DiskStroyer: Hard Disk Destruction Kit - Revised & Expanded!

This kit truly provides EVERYTHING you need to physically destroy your HDD's. Keep in mind that software solutions require the drive to be working. This is a great solution for when the drive is not functional, but I've used this kit for HDD's that are working fine but need to be destroyed because it is MUCH FASTER, and truly absolute and FAR CHEAPER (unless you use something like DBAN that is free and you want to pass-on the working HDD to whoever you may have sold the PC, etc.) than other solutions. The instructions are comprehensive but easy to read, and do please read the instructions before using so you know what to expect such as a screw or two being hidden under the labeling of the HDD and its easy removal. Anyone of ANY skill level can use this kit and destroy their HDD. If you can use a screwdriver, than you can do this. You may find the first dis-assembly a slower if you've never done it before, but after that, each subsequent HDD you disassemble will be a very quick task. It is a laughably EASY task; it is just unfamiliar to most people. You are provided with full screwdriver kit for PC and HDD dis-assembly including Torx, etc. of many sizes. You also get a Super Magnet and pliers and, perhaps the BEST, you are provided with protective goggles. The goggle are very important and something some people may be too lazy or just unwillng to purchase or use. However, in the process of removing some of the parts, a fine piece of plastic may break and come shooting off like a speeding comet. That can easily cause an eye injury if you are not wearing the goggles, so please wear them (I got LUCKY, and immediately put the goggles on after a fine piece of plastic shot past my head). All the provided materials will last for a very long time or forever with proper use. However, the sandpaper used for one of the steps on the destruction procedure does lose effectiveness after a fair amount of use and only a few strips are provided (you could 4 or 5 HDD's destroyed with the provided sandpaper), but sandpaper is an easy and cheap thing to replenish. so you may want to be sure to have some extra sandpaper after destroying a few HDD's and for future use. Now, for techies, they may already have all the materials. However, for the common man or woman, this provides the peace of mind of actually destroying your personal data YOURSELF knowing you did the job right and no one had the opportunity to access the drive, especially if the drive no longer functions. Again, this kit and its methods are about destroying the physical HDD itself, so if your intention is to re-use the HDD or pass it on to a buyer of your PC, etc., then you need to use a software solution that keeps the HDD in good working order but destroys only your data. All in all a good kit with all you need included. It is also fairly inexpensive and a FASTER process than software/hardware solutions and one kit is going to provide you with many HDD's to destroy. Overall, it saves the process of going to a hardware or on-line store and buying each thing that is included in this kit (at a lower total cost), so it is a convenience and prevents the concern that non-techies have about buying the WRONG particular thing and even Over-buying or paying too much for the far too fancy screwdriver kit just to cover their concerns. No need to worry, this kit comes with it all. Overall, a good buy.

I bought this kit after reading all the good reviews. The precision tool set is of poor quality, made in China. I was only able to get a few screws out of the cover to one of my hard drives before the screwdriver tip bent. Not sure, perhaps I was not strong enough? Was unable to open the covers of my remaining hard drives. Recommend buying a tool set with a stronger bit. Thanks goodness for Amazon's guarantee. REVISED REVIEW: I am changing my review from 1 star to 4 stars. Imagine my surprise when I was contacted by the owner/inventor of this kit. He sent me a replacement kit, but this time, it included a tool kit which was made by a different manufacturer. The toryx bits were much stronger and did not bend. The organization and case for the new tool kit was also much better than the first kit. The instructions for removing the platters are more of a guideline when removing from larger hard drives. I had to improvise when removing multiple platters from 2 of my larger hard drives as there was more hardware holding the platters in place. Not unexpected given the numerous hard drive manufacturers. The included magnet is powerful but very small. I found it easier using the larger magnet found underneath the brackets in the hard drive. All in all, I am glad I gave this kit a second chance. I am confident that my data from my hard drives has been destroyed using the three techniques mentioned in the manual. Best of all, I can now safely dispose of my 4 hard drives which had been sitting around collecting dust. If you have any problems with this kit, I would recommend contacting the owner. Customer service is absolutely fantastic!

