[JamesP81]

Otherwise, there are programs that are available to really scrub the hard drives. The more effective you want it, the longer it’s going to take. But, that wouldn’t be a bad idea, in any case.

I've never done this before, but the best way I can think of too scrub a hard drive forever is to expose it to a bearing heater for several minutes.

[E=MC2]

I've never done this before, but the best way I can think of too scrub a hard drive forever is to expose it to a bearing heater for several minutes.

It is amazing what they can recover even from a warped drive.

[Star Traveler]

You said — “I’ve never done this before, but the best way I can think of too scrub a hard drive forever is to expose it to a bearing heater for several minutes.”

If you’re serious about really destroying the data on a failed drive and are concerned about measures that a government can take to retrieve it — then I would break that platter up into pieces and obliterate it — and then get rid of the pieces in many different places, scattered around.

If you did that — it would end up just about 100% secure no matter what... LOL...

It really depends on how serious you are... :-)

—

If it’s a working drive, you can use some effective scrubbers and ones that can really destroy the data and it can’t be retrieved (but it will take a while, a long while). Then you can use it again, without fear of the data being resurrected.