Kobra HDD Hard Disk Drive Shredder

The Kobra HDD is a dedicated hard drive shredder that reduces hard disk drives up to 3.5 in, plus SSDs, LTO tapes, phones and other media, to 40 mm x random fragments at DIN 66399 H-3. It handles up to 250 drives per hour through a 5 x 1.2 in (127 x 30 mm) throat on a 3 kW three-phase drive. It is built for data centers, IT asset disposition firms, hospitals and universities that want drives destroyed on their own premises.

Kobra HDD key facts

• DIN 66399 H-3, also T-1 and E-2; 40 mm x random cross-cut
• Up to 250 hard drives per hour, continuous duty
• Throat 5 x 1.2 in (127 x 30 mm)
• Touch screen with LED feeding control
• 208 V / 60 Hz three-phase, up to 20 A

Keeping drive destruction in-house

Every drive that leaves the building for destruction is a link in a chain of custody you must document. The Kobra HDD ends that chain at your own door. At up to 250 drives an hour, a refresh project of several hundred units fits into an afternoon, and the cost can be set against per-drive outsourcing fees. The throat is sized for rigid media so that a drive is gripped by the cutters rather than sliding across them. The touch screen's LED feeding control shows how hard the knives are working, so the operator can pace the feed instead of stalling the head.

What H-3 means for spinning disks and SSDs

H-3 is the DIN 66399 class for magnetic hard drives. Breaking the platters into 40 mm pieces puts the data beyond ordinary or commercial recovery. Solid state drives are different. SSDs are on the approved list, but a 40 mm fragment can leave memory chips intact, and SSD-focused standards call for far smaller particles. If flash storage makes up much of your estate, the Kobra SSD disintegrator is the appropriate machine. Kobra makes no NSA claim for this model, and it has no paper P rating.

Installation and day-to-day use

The machine arrives assembled with its control panel and a 40-liter (11-gallon) container fitted; bags are not included. A qualified electrician must connect the 208 V three-phase supply drawing up to 20 A. It occupies 47.2 x 33 in and weighs approx. 1,250 lb (550 kg), so check floor loading and any elevator route. Metal fragments fill the container quickly at full speed, so expect to empty it several times in a long session and send the debris to an electronics recycler. Remove drives from their caddies and rails before feeding. Noise is 55 dB(A); Kobra's EU sheet states 50 dB(A).

Kobra HDD specifications

Kobra HDD or Kobra SSD?

Choose the HDD for fleets of spinning hard drives and tapes where H-3 meets your policy. Choose the Kobra SSD disintegrator when solid state media dominates and you need millimeter-scale particles; it is a different class of machine at a different price.

Who should buy the Kobra HDD

Organizations retiring drives in volume whose policy keeps media on site until destroyed. It is not for paper, not a substitute for an NSA-listed device for classified media, and not the best tool for a mostly SSD estate.