Cheap and cheerful file eraser

[wobblybob54]

I'm thinking of getting rid of a few old hard drives that are beginning to wheeze and clunk. Does anyone know of a, preferably free, file eraser? Nothing fancy just to avoid accidental access as these damn things are virtually indestructable!
Thanks in advance.

[ormingstoke]

I found 5 minutes with a hammer on the patio worked. Only downside was that while it did smash up the hard drive, it also cracked the tiles underneath.

[The Shape]

Am I wrong or did I hear somewhere that a large magnet will do the trick?

[sausagelink]

Take the drive apart (usually a star type screwdriver) and use a hammer on the plates. This way the tiles underneath will be safe and you do not have to worry about recoverable data being left behind.

[wobblybob54]

Thanks gents, I think I'll go for the violent approach rather than the software approach. Well off to the shed to find a hammer....

[ormingstoke]

Thanks gents, I think I'll go for the violent approach rather than the software approach. Well off to the shed to find a hammer....

Hoorah! Good for letting out some of that pent up agression too.

[gloryholeprincess]

Am I wrong or did I hear somewhere that a large magnet will do the trick?

Does that really work?
Piper

[9inch]

Just trash it with a hammer as others have noted above.
Best bet and you know the job will get done.

No one will be getting their mitts on the data after that.

9Inch

[Dimmesdale]

Reformat the hard-drive.

[Brian1453]

I guess I lived in Texas too long. My first thought was, "sounds like time for shotgun practice". You just have not been shooting till you take an old TV or refrigerator out to the dump and shoot the crap out of it. But office equipment is almost as good.