Techware Labs Header
RSS
Home | Reviews | Articles | Downloads | Guides | Staff | Advertising | Links
Mainboards | Networking | Video | Cases | Storage | Other

Hard Drive Destruction - 4 Guns and a Hard Drive


Author:  Dan Shannon
Date:  2009.03.23
Topic:  Audio
Provider:  Patriot Memory
Manufacturer:  Patriot Memory




Introduction

For years, several companies have been debating who has the best Hard Drive. Read speed, write speed, seek time – these are the things that we generally look for in our hard drives, but what about raw durability? What if I drop my Hard Drive during installation? Will it still work? These are some of the questions that the average, somewhat sane, person would ask. However, here at TechwareLabs, we think outside the cube. What if WWIII broke out tomorrow? Would our computer still work even if it had been shot?

This is our question to the world. We know that the data on our Hard Drive could be recovered and possibly backed up. What if a bullet hit it? Would it do enough damage to render the Hard Drive “unreadable”? Once this question bothered us to the point of no return, we contacted Patriot who agreed to send us SSD's to replace some of the HDD's that we destroy, and our minds took it from there. Lets Take a Look...

The Armory

Handguns

Glock 22 RTF
Glock 22 RTF
40 S&W
Springfield XD-9 - Dan Shannon
Springfield XD-9
9mm Luger

Rifles

AR-15 Smith & Wesson - Dan Shannon
Smith & Wesson AR-15 (MP15T)
.223
Mossberg 500 12 Gauge Shotgun - Dan Shannon
Mossberg 500 Shotgun
12 Gauge

Hard Drive Destruction

WARNING

DO NOT ATTEMPT OR RECREATE ANYTHING YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE
SHOOTING IS BEING PERFORMED BY TRAINED PROFESIONALS WITH PARAMEDICS PRESENT

Well, this at least makes us aware that we shouldn't hide behind a wall of Hard Drives if someone is shooting at us. As you can tell from the video, in terms of physical damage, it was the Handguns that actually damaged the Hard Drive the most. The rifle rounds were simply moving too fast to cause any real damage and sliced through the steel and aluminum "like butter".

Hard Drive Destruction with Firearms
(Click to View Larger Image)

In Conclusion

After all of this, we contacted several companies that specialize in data recovery. Many of them said that they MAY be able to get some data, but not all of it. Others simply laughed and said that they couldn't help us. This basically means that you should avoid, at all costs, either letting your friend shoot your computer or letting WWIII break out (although we hope you are not letting this happen anyways). Stay tuned to TechwareLabs: your #1 source for Hardware destruction.



« Back Home
More Articles »