I'm going through a stack of old HDDs, all over a decade old. Most survived, but two of them give me the click of death and one stopped spinning on me. I never got a chance to back up the two clicking drives or zero-fill them, unfortunately, so it's smashy time, then maybe e-recycling.
Got me thinking. I've always read that data is still technically recoverable from loose damaged platters, but realistically what is the risk here? If you drill a few holes, scrape up the platter with sandpaper, then bend the platter or even cut it into quarters, who in their right mind is going to spend the time, effort, and presumably lots of money to recover data from a random damaged platter they find in the trash?
When you have no other option, how safe is your data if you just destroy the drive without first wiping it?