Over time, you may end up accumulating a bunch of old hard drives. You might be wondering, “What should you do with old hard drives?” Just throwing them out with the regular trash is not enough to protect your personal information. To properly safeguard your information, hard drive destruction is highly recommended. Doing so makes sure that sensitive data cannot be recovered by physically destroying the hard drive. In this article, we will discuss all your options for secure disposal so you know how to handle your old hard drives.
Why Proper Disposal Matters
Old hard drives are likely to have confidential data such as financial records, passwords, private emails, personal photos, and more. Even if you think you have deleted everything, it is possible for traces of your data to remain. Identity thieves and hackers are very skilled at pulling data from thrown-out electronics, so it is necessary to discard your hard drive with precautions. In some cases, data breaches from improperly disposed electronics have led to legal liabilities for individuals and companies. This is why effectively getting rid of your hard drives is not just to clean up clutter, it is also to guard yourself and prevent data breaches.
What to Do With Old Hard Drives?
You can choose from several methods to get rid of an old hard drive:
- Wiping the hard drive: Specialized software is available to completely erase data by overwriting the entire drive and making it more difficult to recover. However, wiping alone might not be enough to shield information that is highly personal.
- Degaussing: This method can be effective because it uses a strong magnetic field to interfere with the drive storage system and make the data unreadable. It is often used by businesses but can be expensive.
- Hard drive destruction: Damaging your drive physically is usually the most foolproof way to make sure your data cannot be retrieved. Common ways to destroy the drive completely are crushing, shredding, or drilling through the hard drive platters. Some professional destruction services also melt drives down completely, leaving no chance of data recovery.
DIY versus Professional Service
Some people choose to destroy old hard drives themselves at home with a hammer drill or other tools. DIY methods can work if done well, but they can also pose a risk if the storage components have not been adequately destroyed. You can also potentially hurt yourself if not careful! Those who would like absolute peace of mind should opt for hiring professionals. There are companies that have industrial-level shredders designed to fully obliterate hard drives and offer electronic recycling as a service. Some companies even allow customers to witness the destruction process firsthand or provide video evidence for additional peace of mind.
Environmental Considerations
If you plan to physically destroy your hard drive, it is important to remember that electronics should not be thrown into the trash because of the hazards they pose to the environment. Aside from the risk to your private data, improperly throwing away old hard drives is damaging to the environment.
This is because hard drives contain toxic materials such as lead, mercury, and cadmium. If electronics end up in landfills, the toxins in them can pollute the soil and waterways. As a result, wildlife and ecosystems suffer greatly, and communities might have to drink contaminated water. Recycling old electronics allows for valuable materials – such as aluminum, gold, and rare earth metals – to be reclaimed and reused, reducing the demand for raw resource mining in turn.
You can help protect the planet, community health, and the conversation of resources by choosing the correct kind of disposal. Luckily, many professional services also recycle responsibly and process the metal, plastic, and other materials of the hard drive, which is another perk to working with them!
When to Call the Experts
If you have multiple hard drives, corporate data, or extremely sensitive information, it is in your best interest to employ a certified data destruction company. You are not only guaranteed that your information will be permanently destroyed, but these companies also follow strict guidelines for environmentally friendly disposal. Also, these companies are trained to comply with data protection laws like HIPAA, GDPR, and other privacy regulations. You might even be able to get a certificate of destruction for your records, which can reassure you extra that the job was well done. Check in with professionals to guarantee your security today!
