5 Effective Ways to Destroy Your Unwanted Hard Drive
Hard drives are digital memory recorders found in technological devices. They store a lot of personal information including pictures, spreadsheets, documents, personal data, scanned or uploaded documents, and images. But they also hold other vital information including personal preferences, saved pages, and operating systems. Most of this information can be very damaging if it falls in the wrong hands.
People’s personal and financial lives have been ruined by someone else who accessed confidential information from someone’s hard drive.
Destroying this part of the computer is essential for keeping private documents exactly that: private. But did you know, that if you do not destroy your hard drive unit properly, people can still gain access to the information that it holds.
Some hard drive parts are made of glass and are easy to shatter. Throwing them against something hard can break the glass platter into pieces. Other hard drives are aluminum, and are a little more difficult to destroy.
While throwing technical parts into the river or garbage might sound safe, the truth is, it is not. Data can still be extracted from the drive. When getting rid of your hard drive unit, you want to make sure that it is damaged beyond reuse. These effective methods of hard drive destruction will ensure that no one is able to get information from your unwanted hard drive.
1. Shred It
Shredding companies have industrial shredders that are designed to chop up heavy duty products such as discs, hard drives, memory sticks and other computerized pieces capable of holding private data. By shredding the unit, you will guarantee that no one will be able to retrieve your information.
2. Burn It
Setting fire to your drive will also destroy all abilities to get a hold of any information stored in the device. When burning your unit, it’s important to make sure no one is hurt and the fire cannot touch anything flammable. The device should be completely melted and destroyed by the flames to ensure your private safety.
3. Take a Hammer to It
Hammers can be just as effective in destroying the unit as shredders if done right. Release all your frustrations while hammering your drive until it is nothing more than broken, mangled pieces of unrecognizable computer bits.
4. Use Other Tools
Drilling holes in your hard drive will quickly damage the unit badly enough that no one will be able to pull information from it. Other tools such as screwdrivers, knives, saws, or other utensils can also be used to scratch the platter of the memory unit so it is impossible to read the saved data from the drive.
5. Chemical Melt
One of the easiest and most effective ways to destroy a hard drive is to use a corrosive chemical. Many household chemicals or cleaning products can be used to destroy a hard drive so it can not be used to extract info.
When getting rid of computerized equipment, it is important to remove and destroy the hard drive unit first so it cannot fall into the wrong hands.
