How To Recycle Hard Disk Drive: Here are the best methods

Electronic waste is a growing problem of this era. If you are a user of electronic devices like a phone or a computer, you produce e-waste. And, you obviously are, since you are reading this. With the growing number of electronics users, the amount of e-waste produced is increasing every year.

Electronic waste is such a problem because it is non-biodegradable. Second, it often has heavy metals such as mercury that can seep into the ground and pollute soil and groundwater.

So throwing them away will only take up our already limited space somewhere in a landfill and cause pollution for years to come.

The same goes for hard drives, and if you have an old hard drive (or many) to dispose of, you better start thinking about recycling. Not only will that be better for the environment, but recyclers also pay better for electronics like hard drives than general waste.

Can Computer Hard Disk Drives be Recycled?

The good news is that all hard drives and most parts of a computer are recyclable. Hard drives are made of mostly aluminum, with small amounts of rare earth and heavy metals. In fact, one hard drive can contain up to half a pound of aluminum.

Recycling is incredibly lucrative for institutions that have a large number of hard drives to dispose of, as you can recover quite a bit of money by selling them to a recycler.

Also, keep in mind that it is illegal to throw away electronic waste in the trash in some states such as California and New York, and you are required by law to send such waste to a recycler. You can check the list of states that have a ban on throwing away e-waste here.

Read on to find out how you can recycle a hard drive and the steps you need to follow before recycling.

How to Recycle Your Hard Disk Drive?

In order to recycle your hard drive, you need to send it to a recycler. A recycler will shred the hard drive into small pieces and then separate the different materials using magnets or by immersing the pieces in water.

Once the component materials are segregated, they can now be processed into new products. There are usually two types of recyclers:

1. Take it to a Recycling center

You can take your old hard drive to your local recycling center. Most recycling centers will accept such electronic waste and probably pay you a small sum for your trouble.

2. Contact the Manufacturers

You can also contact the hard drive manufacturer and see if they have a recycling program. Most manufacturers have such a program for the devices they make.

They may even throw in some goodies – Western Digital, for example, gives you coupons for your purchases when you avail of their recycling services.

3. Sell your old hard drive

If your hard drive is just old or you are upgrading to a better system, which means that it is unharmed, you can sell it on eBay or Craigslist.

This might make you a quick buck, but be sure to wipe your data before you hand over your hard drive to someone else.

4. Turn your hard drive into a portable hard drive

Before selling or sending your hard drive to the recycler, you can consider turning your old hard drive into a portable hard drive. It can be done very quickly; just buy a suitable portable hard drive case, plug in your hard drive inside the case, and you will have some extra storage for your needs.

However, if you already own an external hard drive or would rather recycle your old one, read on to know how to prepare your hard drive for recycling.

How to Prepare Your Hard Disk Drive for Recycling?

Before you can send your hard drive to the recycler and be a responsible greenling, you need to take some measures. You probably know this, but hard drives store data in your computer, and everything from your wallpapers and songs to your medical or financial data gets saved on your hard drive.

This makes it a target for a security breach. If someone were to plug in your discarded hard drive and retrieve your data, they would access your private and sensitive information. That is why you must wipe the data on your hard drive and make it non-retrievable. 

Formatting vs. wiping a hard drive

You might be thinking, yeah, of course, I will format my hard drive before I recycle it, so what’s this ruckus about?

But you would be wrong, for formatting does not completely destroy the data on a hard drive. Don’t believe me, but the big brains at MIT conducted the research in which they went through 158 discarded disk drives and found that only a paltry 12 had been properly wiped.

They could even recover 5000 credit card numbers and other personal data from these seemingly “clean” hard drives. Let’s hope they put that information to good use.

How to Destroy the Data on Your Hard Disk Drive?

You can destroy your data yourself or avail of some companies’ data destruction services. If you want to send your hard disk to a data destroyer, always ensure the company has the necessary certifications. Certifications are given by third parties and hold these companies responsible in case of a data breach.

On Windows

There are some windows certified refurbishers who will wipe your hard drive for a small fee. To find such a refurbisher near you, go here. 

On iOS

Apple provides free data destruction and recycling services. Send your hard drive or your whole Mac to an Apple recycling center, and they will take care of both data destruction and recycling. 

Contact Manufacturers

You can check with your manufacturers, such as Dell or IBM, if they provide data destruction and recycling services.

Third-Party Agencies to destroy data

Some agencies provide hard drive wiping services for a fee. Before you send your hard drive to them, check their certifications. Such agencies also provide on-site data destruction services, which you may need if you are an institution or a company with a large number of hard drives to dispose of.

