Getting rid of desktop
 

This has been addressed before I'm sure, but I can't find it.

I'm retiring my home desktop. What is the best way to dispose of it to ensure my super duper top secret info stays that way?

Didn't slang shogun an old desk top a few years back? Next time you take the jr PLO out for desert training...

Send it to me. I'll make sure all your information is properly taken care of.

Or download and run Darik's Boot & Nuke.

I read somewhere the government spooks can read it if it's been recorded over 8 times, but not 9. But that might be old information.

If the spooks needed to read it, they have been doing it in real time as you read Cellar posts. So much easier.

Virutally no one can read a reformatted to blank disk. And then we make it just a little harder with that "nuken formatter" program.

A local PC service-bloke here swear by running over the hard drive.

Kill it with fire.

Gun fire.

We politely request videos.

A T10 bit will let you get into the hard drive. Just opening it destroys it for 99% of recovery places, but a paper clip across the platters will get that extra 1%.

And then you can make wind chimes.

I'll have to try that sometime. Chimes drive me nuts, but Mrs. Z likes 'em.

My dad used to have a few of those big heavy 24 inch computer discs...back in the late 70s-early 80s. i always wanted to make something out of them, but never found a good use. i tried to find a picture. but failed....they're probably in my mom's attic.

You might want to see what you can get for them on ebay. Some computer geek is bound to want them.

In those days, some disk drive heads were even driven by motor oil. A massive drive was maybe 5 Mb. Disk platters back then were the same color as magnetic tape. Not the shiny surfaces now found inside today's 3.5 inch drives.

Most useful item is a scrapped drive - its magnets. Often most required tool to open them - torq wrenches of odd sizes such as T-8 or T-9.

Disk platters make lousy frisbees. They do too much damage.

So as combat frisbees they are superb.

Hard drive in the campfire.