but with SSD's or memory sticks, then you'd better take a shredder to the PCB or a good pair of scissors. If you want to be sure.

[@MacoveiVlad]

I've seen a video made by Google in one of their data centers and the method of choice for "data deletion" was a hidraulic spike trough the platters. :)

[@cun7sathome]

why did you post part 2... 2 years before part 1?

[@pramitbanerjee]

you left the entire case on during the sledgehammer version.

[@DanteEsGrande]

Hmm - it was obvious the smashing of the whole computer wouldn't do anything, UNLESS you hit in the location where the harddrive was - but even then, you'll still need to hit it directly - in the case of flash/ssd drives, they will be fine if they have no internal battery, if there is no electric source simply dropping into water won't do anything, drying it out is enough to get it working again - zapping it does far more damage then water (a power surge for instance is enough to stop memory in a PC from working aka corrupting it, unless you have a surge protector)

[@VArsovski10]

Why did they drive over and sledgehammer the damn CASING instead of the disk itself ?:P

[@yogalD]

Theoretically you can still use electron microscopes to find the data

[@josift1283]

i was always told to either use scrambling software. or drill holes in it.

[@tunespt]

Destroy data? dd if=/dev/random of=/dev/sda (or any other device mount point) it's free, it works and impossible to recover. But, you need to boot the puter off linux, from an usb pen is good.

[@skykingimagery899]

The simplest measures are never shown. Open the case and remove the disc. Done. Does not take long. Or what if you simply remove the entire driver card on the bottom.

[@cpypcy]

Blowtorch or chemical bath. :D

[@mihiranw.5709]

Can We recover data from a low level formatted(zero written) Sd card?

[@MichaelFlatman]

This is torture to Dell optiplexes

[@BusterGasket]

Simply dismantle the HDD, remove the platens, and smash or cut them by repeated bending*. You also get the chance to salvage the 2 neodymium magnets that are used to drive the RW stylus back and forth. It's faster and more satisfying this way, than the ridiculous lengths to which this typically dumbed-down BBC "science" programme employed. Which is a shame, since all of the presenters are, in their own rights, highly qualified individuals as they have proven in more recent programmes, such as Liz Bonnin's Animal Odd Couples. Well worth watching. *obviously not necessary for glass platens, which was news to me as well.

[@cesarpondarkorbit]

I have a collection of neodymium magnets.... Lots of fun

[@miiiikku]

Are they making this because of the guy who threw his hard drive with 7500 bitcoins on a landfill.

[@strikereureka5081]

Let's see how he does with an SSD.......

[@Andres186000]

Use a microwave for seven through fifteen seconds on high and it will be unrecoverable

[@BusterGasket]

As will be the microwave oven, probably the kitchen and possibly the entire dwelling and its occupants. As they say on BBC Brainiac "Do not try this at home".

[@Greenpoloboy3]

just open it and expose it to the air.

[@baddriversofthenorcalarea500]

That will do nothing but make it not water proof.

[@Greenpoloboy3]

+L33T Lagger Water will do the damage

[@davebirney]

+Greenpoloboy3 ive heard that dipping a drive in coke and mentos is enough to destroy all the files

[@Greenpoloboy3]

+Dave Birney Hey I've heard of that! That does work I'm sure!

[@JaredReabow]

Most drives are waterproof, you have to destroy the platters ( disks ) on the inside to destroy the data, they can get wet and be fine anyway, heat is the best option, stick in an oven at about 90 degrees for an hour and it will be dead as heat removes magnetism.