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The Homemade Hard Disk Destroyer

Barence writes "All businesses have sensitive data they need to destroy when they replace PCs, but disposing of hard disks properly can be an expensive business. This has led one IT manager in the UK to come up with his own, homemade solution — Bustadrive. It uses a powerful 'hydraulic punch' to physically deform a hard disk, rendering it virtually unreadable, and requires nothing more than a pull of the lever on the front — similar to a drinks-can crusher. PC Pro tested the Bustadrive, and also sought the opinions of data destruction companies as to whether the device was really as effective as hoped, or just a fun way to mangle a hard disk or two."

14 of 497 comments (clear)

  1. Re:7.62mm holes by IBBoard · · Score: 5, Funny

    7.62mm seems like an unusual size for a drill bit, and what kind of drill are you managing to use at up to 100m? Seems like a longer distance than I've seen any normal pillar drill move over.

    I do agree that not removing the circuit board causes lots of debris, though, and is especially dangerous when it spins off at an angle!

  2. Re:This is just a controlled hammer by zygotic+mitosis · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, if you like the kid, sure..

  3. Re:Stand drill by BenevolentP · · Score: 5, Funny

    Whatever happened to just taking hike to closest Mt. Doom and throwing disk to molten lava hole?

  4. Re:I'll fuck it up good. by larry+bagina · · Score: 5, Funny

    the topic is hard drive destruction, not sex.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  5. Re:Overkill? by jonadab · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because for a system administrator, paranoia is a basic job requirement. Consequently, when it comes to data security, there's no such thing as too much overkill. Even when you have subjected the drive to a thermite reaction, let it cool, and ground the whole resulting mess down to the consistency of talcum powder, you still have to scatter the ashes over at least a thousand square miles of ocean, just to be sure. Ideally, you'd scatter half the ashes over the central Pacific, some of them over the north Atlantic, and the rest over the southern ocean.

    Extra bonus points if you scrub the platters with fluorine trichloride before putting it through the thermite reaction.

    Even then, you'll never be fully comfortable with the job until you destroy the entire galaxy that the drive was in. Maybe the whole universe. You can't be too sure.

    --
    Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
  6. Re:This is just a controlled hammer by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Funny

    Good safety advice! Never go close to kids without protective gear.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  7. Re:Stand drill by value_added · · Score: 5, Funny

    The folks in Accounting must love your expense and mileage reports.

  8. Re:Overkill? by ehren_m · · Score: 5, Funny

    What's the best way to get red wine out of cotton? This guy: Thermite.

  9. Re:Overkill? by Scrameustache · · Score: 5, Funny

    Even if only one technician in the entire world, with a billion-dollar lab, is capable of recovering the data from a zero'd drive, it's too much of a risk. What if that one technician is Chinese?

    Oh, that's ok, my data isn't written in Chinese...

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  10. Re:Stand drill by Scrameustache · · Score: 5, Funny

    Dude, haven't you read the Trilogy? It takes half a book just to cross Mordor, plus there's Orcs and shit. That's way more trouble than it's worth. And have you ever tried to find Middle Earth on a map? Sure, lots of people have theories, but what with continental drift and such, it's all pretty obscure. How can you be sure the volcano you use is *really* Mount Doom in this late, degenerate age?

    Because of all the Orcs and shit?

    --

    You can't take the sky from me...

  11. Re:Overkill? by ripnet · · Score: 5, Funny

    Just mark the drive 'fragile' and post it via CityLink (UK courier firm)... guaranteed that THAT data wont be seen again...

  12. Easiest, Cheapest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Mail it to yourself via registered mail and then refuse deliver. Once it enters the Post Office loop, it'll never be seen again.

  13. Re:Overkill? by Shakrai · · Score: 5, Funny

    Beside, just reformat a few times--first with reiser, then NTFS, then another Linux format, then whatever you want to use in the end. Pretty hard to unscramble all that.

    It's easy to unscramble reiser. You just have to offer it a reduced sentence in exchange for telling you where the body is ;)

    Thank you, I'll be here all night....

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  14. whiner by rubycodez · · Score: 5, Funny

    Ok, do that in your office and see how many minutes your job lasts once the fire's out

    charred corpses don't terminate jobs

    Plus, it's rather environmentally unfriendly

    data processing including the manufacture and operation of hard drives is already environmentally unfriendly, and oxidizing metals is one way to get them back toward the more natural state for this world