When working we used to destroy hard disk drives. We often used a disk “nuking” program that formatted the drive then wrote to the entire drive (and went through the process several times). I also would give them a good hard whack with a heavy hammer for good measure.

If we had a heap of drives to be done we’d nuke them using a electro magnetic process. We’d insert a heap of hard disks turn on the machine which hummed and buzzed making a frightful din but the drives were destroyed.

The drives were then put into a recycle bin.

For CDs we had a simple shredder that basically put holes into the back of the disks making unreadable. The CD was then broken. Note: it is the “painted” surface you destroy. Some paper shredders have a CD facility. I have seen folk gouge the front of a CD but that does nothing, it is the shiny stuff you want gone. (At home some were left hanging in the garden to scare birds).

For floppy disks or tapes (if you still have any) if they have not been stored in a good dry place they’re probably rusted to death by now. You can use a nuking program on floppies.

These were my experiences get shy of unwanted data.

Tony

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