Getting Rid of a PC

[1DC]

I have searched the fAQ's and forum but can't see a related subject. My PC is rapidly coming to the end of it's useful life and soon it will be heading for the rubbish bin. Could anyone tell me if their is a way to securely delete all of it's content so nobody can get into it . I do my private banking and most shopping on line and have an extensive list of addresses and files on it. I would like to erase everything for good if possible but hear stories about nothing is secure and people who know how can get into anything if they want to. etc etc.
Thanks for any help..

[seacue]

I remove the hard disk. Without the hard disk (or SSD solid state drive) I contend that the PC doesn't remember anything. OK, remove the keep-alive button cell battery as well.

I then open the hard disk assembly and do my best to heavily physically damage the recording surfaces. I seriously bend the disk so that I think it would take (expensive) serious effort to make it flat enough to be read again.

My goal is to make data recovery far more costly than the value of any data recovered.

My county has a computer and electronics recycling center. I think they are recycled for the precious metals they contain. The destroyed hard disk goes the same place. Your county may vary.

I've done about a dozen old PCs this way. Getting inside the disk drive assembly is the difficult part. I've seen photos of big "vending" machines which chew up disk drives, but I never expect to see one in person.

seacue

[Midland 331]

Your Hard Drive May Contain Errors | Flickr - Photo Sharing! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/point_and_click/7182431040/)

Simple. Do some mischief to the HDD...

[le Pingouin]

Open the box, remove the hard drive & store securely as a back-up of your data at time of transfer to the new system.

Once you're happy it's no longer needed then think about disposal. Darik's Boot and Nuke is good for overwriting an entire disc: Darik's Boot and Nuke - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darik%27s_Boot_and_Nuke)

Use a gas axe or drill press to put a hole right trough the drive if you really must physically destroy it.

[1DC]

Many thanks for the answers guys.. 1DC

[Milo Minderbinder]

Another vote here for Darik's DBAN
That should be good enough for most uses.

Off on a slight tangent though, its worth remembering that if someone really wants the data on that hard drive, physical destruction isn't enough. Even if you drill holes in the platter, or hammer it to splinters its usually possible to reassemble a working drive image if you have the right kit. Theres enough data redundancy to often overcome the "missing" parts.
And by "the right kit" I mean one of these
Scanning tunneling microscope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_tunneling_microscope)
There are companies in the UK that can do it, though its not cheap....
They scan all the fragments with it and then use a rather powerful PC to electronically reassemble all the parts. By locating the charge on individual atoms on the platter, they can make a good judgement of the data

[Tableview]

I had two HDs to dispose of, chucked them in the fireplace, left them there for two days. Somehow I doubt if there would have been much recoverable after that.

[Milo Minderbinder]

I wouldn't be too sure about that........I've seen photos of drives recovered from severe fires from which some useful data was retrieved - though the company was vague about just how much (confidential business info of course.....)
One things for sure - its not cheap to do it

[John Farley]

Destroy the HDD using a coarse sander.

[Mike-Bracknell]

Another vote here for Darik's DBAN
That should be good enough for most uses.

Off on a slight tangent though, its worth remembering that if someone really wants the data on that hard drive, physical destruction isn't enough. Even if you drill holes in the platter, or hammer it to splinters its usually possible to reassemble a working drive image if you have the right kit. Theres enough data redundancy to often overcome the "missing" parts.
And by "the right kit" I mean one of these
Scanning tunneling microscope - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanning_tunneling_microscope)
There are companies in the UK that can do it, though its not cheap....
They scan all the fragments with it and then use a rather powerful PC to electronically reassemble all the parts. By locating the charge on individual atoms on the platter, they can make a good judgement of the data

Sorry, but the residual electric charge story is a myth. Debunked several times.

Stick a nail through the hard drive and pour in some bleach, glue or acid. :ok:

[le Pingouin]

Residual electric charge? On a magnetic hard drive platter? Maybe you're thinking of RAM.

