When it comes time to part with your old computer, whether you’re selling it, giving it away, or sending it to the recycling center, it’s very important that you first wipe out the data on the hard drive. That way you don’t have to worry about persons unkown getting hold of any banking or other personal data that may have been on it.
You can’t simply click the delete button either, all that does is remove the file names. The data is still there and can be recovered with minimal effort. Fortunately, a number of free utility programs exist for erasing the actual data.
Of course, this pre-supposes that the computer is in working condition. One of the older computers I just got rid of wouldn’t boot, but I didn’t know what data might still be salvageable. In that situation, what I normally do is remove the hard drive and dispose of it separately after first disassembling it and destroying the drive platters. In the past I’ve been known to shellac them and use them as coasters, or to build a clock.
This time out though, my usual methods wouldn’t work. The drive was held together with torx screws and I didn’t have a small enough torx driver to remove them.
Another way of erasing the data on a hard drive is to give it a dozen or so vigorous whacks with a hammer. By the time I was done, bits of the drive were rattling when it was handled, the spindle had broken loose from the housing, and although you can’t see it in these pictures, peering through the side of the case, the platters are visibly bent.
It’s not the most orthodox method of decommissioning a drive, but it’s nonetheless quite satisfying.