Quote from horribilicus: Drill a couple holes in the drive, including drilling through the middle of at least one IC chip visible on the circuit board. Then put it into a Ziploc plastic "freezer bag", lay it on a cement floor, and smash it a half dozen times with a hammer. Then put the mangled drive into a plastic trash bag and fill up the bag with the contents of your cat's litterbox. The more kitty logs, the better. Pour in a quart of liquid ammonia (like one of these ), which the cat litter will absorb. Take the trash bag at least 5km from your house and toss it into someone else's garbage can. Ideally, a huge dumpster 4 feet by 4 feet by 8 feet, behind a large business or apartment complex.
Now that you are under surveillance, mate, they will still covertly follow you to the dumpster -- whether 5km or 50km away -- retrieve the supposedly destroyed drive and manage to extract more than enough incriminating evidence from it... drilled holes, hammer, kitty logs, ammonia and all. The clumsy amateur efforts at data destruction will only serve to introduce powerful prima facie evidence against you. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.
If you are under surveillance, fuck with their heads. Go to the computer surplus store / junk bin and buy a dozen old used hard drives. Following the handy instructions in the previously referred "flamethrower" video, remove the magnetic disc platters from these dozen junkers. Takes about 20 seconds per drive using the Torx screwdriver. Also remove the magnetic disc platter from YOUR drive. Break the 13 platters into small pieces using a hammer and/or vise and pliers. Put the pieces of all 13 disc drive platters into a paper bag. Shake for 60 seconds to mix and randomize the pieces. Pour 1/3 of the pieces into plastic bag A, pour 1/3 of them into plastic bag B, piur 1/3 of them into plastic bag C. Pour a bottle of cyanoacrylate "super" glue into each plastic bag, thereby gluing the disc drive pieces together. Allow the glue to cure. Then fill up plastic bags A, B, and C with 2-part epoxy adhesive. Allow epoxy to harden. Take the 13 disc drive chassis (minus platters) and with great showmanship, toss them into 13 different public garbage cans. Let the surveillance bozos dig them out and discover they have no platters inside. Discard epoxy filled plastic bag A in public dumpster A, discard plastic bag B in public dumpster B, discard plastic bag C in public dumpster C. These dumpsters should be at least 5km from one another.
There are two other methods which are quite popular for QUICK data destruction...for the entire hard drive. While I wont post it here, just look online for the schema to wire a 1,000,000 volt taser (prong type, not projectile) to the power input on your drive. When in need...shock the drive for about 30 secs, and it should totally corrupt the drive. Keep your data array in an industrial sized microwave, preferably with as little extra plastic material as nescessary (it absorbs energy that should hit the platters instead) when the feds come knocking hit the WELL DONE DINNER button and go let them in.
W/ a mini grinder, grind the surface of each platter beyond recognition...done deal. Smash everything else just to vent.
No one lives near any deep water sources? Hole in the ground? Woodstove = coal burning furnace? Shotgun shell blast? Not asking what's on that HD... don't wanna know
I forgot to add...if you are going the Microwave route (its the best way to destroy many drives at once) If you think they'll cut the power before a raid...make sure the Microwave is on a UPS (uninterruptible power supply)