4 Ways to Safely Destroy Your Hard Drive
How can you be sure your hard drive data is completely destroyed to prevent recovery of information? We’re sharing the top 4 ways to ensure the complete removal of data.
Overwriting the drive. This approach, known as ‘disk-wiping’ software, is meant to replace stored data with random patterns of meaningless numbers and characters. There are multiple versions of this software available, however, to ensure thoroughness it’s important for someone to be involved who thoroughly understands the process as it can be very time-consuming.
Degaussing. Degaussing is the elimination of a magnetic field. This happens by permanently erasing data from hard drives when it’s passed through magnetic fields of powerful, fixed earth magnets. Degaussing devices must have high enough magnetic power to overcome the drive’s magnetic field, and erase any stored information during the process. This method is more effective than overwriting, but special tools are required.
Shredding. As we know, hard drive shredders like the ones at Merlin Shredding physically rip apart drives into randomly sized strips. The method is similar to a regular paper shredder, but the electronic machines are able to destroy many types of devices such as phones, laptops, desktops, tablets, and more. This is one of the most effective methods for complete data destruction.
Disintegration. This method goes a step further than shredding with a mechanical incineration device that cuts items into smaller and smaller pieces until they are completely unrecognizeable. The end product is very similar to shredding, except the end particles are smaller overall.
It’s important to always know exactly how and when your hard drive data will be destroyed, which is why we place high importance on continuous security training for our employees and always ensure thoroughness in our destruction process, along with a certificate of destruction after every single shred.