Random: 2.5" Hard Drive Disassembly

We took apart a couple of drives today. Why? Because they were going to be destroyed for the data on them. But why be passive in their destruction? Destroy them yourself!Both of them are 2.5" drives. One of them is from a dead laptop. The other is from a server.Next question: Why have a small drive in a server? A couple reasons spring to mind

• Blade servers are really small. They are almost like laptops without displays.
• Small platters are easier to spin faster so most 10K and 15K RPM drives use small disks.

In any case, the biggest different we found was the server drive was (unsurprisingly) far better built! The enclosure was substantially thicker and better sealed. It also had an additional screw for the drive axle as well -- presumably to cur down on any vibrations that might happen. The cover had to weight at least three times more and was far less flexy.[smugmug url="http://photos.vec.com/hack/feed.mg?Type=gallery&Data=15797314_GnGrg&format=rss200" imagecount="100" start="1" num="100" thumbsize="Th" link="lightbox" captions="false" sort="true" window="true" smugmug="true" size="L"]Since these drives were slated for destruction I didn't feel bad buggering up the Torx screw-heads with the wrong driver. I have the right one at home. But that doesn't help me here.