From what I understand from my IT class is that the FBI says that they can get up to 7 wipe and still get info out of HDD. Destroying HDD was bright, but I dont think they could have gotten info from the motherboard and the ram... I do wonder why.
Also, could the FBI realisticly get a broken HDD and "repair" it and get the data from it? Since its all Magnetic 1 and 0, could you simply "stamp" the piece and see the info from it? But in this case, I think they didnt find the HDD which is strange since the FBI was probably tracking him.
Its not being a coward to run away from the lion when he's right behind you. He was smart.