Hard Drive Destruction: What Are Your Options?

As the barrage of data breaches and cyber-attacks only continues to become more rampant and more sophisticated, the implementation of a smart digital security plan is more important than ever. In fact, every business should take internal threats as seriously as external ones, but unfortunately, many don’t.

A key component of any solid cyber security strategy is the effective disposal of data that’s no longer needed. This is where the three levels of hard drive destruction come in to play: erasing, damaging, and destroying. Explore the benefits and drawbacks of each option below.

A Clean Slate?

Erasure of the hard drive is the best option for you if your company leases equipment or hopes to resell or donate the old equipment since the overall goal of this process is to erase all of the data without damaging the equipment. This can be a time-consuming process, however, and it must be performed meticulously and thoroughly for it to be effective. Keep in mind that this is the riskiest form of data destruction because sometimes traces of recoverable data remain due to inadequate processes or the data is stolen before the erasure process begins.

Dude, What’s Your Damage?

While experienced technicians may claim to be able to destroy all data upon equipment startup, sometimes old machines fail to power up, have bad sectors, or cannot be cleansed for a different reason. If any of these issues arise for you, have no fear. There are other options available, like the removal and destruction of the hard drive to physically eliminate the data and grant you peace of mind as you move on to integrate faster and newer devices.

Pay attention to that “experienced technician” part, though, because it’s imperative. Most business owners know that it’s important to eliminate all compromising data, but this doesn’t mean they know how to pull it off on their own. In misguided attempts to destroy their own hard drives, many people only damage them, leaving some data vulnerable and extractable if the hard drive falls into the hands of the wrong person.

When in Doubt, Destroy

There’s really no doubt about it: complete destruction of the hard drive, typically by shredding it, is the only truly secure option for your company, and it’s imperative that you find a capable, reputable company to perform this task. Even though enlisting outside help with hard drive destruction will be more expensive upfront than attempting it yourself, Office Space style, it will eliminate any risk of a costly data breach down the line. The peace of mind alone makes it worth the cost.

Not only is professional hard drive destruction more reliable, but it’s convenient, too. Complete data destruction can be performed on-site or at the data destruction company’s facility. Be sure to select a company that will perform the data cleansing to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) guidelines for media sanitization standards before the hard drive destruction begins. They should provide a free, detailed report for your records and a signed Certificate of Data Destruction for each drive cleansed or destroyed. This is how you know they’re truly worth their salt.

Let CDR Global Do Your Dirty Work

If you’re in the market for a reputable hard drive destruction company, look no further than CDR Global. We’ll demolish your nonworking drives with our (literally) cutting-edge portable hard drive shredder. It physically destroys hard drive platters and electronics, and in turn, destroys the computer data along with the drive, depleting any value.

Once the hard drives are destroyed, we’ll use industrial hardware shredders to recycle remaining metals and circuit board material. This will ensure that all private, confidential information is gone for good.

Let CDR Global take the risk out of your IT asset disposal. Contact us to request a quote today!