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by Alan Melle on Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:00 am
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I am finally wiping four HDDs removed from a retired Windows 7 computer using a USB 3.0 Dock. Starting to wipe a 2TB HDD showed that it would take 2 days and 18 hours!  Is there a quicker way to wipe old drives?  Smashing them with a sledge hammer would be way quicker.  The 4 HDDs are all more than 5 years old and need to be wiped or destroyed.

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Alan Melle
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by Mark L on Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:02 am
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If you want to trash them a hammer is the fastest way to go.  As you say, formatting a large drive takes time and why would you bother if the goal is disposal?  
 

by Alan Melle on Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:03 am
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Mark L wrote:If you want to trash them a hammer is the fastest way to go.  As you say, formatting a large drive takes time and why would you bother if the goal is disposal?  


I am reaching the same conclusion. Thanks
Alan Melle
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by Mark L on Fri Apr 30, 2021 11:54 am
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I use a 3 lb sledge hammer for the task.  
 

by E.J. Peiker on Fri Apr 30, 2021 12:57 pm
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Don't try this at home but we used to dump them in HCl at work :)
 

by Alan Melle on Fri Apr 30, 2021 1:04 pm
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E.J. Peiker wrote:Don't try this at home but we used to dump them in HCl at work :)

Thx E.J.,
I think I'll try the sledge hammer!
Alan Melle
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by bradmangas on Fri Apr 30, 2021 3:06 pm
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Your question specifically askes how "wipe" a hdd. I have to assume you don't need anyone telling you how to destroy one. You don't mention what you have used thus far. CCleaner has a disk wiper option that works fine for wiping a hdd.
 

by Alan Melle on Fri Apr 30, 2021 5:01 pm
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Hi Brad,
I am using CCleaners drive wiper. It works, but it is too slow for old drives that I'm not going to keep. I was hoping there was a faster solution. I can't imagine how long it would take to wipe a really large HDD. Thanks
Alan Melle
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by Brian K. on Sat May 01, 2021 6:19 am
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I put the HD in a vise and drill about 6 3/8" holes in it.
[b]Brian D. Kennedy[/b]
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by Arnie Berger on Sat May 01, 2021 8:24 pm
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Any suggestion how to wipe an iMac hd that won't boot up?
Thanks
Arnie
Arnold Berger
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