Proper destruction of hard drives is really necessary.
So when you have old computer hardware picked up for recycling or you have slightly less old computer hardware bought up you really shouldn’t forget that there is still data on the hard drives of those computers.
Even if your computers or laptops have been running on a network or in the cloud, even then it is imperative that you dwell on the fact that there is data in your old hardware.
Every desktop PC, server, laptop or tablet stores things that should not fall into the hands of miscreants.
I’m thinking of browsing history, downloads, recovered files, things your brewer saved (passwords?) and then data the device used to access the network.
A carelessly abandoned computer can provide giant useful information for a hacker.
Destroying data : do it yourself or have it done?
A little system administrator or IT person can do just fine wiping the hard drive of a PC or deleting the data from a laptop.
There are free tools on the Internet and some work quite well, for example Dban.
There are so many ifs and buts to this, though, that I would still recommend getting a solid company in the ram to do it for you.
In the first place, the computer and the hard disk must work in order to run a wipe program.
So if you have a bunch of half-broken laptops and old servers that are no longer rack mounted, you’re already up.
Furthermore, data destruction has really become a profession by now, and you should definitely not make mistakes in it and not skip anything.
If your own IT person starts doing it, he will find that it takes an enormous amount of time and effort.
And then you are left with things where the wipe doesn’t work at all, what to do with them?
Take the hard drive apart and then what?
Hit it with a splitting axe or something?
We at IT Recycling have an entire 1000m2 workshop where data is wiped and data destroyed all day every day. We have our own series of hard drive shredders that allow us to instantly and at lightning speed shred any hard drive into very small pieces in seconds. Because it is our business we can do the destruction of data – or the destruction of the entire hard drive very much faster and more efficiently as your own IT person.
You have to see it like a restaurant, you can cook for free.
Stand in the kitchen for hours.
You can sit in the restaurant, not for free, but the food is good and ready quickly.
Destroying the dates on a hard disk costs us and our colleagues on average a few euros per hard disk. I think that is always cheaper than having your own system administrator fiddle around for hours just to get a few computers clean. If you want to know what hard drive destruction costs at IT Recycling, you can take a look at our price list here .
On-site hard drive destruction : total security
The very best way to destroy data on a hard drive is…..to destroy the entire hard drive. And the fastest and most reliable way is with a shredder. This is a large machine with rotating blades that uses a lot of force to cut the hard disk into small pieces.
For maximum security, IT Recycling allows us to come to your place of business with a mobile hard drive shredder. We can then cut all hard disks into tiny pieces at lightning speed right in front of your door. The great thing is that you can watch and you can see exactly how each hard drive is destroyed. And we can do this not only with hard disk but also with cell phones – tablets, back up tapes and all other data carriers.
Certification and registration of destruction of data on hard drives
If you are having data destroyed by a computer recycler or a computer buyer it is rather important what documentation you get from it afterwards. I would say that at a minimum you should get a certificate stating to what standards the hard drive and data were destroyed. With IT Recycling you also get a data waiver, list of serial numbers, environmental certificate and transport document for transportation of waste materials.
Furthermore, companies that have anything to do with old computer hardware must have WEEELABEX certification, this is a legal requirement.
If a buyer or computer recycling does not have weeelabex then you better look further.