Some background:
The drive in this picture used to be the root disk from our group's NT file server. It died fairly spectacularly one day, to the point where our server was unbootable and took the other two admins over 12 hours to get it working again (luckily for me, I was on holiday at the time). Not surprisingly, they were a little upset about this, so we decided to get our revenge.
After a reasonable length to time to make sure we didn't need any of the data, we took it out to the garage and beat the crap out of it with a ball-peen hammer. If you've never tried this, it's very satisfying. Click on the thumbnails for a bigger image - they're a little fuzzy because they were taken with a horrible little Polaroid camera rather than something decent, but that can't be helped.
Taken before we started. It didn't stay looking like this for long.
After a few blows, the PCB with the drive electronics is looking a little battered (probably because it is) and the SCSI connector is damaged
After a few more, it's starting to look unhappy. The whole drive is bent and the case is starting to come apart
By the end, there wasn't much left intact. Data fragmentation is a real problem by this point.
I wonder if this means the warranty's still valid?
An object lesson in why you shouldn't annoy a sysadmin. Yes, the wreckage in the table is all that's left of the drive.
If you think we're a bunch of crazies who enjoy smashing old hardware into flinders, you'd be right. However, we're not the only ones. There are some images of Russ, a sysadmin friend of mine, doing much the same thing to a collection of hardware at his place here. As well as the hard drive, some moderately unpleasant things happened to a Microsoft Actimates Barney...
If this kind of mayhem appeals to you, you will probably enjoy some of these pages:
DISCLAIMER: The links given here are for entertainment purposes only. Some of the stuff shown on these is highly dangerous - don't try this stuff yourself. If you do and hurt/maim/kill yourself or someone else, it's your responsibility, not mine.
The AGD antics and mayhem page
Lighting a barbecue with liquid oxygen
Radical and extreme hobbies
Team Delta, competitors in Robot Wars
Survival Research Laboratories
Home Appliance Shooting
The US Naval Surface Warfare Center
Anvil Firing
Trebuchets
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