A Guide to Disposing of Hard Drives: Data Safety, & Recycling

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A simple guide to safely wipe and recycle an old hard drive

Co-authored by Spike Baron and Travis Boylls

Last Updated: October 14, 2024 Fact Checked

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• Wiping Your Hard Drive
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• Recycling Your Hard Drive
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• Recycling the Aluminum
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• Video
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• Q&A

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Electronic waste (or e-waste) is a major problem. You can help mitigate this problem by recycling your computer hard drive. Before you discard your hard drive, it is important to make sure all of your data has been removed. Then, once you have removed your hard drive, you can choose between disassembling the hard drive and recycling all the aluminum, or simply sending the hard drive to an e-recycling service

Recycle a Hard Drive

Before taking a hard drive in for recycling, you may want to encrypt any sensitive or proprietary data first. Then wipe the hard drive by reformatting your computer or using a third-party application to erase the hard drive. Drill a couple of holes in the hard drive to destroy it. Then use an e-recycling service (such as Best Buy) to recycle your hard dive.

Steps

Part 1

Part 1 of 3:

Wiping Your Hard Drive

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1. 1
   Encrypt any sensitive, personal, or proprietary information. If you are worried about the data on the hard drive getting out, you may want to encrypt it before recycling it. You can encrypt individual folders or files, or you can encrypt the entire hard drive.

   • Windows Pro, Enterprise, and Education editions have BitLocker built-in that you can use to encrypt your entire disk. To enable BitLocker, click the Windows Start menu and type "manage BitLocker." Then click the result. Click Turn on BitLocker. Select how you want to save the encryption key and click Next Then click the option to encrypt the entire hard drive. Follow the prompts to complete the encryption process.
   • Device Encryption is also available on many Windows computers, including Windows Home Edition. To enable Device Encryption, click the Windows Start menu and click the gear icon to open the Settings menu. Click Privacy & Security, and click Device Encryption. Enable Device Encryption.
   • You can encrypt individual files and folders on a Mac by Control-clicking the item and clicking Encrypt. Enter a password and click Encrypt Disk.
   • You can also use third-party software, such as AxCrypt, Secure IT, VeraCrypt, Folder Lock, and more to encrypt files, folders, and drives on your hard drive.
2. 2
   Wipe the hard drive. You can use one of the following methods to wipe your hard drive:

   • If the drive is your primary hard drive with your Windows or macOS installation, you will need to restore your computer to its factory settings. According to desktop support expert Spike Baron, you can't reformat the hard drive while in Windows. You will need to create a recovery disk from a CD or USB drive. Once you boot your computer from a recovery drive, select the option to restore Windows or macOS and select the option to erase everything. Follow the prompts to reformat your computer.
   • You can erase a secondary hard drive on Windows by formatting it in Disk Management. Right-click the Windows Start menu and click Disk Management. Click the hard drive you want to erase and click Format. Then follow the prompts to format the hard drive.
   • To format a hard drive on Mac, open Disk Utility and select the hard drive you want to erase. Click Erase at the top of the window and follow the prompts to format the disk.
   • You can use software options, such as Killdisk, or DBAN to wipe a hard drive. Make sure you select the correct hard drive. There is no reversing if you accidentally erase the wrong hard drive.
   • Take the hard drive to a professional data destruction service. If the hard drive was used in a professional setting and contains proprietary information, using over-the-counter software may not be enough. You may need to take it to a professional data destruction expert.
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3. 3
   Destroy your hard drive. If there is no chance that you will be using this hard drive again, you can also break the hard drive manually. This will make it impossible for anyone to access your personal information. You have numerous options for destroying the hard drive.

   • You can use a drill and metal drill bit to drill a few holes through the hard drive. If it is an HDD, be sure to drill through the platters inside the hard drive. If it is an SSD, drill through the chips that store the data. You can also destroy a hard drive by thoroughly destroying it with a hammer.
   • Ways you shouldn't destroy a hard drive include using magnets. Magnets aren't as effective at destroying data on newer hard drives. Burning a hard drive is also not recommended. The hard drive may contain harmful materials that can be released in the fumes. Microwaving a hard drive is also not advised as this can cause the hard drive to explode.
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Part 2

Part 2 of 3:

Recycling Your Hard Drive

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1. 1
   Find an e-recycling service. Check to see if there are any recycling services in your area that specialize in e-waste. You can also use a mail-in service. The following are some options you can use to recycle your old hard drives:

