Edison Chan should have done this: physically destroy harddisk

Privacy is a real and huge issue these days. If your personal information got stolen, not only you will suffer financial lost, it will also take forever to reverse the image. That's why you should take getting rid of your hard disk, which contains tons and tons of your personal information, seriously.

The best strategy? Physically destroy the hard disk, and here's how:

The goal is to destroy the magnetic plates insides the metal case. The magnetic plates are where the data being stored. You want to physically destroy the plate to a point that it is not recoverable.



So first you have to open up the hard disk metal case. Most hard disk use the hexagon screw shown below. You may need to buy a screw drive with that kind of head.



I brought mine from Lowe's . They have this screw drive with 8 exchangeable heads, all for about US$6. Plus the people there are friendly and helpful. Highly recommend shopping there.



Almost in all cases, the hard disk will have a few screws that hidden underneath some plastic cover, like the 2 spots below. You just have to be patient and spot them out.



Now that the metal case is wide open, you can see the circular discs. Some hard disks have more discs than the others.



Unscrew screws in the middle of the pile of discs.



If it's possible to take the discs out, do so.



Now it's time to destroy those discs. Some discs are made out of brittle material, while others made out of more elastic material. I suggest you putting the discs in a plastic bag before smashing them.



Now smash.



Here's what happen when material is elastic. They tend to be older harddisk with lower capacity.



This is what happen when the discs are brittle.



Enjoy destroying your hard disk!