On 2007-10-09, Rich Grise wrote:
On Mon, 08 Oct 2007 08:59:03 -0500, Ignoramus17253 wrote:
I had a surprising experience recently. I took a couple of hard drives and
tried to destroy them with a 8 lb sledgehammer. I put a hard drive on an
anvil

http://igor.chudov.com/projects/Weld...de-Mini-Anvil/

Then I hit it with a sledgehammer, expecting part to fly away and to see
the hard drive utterly demolished. But no such thing occurred.

Barely any damage was visible on the drive (though, probably, it would no
longer function). After many more hits, finally, the hard drive was
shoring visible deformation of its frame. I am rather amazed as to how
tough the hard drives are.


That's because you're trying to squash a casting.

Try setting the drive on its edge and whacking it, but be sure to
take safety precautions, because it will probably fly across the
room. Maybe clamp it to an angle plate.

I did that, and no, it did not fly apart.

Or, get a sledge with a pointy peen, if there is such a thing.

But why smash it? Why not just open it up, salvage the supermagnets,
and bend the disk?

Too time consuming, I already have enough magnets. I did take a hard
drive apart before.

i


And, with modern drives, as soon as it's open to room air, it'll be
pretty much useless for data - the last time I worked with flying
heads, they flew at less than 0.000050", which is smaller than dust.

Cheers!
Rich