#The Destruction of a Hard Drive

I finally did it. I finally took the step. For 2 years now I had my old Gateway computer standing on my workbench in the basement. All hooked-up. For some reason I always thought I may be able to use it as a backup. Which was totally ludicrous. The reason I bought a new computer in the first place was that this one was acting up. It was slow and just didn’t perform anymore. Last week I thought I might be able to use it as a CD player, but the player didn’t work. So I decided to take it to a recycling depot in Selkirk.

After reading all the precautions one has to take when discarding a computer, like reformatting the hard drive, erasing all the information on it so it cannot be recovered by some unscrupulous person, I was undecided what to do. Apparently, just deleting and uninstalling everything doesn’t erase the data. It is just stored away somewhere on the hard drive, ready to be extracted by someone with the knowledge and tools to do so.

Now I was starting to get paranoid. Searching the internet for solutions, I found plenty of info. None of it worked for me. I downloaded an ‘Eraser’ program with my new computer, transferred it to a flash drive and installed it on my old computer. Well, it did nothing. When trying to reformat the hard drive I was also stumped. You need the Windows installation disk to do that. My DVD player on the computer didn’t work and it would not read the CD.

After wasting days, trying to delete everything and looking for a way to erase all data, I followed the advice of ‘Experts’: A sledgehammer, which translates into: Take a sledgehammer and destroy the hard drive. When I told my wife about my decision, she said: “I told you that 2 years ago. You’re finally taking my advice.”

Now, no man wants to admit that it was his wife’s idea in the first place, but she was right all along. The sledgehammer was the final and ideal solution.

I finally discovered how to open the console; now I was ready for the evil deed. You have to remove 2 screws to open it, but it took me an hour to figure that out! It is not easily evident and I didn’t want to break anything. Don’t ask why, since I’m not selling the computer. This is my excuse: I’m a builder not a wrecker. Perhaps I should have called my grandson. He would have known and I could have saved some time. Kids are born with that knowledge. Us old fogies have to come by it the hard way...through research and by learning.

After the side panel came off, I needed to identify the hard drive. Easy when you know, not so easy when you don’t, but my first guess was correct. Just to make sure, I went to the internet for advice and a picture. Once I was sure, I disconnected the wires and removed the hard drive from the open box. Four screws hold it in place.

That done, I was ready. I took the hard drive into the garage, took my big axe and hammered away at the small box. (I did put on goggles for safety). I felt like a criminal trying to hide evidence before a government raid. It took me some time to destroy that little gadget. The material was unbelievably tough. In the end, I held the broken pieces in my hand, realizing I had destroyed the brain of my computer that had served me for so many years. All that information...gone with a few (quite a few, actually) smashes of my axe. I felt guilty, but it needed to be done...for my own protection. I couldn’t let all that information fall into the wrong hands.

What information? You ask? Let’s be serious for a moment. There is lots of information we all have on our computers. Nothing illegal, mind you, but personal things, like my banking stuff, all of my books, letters I wrote, my address book with all my friends’ email addresses, my invoices from my business, tax-stuff, pictures etc. Am I paranoid? I don’t think so. Many of our disregarded computers end up in third-world-countries. We don’t know what they do with them. The world is full of criminals. Cyber criminals who have no qualms about robbing innocent victims. Better safe than sorry.

Physically removing the hard drive from your computer is still the #Best Way to keep your private information safe and from falling into the wrong hands.

Note: For more detailed instructions and pictures go here: How to remove a hard drive from your computer

Here is a picture (both sides) of the hard drive I took out of my computer (Before I took the axe to it):