Disposing of a Laptop

DrDonkeyLove · Post by **DrDonkeyLove** » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:30 pm

I have a place I can take it for disposal but it's so old that even if I could get it fired up I don't know the password to clean the HD.

Any IT guru ideas for killing the HD to protect my Swiss bank accounts and Charlize Theron's cell phone number?
Microwave for a few seconds?
Drop it in a bucket of water?

WildGorillaMan · Post by **WildGorillaMan** » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:34 pm

Remove the hard drive from the laptop. Take the drive to your tool bench. Remove all the screws from the exterior cabinet of the drive. Remove the disc, use bolt cutters to chop the disk in little tiny pieces. Toss them in the trash.

milosz · Post by **milosz** » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:55 pm

Shooting range, multiple rounds of .45 ACP

Dunn · Post by **Dunn** » Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:56 pm

Lighter fluid and a barrel. That will be $50 dollars, please.

nafod · Post by **nafod** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:10 am

Take the drive apart ala gorilla man. Save the super strong magnets to use and play with.

Fuzzy Dunlop · Post by **Fuzzy Dunlop** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:52 am

Dunn wrote:Lighter fluid and a barrel. That will be $50 dollars, please.

KILLET WITH TEH FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ccrow · Post by **ccrow** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:04 pm

Be careful with the discs in a laptop drive. The discs in a full size hard drive are incredibly nice metal, super strong stuff. The discs in the smaller drives used in laptops look the same but they are brittle as glass!

I used to use software to wipe the drives, but since drives have gotten so large, it takes too long. So I started dismantling them and destroying the discs. You usually have to have a torx t9 to actually disassemble them. The magnets are incredibly strong!

Now I just mangle them with a sledgehammer or pickaxe. Once the thing is mangled enough that the discs are bent and the spindle is shot, short of the NSA sifting through your trash, nobody is getting the stuff on there.

One of my customers has a cutting torch in their shop, there, we use the torch.

DikTracy6000 · Post by **DikTracy6000** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:46 pm

Cover it with honey and hide it in your wall.

Dan Martin · Post by **Dan Martin** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:07 pm

I drive over it with my truck, repeatedly.

Protobuilder · Post by **Protobuilder** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:14 pm

Send it to the NSA to see that they have everything.

nafod · Post by **nafod** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:22 pm

Mail it to Erik Estrada's career

Dan Martin · Post by **Dan Martin** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:29 pm

nafod wrote:Mail it to Erik Estrada's career

That's uncalled for.

Batboy2/75 · Post by **Batboy2/75** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:44 pm

WildGorillaMan wrote:Remove the hard drive from the laptop. Take the drive to your tool bench. Remove all the screws from the exterior cabinet of the drive. Remove the disc, use bolt cutters to chop the disk in little tiny pieces. Toss them in the trash.

A drill press or hand held drill is easier. I turn all of my old HDD into Swiss cheese and then fold them in half using a 20 ton shop press. Overkill Yes, but my son is more than willing to do the work. My son likes to see how many times he can get one to fold over.

DrDonkeyLove · Post by **DrDonkeyLove** » Sun Feb 02, 2014 10:37 pm

Many great ideas. Thank you.

I'm going to cover it in honey and hide it in a wall per DikTracy6000, then I'll shoot the wall w/ .45 ACP per milosz.

IGX

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