[killtimeatwork]

Let's not forget the human factor. Presumably, an operation of this scale would require hiring help - potentially lots of it. How do you make sure that one of the workers does not just leave with the hard drive? It would require security on the level employed in gemstones mines (personal search for every employee who leaves the premises etc.) Kind of hard to set up in a bulletproof way - the potential finder could just let the relevant security people in on the profits.

[FatalLogic]

Offer a percentage of the proceeds to the finder's team. Rationally then, they would be satisfied to give the drive to their employers, because their employers are more likely (than anyone else they'd be able to find) to recover the data from a drive that is badly damaged, and to pay them a generous bonus, as agreed.

It also incentivizes the workers to keep an eye on each other to prevent the drive being smuggled out of the site.