Hard drive platters

[chefjosh77]

I have several pounds of hard drive platters. Pictures will be available this weekend if there is any interest in them. I only keep the silvery ones, not the iron colored ones. PM me if anyone is interested in them.

 

[jimdoc]

I just sold 50 lbs for scrap aluminum this week.
That is all they are.

Jim

 

[Oz]

Dang Jim, thats cracking open alot of hard drive cases.

 

[jimdoc]

Yes it is,and I still have a box tucked away somewhere that will
get sold when I find it.I think it is in my garage attic.I like the big
bucket of magnets from all those hard drives.I have been scrapping
computers since the early nineties and saved most of the magnets since.
I gave a big box to a friend that saves me oxygen sensors from his shop.

I think the hard drive platters could be sold to make wind chimes or some
other art projects.Most are like little mirrors.I wouldn't sell them on Ebay
to someone hyping all the platinum they could get,because they won't.

Hard drives are basically scrap aluminum,some have a stainless steel cover,a little board that pays better than motherboards if you keep them separate,and the magnets.

Jim

 

[Oz]

As a matter of fact the only hard drives I pull apart are for my girlfriends art projects and making wind chimes.

 

[dtectr]

I have a pound or two (.5 - 1 kg) of these laying around, as well

I'm negotiating with a government agency for their old/dead computers, but they
of course are concerned with data protection. I told them I could give them a Certificate of Destruction (COD)
but since then, I've been wondering what is the most economical/practical way to do that -
To my (limited knowledge) the only place that Personal History Information (PHI)
or PII (Personally Identifiable Info) is stored is hard drive? Correct or not?

Would that require the total destruction of the entire drive or just shredding of platters? the latter
could be performed on site before I left with the computers.

Any ideas?

thanks in advance.

 

[Ocean]

I am providing data destruction services, and for the customers that desire proof we are:

Taking a picture of 20-50 HDDs at a time,
logging the serial #'s on a spread sheet,
Drilling 4 holes through the metal type of disks,
bash with a hammer for glass disks,

and providing photographic evidence of the end result.

 

[Lou]

How does drilling a hole completely remove all the data to DOD spec?

Lou

 

[Ocean]

Good question, but I don't think I said I was using DOD specs.


Maybe you can help me, because I need some schooling here:

How easy would it be to remove data from disks with giant holes drilled in it?

 

[jimdoc]

I think shredding them would be best,but probably expensive for
equipment that will last.

Jim

 

[Ocean]

I think shredding them would be best,but probably expensive for
equipment that will last.

Jim

Right.

New business, can't afford that now.

Anyone know how easy or if it is even possible to remove data from disks with 4 - 1/2" holes drilled into them?

 

[lazersteve]

With the right equipment and software I'm sure portions of the data could be retrieved even with holes in the disks. It all depends on how bad you want the data and how much money you have to spend.

Steve

 

[jimdoc]

I know when you bend one in half it flakes off the coating around the bend.Maybe if you bent them in enough spots to completely damage the surface.

Jim

 

[qst42know]

Is melting the aluminum an option?

No disk no data.

 

[wrecker45]

some of the repear shop i pick up scrap from drills a hole in the disk

 

[Lou]

Heat would be the easiest way to permanently remove the magnetization. Heat them in an oven to just below red heat, could probably do a couple thousand platters per batch, or do it continuously with a resistance heated furnace and a gear-driven belt system.

A lot depends on the nature of the drives and who was using them--some drives store data in multiple regions (striping/RAID config). Drilling holes would limit what one could recover, but it's by no means "data destruction".

 

[stihl88]

A bench grinder with a grinding wheel or perhaps even a wire brush wheel to roughen the surface quickly would be a quick alternative.
It would get fairly monotonous grinding the platters all day though...

 

[dtectr]

Hammer Mill

 

[escrap]

It is also important to note, if you are doing this as a service it is important to be insured for this. If for some reason something were to happen and it came back on you it could take down any small business. Another thing to watch out for is the thermal carbon paper out of fax machines, A lot of times these can hold very sensitive information.

 

[etack]

the magnets that are in the hard drives are they worth anything I always assumed that they were rare earth magnets. however a shop that buys computer scrap by me was buying them at $1-$2 a piece.
I have some to take down to him to see but the funny thing is that he only pays $1lb for boards.