   • Best Buy offers recycling at all their store locations. If you have Best Buy near you, you can take your hard drive to the store and drop it in the recycling bin for free. Best Buy also offers mail-in recycling.
   • Western Digital offers a mail-in recycling service called Easy Recyle that will recycle any type of hard drive from any manufacturer.
   • Contact the hard drive manufacturer. Some hard drive manufacturers will allow you to return the hard drive to them for recycling. You will need to research the brand's policy. Some may do it for free, and some may charge a fee. Then you will need to contact the manufacturer and request a shipping label to send it back to them.
     • Apple provides free shipping labels and free hard drive wiping.
     • IBM will not wipe your hard drive for you or provide shipping labels, but they will accept your old hardware for recycling.
     • Dell will provide a shipping label. In some locations they also allow you to drop off your old hardware at Goodwill.
2. 2
   Contact a Windows-certified refurbisher. If you have a Windows PC, there are some Windows-certified refurbishers that can wipe your hard drive for a small fee.

   • • Some refurbishers will provide a free shipping label.
     • Some will offer to recycle the hard drive for you, and others will send it back to you wiped clean.
3. 3
   Send your hard drive to the Apple recycling center. If you have a Mac computer, you can send your hard drive to the Apple recycling center. The Apple recycling center will wipe your Mac hard drive (and recycle it) for free. Visit https://www.apple.com/ge/recycling/nationalservices/ to contact Apple and request a shipping label.
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Part 3

Part 3 of 3:

Recycling the Aluminum

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1. 1
   Remove the first set of screws. With the label facing up, remove the six visible screws with an 8x60 Torx screwdriver. There is usually at least one screw covered by the label. Use your fingers to find the depression, then use a utility knife to expose the screw.
2. 2
   Remove the second set of screws and cut the seal. Turn the drive over and remove the screws that fasten the drive controller card to the drive. Using a utility knife, cut the seal that runs along the side of the drive on all four sides.
3. 3
   Open the cover and remove more screws. Carefully pry open the drive cover, and set it aside. Remove all visible screws and set these aside as well.
4. 4
   Remove the magnets and the read/write arm. Use a flathead screwdriver to remove the first rare earth magnet. Next, use the flathead screwdriver to unscrew the drive read/write arm and remove it. With the read/write arm out, you can remove the second magnet.

   • You can retain and reuse these magnets.
5. 5
   Remove the data disk. Use a 7x60 Torx screwdriver to remove the round plate that retains the data disk. Pull out the retaining ring and data disk. Save or destroy this data disk.
6. 6
   Remove the motor and remaining magnets. Use an 8x60 Torx screwdriver to remove the drive motor. Now that the drive is completely disassembled, you can remove the two remaining magnets.
7. 7
   Recycle the aluminum. With the exception of the motor, the remaining parts are all aluminum. The average hard drive produces one-half pound of recyclable aluminum. Bring this material to an aluminum recycling center.
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Community Q&A

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• Question

  The disk is supposedly coated with platinum. Is it possible to recover said special metal, or does anyone buy these?

  

  Community Answer

  The amount of platinum is so low that it's not worth doing. You will get some platinum, but you will need to recycle lots of hard drives to get a decent quantity.

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• Question

  Other than the magnets, are there trace elements one can recycle or sell to companies? If so, which companies?

  

  Community Answer

  Curry's PC World and other electronics shops may take it and give you a small amount of money for it, depending on the quality. If not you could maybe sell it online, somewhere like eBay for example.

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  Thank you for your feedback.
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• Question

  What is the recycling process for a laptop?

  

  Computer waste

  Community Answer

  Recycling old computer hard drives is a responsible way to dispose of them and ensure that the valuable materials they contain are properly handled. Here's how: (1) Back up your data: Before recycling your old hard drive, it's essential to back up any important data you want to keep. You can transfer files to a new computer or an external storage device, or utilize cloud-based storage services. (2) Wipe the hard drive: It's crucial to erase all the data from your hard drive to protect your privacy. Simply deleting files or formatting the drive is not enough, as the data can still be recovered. You can use disk-wiping software.

  Thanks! We're glad this was helpful.
  Thank you for your feedback.
  If wikiHow has helped you, please consider a small contribution to support us in helping more readers like you. We’re committed to providing the world with free how-to resources, and even $1 helps us in our mission. Support wikiHow

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