Physical destruction of hard drives - recommended drill bits?

[Charles M]

Good day Refurbishers. We've been experimenting with a drill press we have on site and physical destruction of hard drives. We went through a couple of titanium coated drill bits for a small selection (40) of hard drives we physically destroyed. Previous to this we actually opened up hard drives and hammered away, removing platters, etc. (lots of work, but fun for volunteers) I'm wondering if anyone is using a drill press and has a few bits that work well.

One thing we found is bits seem to last longer if we don't run the drill at higher speeds the bits last quite a bit longer.

Cheers,

Charles McColm,
The Working Centre Computer Recycling Project
Web: http://www.theworkingcentre.org/cr/
Blog: http://www.charlesmccolm.com/
Twitter/Identica/Google+: @chaslinux

[Pat Furr]

Charles,

We drilled hard drives years ago but no longer do so.  I had concerns about employee safety with the air-borne shards of metal and difficulty keeping sharp drill bits.  Drilling hard drives alone does not ensure data destruction.  If you reach the point where you can afford a DeGausser, I really encourage you to get one.  We have had ours for several years.  We can thoroughly destroy hard drives at the rate of 200 per hour without any harm to our employees or the environment.  We are paid by some courts, businesses and individuals to do so.  It has proven to be a great investment.

Pat Furr

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[Lorraine Kerwood]

Hi Pat,

We haven't used a deguausser because I haven't read that it meets data sanitation standards, particularly HIPPA. What standard are you achieving with the deguasser? Maybe the standard has changed?

Thanks for additional info.

lorraine

-- 

Lorraine Kerwood, Executive Director, NextStep Recycling

Lane County Master Recycler

[Charles M]

Thanks Pat. We always make volunteers wear form-fitting safety glasses and gloves when using the press (we've only really done a couple of batches). But of course it doesn't prevent injuries. (We've never had one, but we very rarely use the drill press) We're a somewhat small refurbisher (that works with a large range of different systems - wish we had a lot more large lots but we rely entirely on donations) so I'm not sure we'll get there within the next year or so. Still I'll add it to our parent company's shopping list and see if they bite - the 200 drives per hour is impressive.

We're part of the Ontario Electronic Stewardship and DBAN everything to DOD-short (3 pass) standard. Our OES posters actually recommend donors ensure destruction/wiping of their data, but we do it anyway for goodwill (and because I've heard enough horror stories about drives being recovered and owners being contacted). For some clients we do the RCMP (8 pass) when they request it.

Thanks again,

Charles McColm,
The Working Centre Computer Recycling Project
Web: http://www.theworkingcentre.org/cr/
Blog: http://www.charlesmccolm.com/
Twitter/Identica/Google+: @chaslinux

[Pat Furr]

Lorraine,

I am sending a link to the company we purchased our degausser from several years ago.  As you can see from the brochure, they have degausser that meet HIPPA standards.  We have also used the product to degauss tapes that are used at our local university to back-up data records.  There are several companies that sell degaussers.  Ours is portable and could be transported to a location wanting to destroy the drives on site but we have not been asked to do so.

It has proven to be a great investment.  Even the highest levels of data destruction recommend degaussing prior to shredding.

Check out: http://www.garner-products.com/hipaa-home.htm

Pat Furr

[Lorraine Kerwood]

Awesome. We have some grant funds for tools so this might be one we invest in. Time saver! We'll research.

lorraine

-- 

Lorraine Kerwood, Executive Director, NextStep Recycling

Lane County Master Recycler

desk: 541-686-2366 ext. 112

cell: 541-868-6017

twitter: lkerwood

facebook: lorrainekerwood

http://www.nextsteprecycling.org

http://www.reartfestival.org

http://www.repair2reuse.org

[Pat Furr]

Charles,

If you continue to use the drill, I recommend making a form to hold the hard drive in place.  We purchased a drill press to further make the process safer.  I still worried about metal particulates being inhaled.

 

Lorraine,

We purchased a HD-3 that has now been upgraded to a newer model.  Be sure to check for better pricing offered to non-profits.  There is a 9 second delay for the capacitors to recharge but we can easily degauss 200 hard drives per hour.

[Bill Rappel]

Refurbishers,

 

I was recently contacted by a fledgling volunteer project in New Jersey that is promoting alternative energy by building wind turbines from discarded materials.  Turns out that hard drive parts (magnets, swing arms, removable motors) are key to this effort.   Please contact Mark Unger (917-658-2672, addi...@aol.com) if your organization is interested in donating broken hard drives and/or any of the three hard drive parts mentioned above. 

 

Bill Rappel

[Computers 2 SD Kids]

I contacted the Garner link provided by Pat and they have the HD-3WXL going for $8,975 with an additional $725 for the rolling cart. They also suggested the HD-2 if you want to save a little money. It goes for $3,975 with an additional $595 for the rolling cart.  HD-3 processes 1 every 10 seconds and the HD-2 processes 1 every minute.  Both meet all the requirements.  I did inquire if they had a nonprofit discount and they said no.

 

 

Cheri R Pierre

Executive Director

Computers 2 SD Kids

8324 Miramar Mall

San Diego, CA 92121

(858) 200-9787

(866) 678-3099 fax

(760) 518-7879 cell

cpi...@c2sdk.org

www.c2sdk.org

 

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[Pat Furr]

FYI, we don’t use the rolling cart.

Pat

[WR3A Robin]

We had the best drill system money could buy, inherited from the
plastics injection molding company we bought the building from. But
we learned that hand-disassembly of the hard drives - physical
demanufacturing - wins. We sell the rare earth magnets back to the
hard drive factories, and the green boards from HDs are worth twice as
much as computer motherboards. And don't worry, no one is buying
platinium platters to read personal data. Some of this CIA-Defense
stuff is overkill, selling flood insurance people in the desert.
Worry about chain of custody first (laptop getting stolen before your
HD person ever sees it), worry about drill press or hammer or
demanufacturing method second.

Robin Ingenthron

[Nate at Retroworks]

Dissassembly is the best way to do it if you have volunteers. For
profits I've spoken to find it more feasible to beat it with a hammer,
drill it or degauss it and then outsource the disassembly. The ROI for
a dedicated HD disassembly line isn't always there and shredding hard
drives, in my personal opinion, is just a waste.

[Nate at Retroworks]

I definitely agree with Robin on this. Disassembling the hard drive is
just about the best way destroy the data on the drive. Least
investment and time, and you can outsource the disassembly, which
saves you overhead. You can still punch it or degauss it, but
shredding is just a complete waste.

Anyone like more info, feel free to email.