kaled - 3:16 pm on May 8, 2009 (gmt 0)

Physical destruction is not necessary. Wiping by writing random data over the whole drive is sufficient. Usually, it isn't even necessary to repeat (but can keep people happy).

I am surprised that data can be recovered after drilling holes through the drive, but, if wiped properly with random data, no useful data could be recovered by the combined efforts of NASA, CIA, FBI, MI5/6 GCHQ, etc.

Incidentally, if anyone feels the need to destroy their own drives when no longer needed, answer me this question...

Given that computers can be stolen, why aren't you using whole disk encryption? And if you are, what do you think is achieved by destroying a fully encrypted drive?

Kaled.