| Physical destruction/impairment beyond reasonable use: Remove the hard drive from the chassis or cabinet. Remove any steel shielding materials, mounting brackets, and cut any electrical connection to the hard drive unit. In a suitable facility with individuals wearing appropriate safety equipment, subject the hard drive to physical force (e.g., pounding with a sledgehammer) that will disfigure, bend, mangle, or otherwise mutilate the hard drive so that it cannot be re-inserted into a functioning computer. Sufficient force should be used directly on top of the hard drive unit to cause shock/damage to the disk surfaces. In addition, any connectors that interface into the computer must be mangled, bent, or otherwise damaged to the point that the hard drive could not be re-connected without significant rework.
Destruction at an approved metal destruction facility, i.e., smelting, disintegration, or pulverization. |