Disposal of external hard drive

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Level 2

177 points

Disposal of external hard drive

The hard drive I am using for Time Machine has died. It won't even mount, and doesn't appear in Disk Utility. What's the best way to prepare it for disposal, since I can't do an erase or re-formatting? I'm sure that it's full of everything that is on my iMac, and the thought of that possibly getting into the wrong hands isn't an attractive prospect.

I have bought a new HD and can easily do a new backup, so the loss of data on the old one isn't a concern.

Thanks,

Paul.

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.13

Posted on Oct 19, 2019 11:33 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Allan Jones

Level 9

72,620 points

Oct 19, 2019 11:39 AM in response to Paul Fryer

If it will not start up for conventional erasure, you'll need to physically destroy the drive. Big hammers, power drills, a pulaski axe, a Scottish Claymore--all effective.

⚠️ IMPORTANT SAFETY NOTE: Always wear approved eye protection when using brute force to make a hard drive unrecoverable. There will be bits.

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Answer 2

Paul Fryer Author

Level 2

177 points

Oct 22, 2019 7:29 AM in response to Allan Jones

Thanks for the entertaining suggestions. Unfortunately, I sold my claymore recently, so had to make do with a pickaxe. While it made short work of the case and electronics, the drive itself proved amazingly resilient. However, I managed to make sufficient dents and holes that nobody is ever going to get anything from it.

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