By Andrew Liszewski
Whenever I replace a hard drive I usually dismantle the discarded drive for security reasons, and because you can never have too many really strong magnets kicking around. Other slightly easier methods for wiping the data off a hard drive include degaussing machines or software solutions that write over the original data until it’s unreadable. But both of those can take a long time, particularly when compared to what the Hard Disk Crusher can do in just 10 seconds. It basically ‘drills’ through the hard drive’s spindles which physically creates ripples in the platters making it impossible to recover any data.
The site claims the Crusher can destroy over 60 disks an hour (at 10 seconds per crush that doesn’t seem to add up) but they also mention that they’ve had customers destroy over 800 drives in a single day. It runs off a standard 110V outlet but there’s also an emergency hand-pump accessory that allows you to use the Hard Disk Crusher without an electrical power source. About 15 pumps creates enough power to destroy a single drive. Not surprisingly the Hard Disk Crusher has a price tag of $11,500 which includes a one-year warranty. Extending that warranty will cost you $995 per year (yikes!) and the aforementioned emergency hand-pump option is another $895.
[ EDR Solutions Hard Disk Crusher ] VIA [ Gearlog ]
The 10 seconds vs. 60 an hour does make sense: it takes 10 seconds to crush a drive but you need the other 50 seconds to load and unload the machine giving you 60 crushes per hour.
http://www.shinyplastic.com/archives/05-01-2008-computer-hardware-hard-drive-crusher.php
My old .22 rifle destroys hard drives just fine, and it’s cheaper and probably more fun…
I have an old form of this – it’s called a hammer. π
So, I agree with reflection. Save the $11K and buy a $11 hammer. Works just fine for me: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmuse/307226463/
This is nothing more than a hydraulic ram. You could DIY one of these for about $200.
You could buy a log splitter for much less, and it would do double duty.
I use a cinderblock. They’re free.
Shamil – cinderblocks tend to break and they are not, as you suggest, free…
They are if you steal them from building sites ^_^
Physically bending the platters without demagnetising them will leave some data recoverable. Thermite is faster, cheaper and more effective, though a tad more dangerous. There are also slow rotational crushers which can turn at least 60 drives per minute into tiny chips of scrap.metal and plastic.