Hard drive data destroying device

1. A system for physically destroying the data storage portion of electronic media storage devices, the system comprising:

a rotatable milling cutter,

a nonrotatable cradle for locating the electronic media storage device in a position to engage the milling cutter, said cutter and/or said cradle being movable to permit the milling cutter to engage and remove the data storage portion of the electronic media storage device while leaving at least a portion of the remaining electronic media storage device intact;

a computer containing a database of various parameters of different types of electronic media storage devices;

an optical recognition system for determining the type of electronic media storage device being located via the cradle;

wherein said determined type and said database are utilized to create numeric controller instructions for controlling relative translational movements of said cradle and said rotatable milling cutter while said rotatable milling cutter contacts the data storage portion for machining the data storage portion of the determined type of the electronic media storage device, such that for a first determined type of electronic media storage device, said relative translational movements between said cradle and said rotatable milling cutter are in a first direction along a longitudinal axis of the milling cutter to perform a coring operation on the electronic media storage device, and for a second determined type of electronic media storage device, said relative translational movements between said cradle and said rotatable milling cutter include, during machining of the data storage portion by the milling cutter, relative translational movements that are transverse to the first direction to perform a surface milling operation.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer is an integrated computer.

3. The system of claim 1 , further including:

a cutting chamber in which the electronic media storage device is positioned for removal of the data storage portion; and

a vacuum system to remove the destroyed particles from the chamber.

4. The system of claim 1 , further including:

a communications network, and

wherein said computer includes:

a port for an external modem accessing an internal modem; and

an Ethernet cable for sending information between one or more systems.

5. The system of claim 1 , further including:

a cutting chamber,

wherein said cradle is adapted to hold an electronic media storage device in said chamber,

wherein said rotatable milling cutter is provided in said chamber for engagement with the electronic media storage device to destroy the data storage portion, and

the system further comprising a non-rotatable spear coaxial with said milling cutter and contactable with said storage device to prevent rotation of said storage device while said rotating milling cutter is engaging said data storage portion.

6. The system of claim 5 , further including a vacuum system to remove from the chamber destroyed particles produced by the machining of the data storage portion with the milling cutter.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein said first determined type of electronic media storage device includes a hub from which the data storage portion extends, and wherein said non-rotatable spear is engageable with said hub of the electronic media storage device to prevent rotation of the hub and data storage portion when said milling cutter is engaging the data storage portion.

8. The system of claim 1 , further comprising an additional cradle and an additional rotatable milling cutter, each cradle having a respective one of the milling cutters associated with it.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein said optical recognition system comprises a scanning system to read information off of said storage device.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein said scanning system scans information including dimensional information, bar code, manufacturer, model, and serial number.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein said information scanned is used to position said cradle and said milling cutter.

12. The system of claim 1 ,

wherein said first direction extends vertically.

13. The system of claim 1 ,

wherein said second determined type of electronic media storage device is a solid state drive (SSD), and

wherein said numeric controller instructions for controlling relative translational movements of said cradle and said rotatable milling cutter for machining the data storage portion for machining the second determined type of electronic media storage device include instructions for advancing said milling cutter in said first direction into said electronic media storage device, and

wherein said relative translational movements that are transverse to the first direction include movements that sweep said milling cutter across a surface of said electronic media storage device to destroy the area containing the data storage portion.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein said first determined type of electronic media storage device is a hard disk drive (HDD).

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein said second determined type of electronic media storage device is a solid state drive (SSD).

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein said determined type of electronic media storage is a third determined type, wherein said third determined type of electronic media storage device is a hybrid hard drive (HHD), and wherein the determined type and the database are utilized to create numeric controller instructions for controlling relative translational movements of said cradle and said rotatable cutter for machining the data storage portion of the third determined type.