How to Say Goodbye to Old Hard Drives?

An anonymous reader writes "I'm wondering if anyone else out there has a stack of old hard drives sitting around and doesn't know what to do with them. I always remove the hard drives of my parents' and friends' computers before they recycle them or get a new computer, so now I've got a whole bunch sitting around. One, I'd like to dispose of them and know that whatever data was there is gone, but before that, I'd like to hook them up, one by one, and scan them to make sure there's nothing vital there worth saving. Some are years old and may be totally dead for all I know, but is there a good system for hooking up a hard drive as an additional device, perhaps via USB? And what's a pretty good way to ensure that someone else won't pull them out later on and find usable data?" Well to start with you could always use your hard drives to make electricity or create a decorative wind chime. There are also many different options to ensure that your data doesn't fall into the hands of the enemy. What other suggestions can folks come up with?

Easy...

[Anonymous Coward]

Hire one of those disillusioned young IT workers!

Do it the old fashioned way - shoot em!

[Indy1]

At work, its well known that all past warranty dead drives go to me, as well as ones that work but are too slow and small to be useful. And I make sure the drive in question is definitely wiped :)

For the curious, it usually takes a hot 357 magnum to penetrate and clear most modern drives. 9mm and 45acp either bounce off, or don't exit the drive.

The real question is...

[Deimos24601]

Will it blend?

Know your best friend (s)

[sphix42]

Rip them open, pull the platters out one by one, and make a high definition mirror, knowing every time you look at yourself you're doing it on several levels.

One thing that comes to mind...

[erroneus]

...go fishing for blackmail material. You'll find that Christmas 2008 will be much better for you than Christmas 2007.

The question is...

[LordSnooty]

Will it blend?

A: I would imagine so.

holes

[commodoresloat]

put holes in people. This makes it difficult for all but the most determined people to read.

Yes, putting holes in people makes it difficult for them to read, if your aim is good, but I think the poster wanted a way to make the hard drive unreadable by anyone, not just by the people it was convenient to put holes in.

Fire and brute force

[Bill, Shooter of Bul]

All electronics that fail me suffer the same fate.

Smash, apply ethanol, burn, smash, apply ethanol, burn ... until its no longer fun to do either one.

Re:The real question is...

[MiniMike]

> The hard drive survived.

But afterwards it would only play Yanni and Streisand...

Re:Darik's Boot and Nuke

[Hal_Porter]

You should make sure the garbage bins are in a separate countries too. One of the countries should then be destoyed with thermonuclear warheads.

Re:Do it the old fashioned way - shoot em!

[mbadolato]

Modern desktop drives have pussy magnets

They stuff golden retriever puppies inside hard drives???

Simple, of course...

[Ren Hoak]

This is a personal problem. There are very few personal problems that cannot be solved through a suitable use of high explosives. This is not one of those exceptions.

Re:Easy...

[Hamsterdan]

Use two IBM Deathstars in RAID-0 on a Highpoint controller. It will take care of that by itself :) (Maxtors will do the same by themselves too)

Mousetraps

[SlappyBastard]

Prop the HD up with a tooth pick. Put a piece of cheese right next to the toothpick. If you use one of the really old heavy as fuck HDs, you'll be having mouse pizza for breakfast.

Re:The timing of this is uncanny ...

[Anonymous Coward]

I recommend divorce.

Nuke it from orbit

[AoT]

It's the only way to be sure.

Re:Easy...

[rolando2424]

I'll give you an overwritten drive, and if you can tell me what was on it previously I'll give you a car.

Porn.

I want my car with 5 doors and 4 wheel traction. Thank you.