I have an HDD from a old laptop that broke down. I want to now recycle all my electronics, but retain the security of my data that is on the disk. However, my current laptop  is not compatible with the old HDD's connectors. Would placing a fridge magnet on a HDD drive make the data unreadable? How long would I have to put the magnet on there for? Would the same apply to desktop HDDs?

Any environmentally sound and safe ideas will be appreciated. Thanks.

EDIT: Shoot. Wrong forum. Sorry. (Although Microsoft windows might be installed on the HDD (if not Linux) so it might be relevant.)

Remove the vacuum seals, that should make it unusable.

Well what sort of connection type is it? Most of the time you can find an adapter for the various types and connect it through a USB port and then you could delete it. This should accomplish the task of allowing you to access the HDD in question.

I don't want to spend money on this project, Souixan. I don't know what connector it is. I guess whatever was common for 30GB laptops in 2001.

He doesn't want to render it unusable. He's looking for a way to erase a hard drive but leave it in working condition.

I don't think a fridge magnet has enough pull to corrupt data on a HDD. If it were powerful enough you would need to move it in circles. I am thinking more like some kind of electro-magnet, but still you would be hard pressed to get one that you know will get the job done. Unless you work at a junk-yard.

Good luck on cleaning up your old data with out a connection.

I can't think of a single way, short of pulling it apart and forcefully corrupting the disks in the enclosure. That would render it unusable though. As far as magnets, I think it'd have to be a damn strong magnet... and without a way to check, it would be difficult to know..

I'm sure there are places that you can send your hard drive to for confidential recycling. Although I don't know if a fridge magnet will be strong enough to destroy any of the data. If you are really sensitive to the data on the HDD the only sure way to make sure no one can get the data is to actually damage the discs.

If you have business stuff on there, I would suggest getting the HDD sent to a secure facility that destroys them as this is the most legal way to deal with sensitive data on a HDD.

Actually I just bring it to Futureshop or Bureau en Gros (Staples) and they give it to a group who will determine if my electronics can be reused or just shredded so they can recuperate the various heavy metals. I have 5 computers from the 90's that I have saved up that likely have no modern use so they will be shedded.

Yeah, the data is sensitive since I used my laptop for my office also. So any client information is privileged and needs to be rendered unreadable. I guess I could damage the disk and it will just be pre-shredded.

I would suggest just destroying the HDD, or physically damaging it with a screwdriver, etc.  The electronics can then be sent for recovery of heavy metals.