I had 2 desktop hard drives and one laptop hard drive that I needed to dismantle. My oldest desktop hard drive had a sturdy and chunky metal enclosure. After I took it out of my desktop many years ago, I kept looking for ways to open it. I bought all kinds of new screwdriver tips, checked with my friends, and yet none of us had the right tools to get the screws out of the cover and get to the platters. I was able to take out the screws using the tips packed in this kit and dismantle the hard drive. I was able to do the same for the other 2 hard drives as well. It may have taken around 10 minutes to dismantle the laptop hard drive, but it definitely took me a lot longer than 10 minutes for each desktop hard drive. The biggest issue for me was separating the lid from the disk body for the desktop hard drives. The lid were very tight. Aside from the tape running around the seams (which was easily removed with knife), something else (maybe the magnet that is mentioned in the instructions) was holding the lids tightly in place. I basically had to bend the lids down far enough to get to the platters. In addition to using the sandpaper that comes in the kit, I used an old knife to really scratch up the disk platters. I also used a hammer to put dents in the platters of my desktop hard drives. I found that to work better than the option described in the instructions using the back of the screwdriver since I don't think I am strong enough to make dents in the metal platters that way. For the laptop drive, I was able to just break up the platters into tiny pieces. I have to say when I bought the kit, I was not convinced it would work, but I figured I would give it a try. I am very pleasantly surprised. I think the kit is well worth the money, works really well, and as a bonus, the tools provided in the kit can be used for other purposes as well.

I had several disk drives to discard and even though I took steps to eliminate the data on the drives I still wanted to disassemble the drives. I just felt better about seeing the disks themselves and physically destroying them. This product was affordable and let me do exactly what I wanted to do. You would be surprised how many different sizes of screws there are in various drives and this kit had a tool for everything I needed. I think I must have opened and destroyed the disks in about 15 drives that I had kept over the years. Manufacturers like to hide screws under labels and tape, and even though it took a little time per drive it was well worth it for the peace of mind I had from following this process. Also, when I emailed the company with a question I received excellent customer support and wanted to write a review to show my appreciation. I would definitely recommend DiskStroyer to anyone who is interested in physically destroying their data and hard disk drives.

I had two disks to destroy, and I anticipated problems with the laptop drive, and it turned out to be the easier of the two to destroy. BUT, the desktop drive, a western digital, the screws holding the platters together around the hub did NOT accept any shape whatsoever - they were perfectly round little bowls, nothing for any bit to grab on to. I managed to get one of them out by sheer brute force, but this altered/damaged the tip of the bit and it wouldn't work on any of the others. But this kit did let me get inside the case and tear up the read/write heads, and I bent up the platters as best I could since I couldn't get them out. There's nothing that secret on the drive. If someone finds it in the landfill and bothers to salvage any data from it, well then more power to them. Maybe i'll just put it in the same bag I'll use to clean out the cat box next time, and make it a bit more unsavory. lol. The screwdriver kit was still worth the price, and I'm sure it will come in handy in the future.

I am mostly pleased with both the instructions and the tools. However, one 2.5" Fujitsu drive I had to destroy was held together with philips screws. So a trip to Home Depot was required to get a very small philips screwdriver. The enclosed screwdriver set is not really appropriate for most PC functions. On the plus side, I really appreciate the instructions set. I did not know that drive platters could be made of glass, as several ones I encountered were. Useful knowledge that prevented me from hurting myself. Remember to wear your safety glasses. The kit is designed to destroy your data in multiple ways: with a magnet, scratching the surface and bending metal platters. One last note, the box is a nice sturdy one, good to keep all the tools and instructions together for the next session of destruction.

I have successfully destroyed over 40 harddrives already. Instructions are easy and after a few HDs you will be able to complete the job in about 5 minutes per disk, 10 minutes top for the most complex assembled ones, like different screw heads used and hidden by stickers. The method is straight forward, the instructions are very clear and I honestly believe that you are protecting yourself from current and future data recovery technology. For the money, you are getting great value. Besides, destroying things without harm to anyone is really fun, you get to destroy things and nobody gets hurt! Therapeutic

You can buy these tools individually for a lot less. But I didn't feel like tracking them all down and ordering separately. The tools do make it easy to get disk drives apart. I've used this kit to destroy around 30 drives. The sandpaper is a bit silly though. It takes forever to hand sand the surface off a platter using the little piece of sandpaper they provide. Get yourself a cheap/used belt/disk sander and go to town.