Dispose or Recycle Hard Drive

There is a similar question on Server Fault: How do I destroy a hard disk? - I wrote one of the answers: :-)

If you are looking for standard procedures and reliable methods, you could read the Guidelines for Media Sanitization (PDF) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

For any given medium, there are three basic methods:

• Clear
• Purge
• Physical Destruction

For hard drives they recommend:

Clear:

Overwrite media by using agency-approved and validated overwriting technologies/methods/tools.

Physical Destruction:

• Disintegrate
• Shred
• Pulverize
• Incinerate: incinerate hard disk drives by burning the hard disk drives in a licensed incinerator.

Purge:

1. Purge using Secure Erase. The Secure Erase software can be downloaded from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) CMRR site. Purge hard disk drives by either purging the hard disk drive in an
2. NSA/CSS-approved automatic degausser or by disassembling the hard disk drive and purging the enclosed platters with an NSA/CSS-approved degaussing wand.
3. Purge media by using agency-approved and validated purge technologies/tools.

Degaussing any current generation hard disk will render the drive permanently unusable.

In the UK, the government has a sure-fire disposal system. They take the drives and drill 9 massive holes in them in a 3x3 graph. Let's just say, the UK hasn't gotten a privacy leak from disposed drives in a long time. :)