I just dropped off an old computer for electronic recycling. Of course I did not want to leave all my personal data on the computer’s internal hard drive. One option would be to use a software utility to reformat the hard drive. But I decided to use a much faster — and I think more permanent — method to disable the hard drive mechanism.
This was my low-tech method:
- I removed the hard drive from the old computer.
- Placed the hard drive on a piece of cardboard in my driveway…
- …then pounded it several times with a heavy wood-chopping ax.
As you can see from the before and after photos, I’m quite certain the data will not be recoverable.
Mike,
If you haven’t, you should publish this to FB, it is really good information. However, video’s of your chopping your hard drive would have been a nice addition.