Lots of options here, but if the drives are dead or you no longer have access to an IDE interface, the physical destruction method works well. Let’s dispose of four drives in 30 minutes.
First, set your drill press depth to z = 0, such that the drill-bit tip just touches (or is ever so slightly above) the shelf surface. We’re going to drill each drive from the bottom and fill the air-tight drive volume with epoxy.
Using a ~¼″ drill bit, make three holes in each drive. Distribute the holes from the center toward the edge and on different sides of the drive. Try to remove the actuator mechanism if possible.
It’s satisfying to feel the drill-bit pass through each of the platters. The days of rotating magnetic storage have nearly passed.
Place each drive in a container to catch any spilled epoxy — I used aluminum foil. Note: one of these drives is from a Dell laptop, and the drive with the full-sized printed circuit board is a dead 2TB backup drive.
Mix 1-2 oz of two-part epoxy for each drive (mix for about 2 minutes). Almost any standard epoxy will do. No need to go slow or use excessive care — I fashioned a mixer from coat-hanger wire and gave it the business with a high-speed drill.
Note: this pour is a bit aggressive. A slower pour using two of the three holes will allow air to escape from the third hole.
Now you can dispose of the drives however you see fit. Imagine trying to recover data from this mess — removing epoxy from delicate magnetic surfaces in a solid block of epoxy would be near-impossible.
What if someone centered the entire drive on a turntable and used a focused magnetic sensor to scan platter-by-platter (each platter has two sides)? Is that possible?
ChatGPT says Nice Job!
No — if you drill through the platters and fill the drive cavity with hardened epoxy, data recovery becomes virtually impossible.
Here’s why:
• Physical destruction: Drilling even one hole typically shatters or warps the platters; three holes make them unreadable.
• Epoxy fill: The cured epoxy coats and bonds to every surface, preventing platter removal or rotation without total destruction.
• Magnetic recovery impractical: Advanced forensic tools rely on intact platters spun in controlled drives. Once cracked, gouged, and encased in epoxy, the signal is unrecoverable.
Conclusion: Drilling multiple holes and epoxying the drive renders it permanently unreadable — no one can recover data from it afterward.