I’m pretty much still a newbie when it comes to tools. I’m trying to disassemble this very OLD hard drive to destroy it but none of the screw drivers in the house fit. Please see an image of the one I have here: http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/232147669732?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true
Note: To remove the metal exterior on the top, it appears I’ll need 1 type of screwdriver for those 6 screws and a smaller one for that 1 screw on the edge. To remove the chip board on the bottom, I’ll need a different screw driver for those 4 screws.
Any help is much appreciated. If anyone can point me to an “all in 1” screwdriver to buy on Amazon to address all of these that would be great.
That Estwing does indeed appear to be a perfect “Birmingham or Manchester Screwdriver” in the British meaning of that pejorative idiom. But then again - a “Birmingham Screwdriver” is more for installation than for removal
WOW 60 in 1 screwdriver had no idea there were that many! Pretty sure one of those will fit and a very compact kit to have in the house.
Tried a hammer but that thing is solid metal. Would rather avoid continuing to bang due to noise plus possible bits of metal/glass flying everywhere(if I ever even manage to break it open).
if your goal is to make the hard drive unreadable then all you need to do is either drill it out or bang a couple of times with a hammer as recommended. it doesn’t take much to make a hard drive unreadable. they are fragile boxes. but if you want to get inside and look around or perhaps retrieve those great magnets then you will need to go after those cover screws (and possibly depending upon the design) the screws that live under those 2 circular tags marked “warranty void if…” generally most contemporary hard drives have a small torx type head but yours seems to be a variation on the quadrex theme. i would try getting a small philips in there. when that fails and the head is all munged up you can try turning the head with a needle nose vice grips or slotting the head with a file and using a regular flat blade screwdriver. again, if all you want to do it make the drive unreadable then just bang it a bit on the cover side. the home despot sells a micro screwdriver bit kit made by their house brand HDX for about $5. it does not have anything in the kit directly suited to those quadrex style heads (both the “quadrex” and the “combination” type heads are an ugly design compromise - nothing works really well in them) but it does have a bunch of torx bits for those working on more contemporary drives. if you want the magnets inside you will likely need a torx anyway.
Drill press and drill through the whole case to destroy the platters is the most simple way to ensure no one will recover anything from them. Most of the drives I’ve scavenged have had Torx screws in them. Only thing to really pull out of them are the magnets which are very strong.