How to Destroy Hard Disk Drive data yourself?

You can either use disk wiping software or physically damage the hard drive to destroy your hard disk data.

Using Software:

To destroy the data on your hard drive using software, you will need something like Killdisk, Darik’s Boot n Nuke, or similar software. These programs will wipe the data from your hard drive, making it nonretrievable.

However, such software has limitations as it cannot always guarantee the complete destruction of data. Professional-grade software is much better at destroying data and provides certificates of data removal.

But considering their price, such professional software may not be suitable for individuals; however, if you are an organization with many hard drives to destroy, you can look into this option.

Using your bare hands:

Sometimes you just want to take matters into your own hands. 

Getting the Hard Drive out of your computer:

If you have a desktop or tower PC, make sure it is turned off, then open the side panel to reach the hard drive. Remove any screws or restraints that may be holding the side panel in place. 

Now locate the hard drive. You need to remove the power connections and data cables that come out of the drive. Now remove the screws that are holding your hard drive to the framework, and it should easily come out. 

A laptop is trickier but not hard. You need to open the screws on the underside of the laptop. Follow your laptop’s user guide to correctly remove all the screws, and remember there is usually at least one screw under the sticker.

Once you have opened up the laptop, it’s the same: locate the hard drive, remove any cables attached to it and unscrew it out of the device.

Now you will need a Torx screwdriver to open the screws on the hard drive and a flathead screwdriver to pry the hard drive open.

The Quick Method:

This method makes your data unretrievable but does not destroy it. So while it won’t be possible for anyone just to plug in your hard drive and have access to your data, someone with the time and expertise, say a hacker, may be able to get your data.

Remove all the screws on the hard drive using the Torx screwdriver, taking care to find the one under the sticker. After removing all the screws, open the hard drive case and turn it over to find the circuit board.

Again use the Torx screwdriver to unscrew the circuit board. Break the circuit board in half and discard it. Now your data is unretrievable.

The Thorough Method:

Follow the above steps to open your hard drive and destroy the circuit board. Now you will see a circular disk and an extension like a phonograph arm over it. This circular disk is called a platter, and it is coated with palladium, and your data is stored magnetically on this platter. The flat arm writes and reads the data from the disk. 

There are several such platters inside a hard drive, and each has its own read-write arm. Use your Torx screwdriver to remove the screws holding down each platter. Remove the platters and scratch them using a sharp object such as a flathead screwdriver.

This will permanently damage the data-storing platters and make it impossible for anyone to steal your data.

However, if you are an institute or firm with a large number of hard drives to destroy, individually destroying each drive may not be a viable option for you.

In that case, you can use a shredder to shred the hard drives to ensure your data security. Or you can send them to a certified recycler who will destroy the data before recycling.

Common Questions:

Can I destroy my hard drive by putting it in water?

No. While water may short circuit a hard drive and make it unusable, the data won’t be destroyed. As mentioned earlier, the data is stored magnetically on the platters and is unaffected by water. While the hard drive may become unreadable, a hacker may still be able to get to your data.

Can I destroy my hard drive using a magnet?

Yes and no. While theoretically, a powerful magnet should wipe the magnetically stored data from a hard drive, the truth is, you never know. Modern electronics are surprisingly resistant to magnetism’s effects.

The idea that a magnet can destroy electronics dates from an earlier era of CRT televisions and cranky radios that were extremely susceptible to magnetic fields.

Using a magnet to wipe data from a hard drive is a very unreliable method – there is no way to know if your magnet is strong enough or if your data is indeed wiped. Following the methods discussed above, even the quick method is better.

Can I destroy my hard drive using a hammer?

Why not. While not the most refined method, sometimes a little brute force may be all that you need. Make sure you protect yourself during the operation and smash your way to data security.

Recycling the Hard drive

Once you ensure there is no data on your hard drive, you can send it to a recycler who will break it down to obtain the elements it is made of. The environment will be a little better off, and you will get to pocket some change for your efforts. And a little change never hurt anyone. 

Also, keep in mind that it is illegal to throw away electronic waste in the trash in some states such as California and New York, and you are required by law to send such waste to a recycler. You can check the list of states that have a ban on throwing away e-waste here.

Conclusion

Data security is no trivial matter. 83 billion dollars- that’s the amount spent every year worldwide on data security. And while cyber attacks and hacking get the spotlight, data left in hard drives is a serious security liability.

Whether you are a single individual or a large institution, you cannot afford to take data security lightly, especially in this data-driven world. Make sure your hard drives are properly wiped before sending them to a recycler.