Physically damaging the platters doesn't remove data - it's still there as most of the surface of the platter is left intact. Certainly much harder to read and incomplete but it's still there.

Anything that leaves the platters largely intact means the magnetic surface can still be read. Not saying it's easy but it's possible.

[obgraham]

Sledge hammer. It takes many blows before it shatters.

[marianoberna]

First of all, Use Darik's Boot & Nuke (Google it).
After that, remove the HDD, and build a simple DIY Demagnetizer

Shop built demagnetizer (http://bbs.homeshopmachinist.net/threads/29187-Shop-built-demagnetizer)

Make sure that your drive was degaussed. For that, Connect it back to the PC, and turn it on. It should do a rattling sound (clac clac clac, etc) when the head tries to move to the first magnetick track and can't find it, returns to it's housing, seeks track number zero again, and again, etc. forever. At that point, not even a low level formatting will allow any of the leftover data to be recovered by conventional (without very specialized expensive laboratory equipment, clean room (zero dust), etc) means.

Dissasemble the drive. You can get rid of the carcass, head, and boards right away.

Take the plate (or plates) and with patience, drill as many holes in it as you can. Collect all of the shavings and dust. You should by that point have a plate that is more holes than plate.

After that, take all of the shavings, dust, and plate remnants, and put them on a steel or ceramic container. Use a blowtorch to heat all of the remaining elements over the Curie point (Around 700/800 ºc). At that point, all material loses its magnetism. Then, as it cools down, all of it realigns with the magnetic field of Earth.

Once it's cool, you can throw it away.

This method that i've described is used by intelligence organizations from all the world. If that's good enough for them....

[PPRuNe Pop]

Take the HDD out - use a nice little Black and Decker drill with a bit big enough so that you can pour some super glue into the hole - job done. Then take it the whole lot to your local dump and they will destroy the rest of it.

[Keef]

Hard disks are small items. I just take 'em out after "erasing", dig a hole in the garden, and bury them. Nobody knows where they are, and archaeologists in 10,000 years time are going to be fascinated.

My accounts will have been closed by then anyway.

[Mac the Knife]

Getting any data other than background noise off a securely erased hard-drive is both unlikely and very very expensive.

The idea that identity thieves are trolling though landfill looking for your Uncle Jim's junked hard-drive just so that they can spend $100,0000 and a month poking through it with a scanning-tunnelling electron microscope in the hope of finding his social security number or bank logon is farcical.

Unless you are a big company with real "secrets" on your HDDs then these elaborate destructions, though fun, are silly and wasteful.

It is far easier and faster to find out your soopa secrits by just hacking, snooping and wardriving - most of them are on the web somewhere anyway!

Get real guys!

Mac

:E

[11Fan]

I send my old computers to these guys. They offer a guarantee that nothing will be recovered.

LzRF-5IWrm0

[1DC]

Once again, many thanks. Fortunately my secrets are quite insignificant so a drill and a burial will probably do the job!

[le Pingouin]

Seriously, just overwrite the entire drive using DBAN. It's quick, easy and a whole lot less hassle for the same effective level of security. And a whole lot safer for your fingers and eyes.

[1DC]

Yes I noted the DBAN and that will be it,,Thanks..

[OFSO]

1) Disassemble PC
2) Hard drive: drill a couple of holes through it, open case to let dirt in, hand it in to recycling centre
3) Mother board and RAM (if latter doesn't fit new PC which is likely): recycling centre
3) DVD, CD, Power Supply: if they still work, keep 'em. You wouldn't want any empty space in your garage, would you !
4) Fans: keep. You can put them into the new PC.
5) Case: the basis for a steampunk extravaganza. I am FURIOUS that I didn't keep my last computer case. I have been looking for a complete case to steampunk for two years now, no luck.....

[Big Hammer]

12 bore or a 410 through the hard drive. pick the bones outta that then!