Local inexpensive media destruction?

[Ben Scott]

On Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 2:57 PM, Dave Johnson
<dave-gnhlug-list at davej.org> wrote:
> Anyone know of a local/inexpensive media destruction service?

  How concerned are you with nefarious recovery?

  For example, the US government has fairly strict standards on what
counts as "destruction" for machine media containing classified
information.  A degaussing magnet meeting the requirements costs
around $1000, for example.  But for unclassified media, software
multiple-pass overwrite is generally considered sufficient.

  For my own personal use, I do software overwrite if I can.  If not,
I do something that will prevent recovery to the casual attempt.
Specifically:

  For a hard drive, I disassemble the case, break up the circuit board
by hand, remove the platters, and scratch them up a bit with kitchen
steel wool.  (If I had a drill press, I'd maybe add a hole or three.)

  For tape, floppy, or other flexible magnetic, I cut up the media in
a few places using scissors.  Tape I take out of the spools and
unravel before cutting.

  For optical, I break it into pieces by hand.

  For flash, I'd smash the PCB and/or chips with a hammer and punch.

  If I had a *lot* of media, I might build a nice, hot fire, and toss
things in one at a time.  Or just do the above over time.

  A determined effort might still be able to recover data from the
above, but anyone willing to go to that length of trouble could more
easily break into my apartment and copy the current media.

-- Ben