When it comes to hard drive destruction or data destruction, there is not a large variety of methods and the thing that is common with all approaches is the requirement to dispose of them in a secure manner. Merely throwing away the old items is not sufficient. Without the adequate disposal of items, businesses run the risk of exposing client information, information insurance, and security arrangements.
Here’s a look at the distinct types of data destruction methods that are
available for your business:
Overwriting
In case you have data that remains on disks and storage media
even after you have tried to erase it, then the most commonly used method to
get rid of it is via overwriting the media with new data. The process is also
called sanitization or data wiping. When the data is overwritten in such a
manner, a pattern of 0s and 1s is written over the original information. At
times, a random pattern is made use if and this makes for later verification
that the drive has been wiped completely.
As overwriting hard drive data is made possible by software and is used selectively on all or part of a storage medium, it is a simple option for certain applications. Ensuring that all information is addressed, one pass is generally sufficient to remove all the data. Nevertheless, at times, high-security applications might need multiple wipes and this provides an added measure that ensures that the old data is destroyed. Overwriting is a cost-effective and eco-friendly option of data destruction.
Physical
destruction
This method sounds like the most effective data destruction method
and businesses can physically destroy data in a range of ways like melting,
shredding, pulverizing, etc. The methods ensure that the hard drive becomes
completely inoperable after the destruction. Physical destruction needs to be
carried out with the help of high-powered equipment only. With the developments
in technology, it has become possible to retrieve data even from damaged hard
drives. When a process of data wiping is utilized prior to physically
destroying the disk, it makes sure that the data is thoroughly destroyed.
Reliable ITAD companies take upon
themselves the task of effectively destroying data from the electronic
equipment before disposing of it.
Degaussing
This method of data destruction makes use of a high-powered
magnet to disturb the magnetic field of floppy disks, magnetic tapes, or hard
disks. Once this is done, the data gets destroyed as part of the process. This
is done by making use of a degausser. Degaussing ensures that data becomes
completely unrecoverable in a less amount of time and this makes the process
ideal for dealing with data that is highly sensitive. It decreases the labor
resources and time required to overwrite information. The process of degaussing
prevents the recovery of any company information by data recovery software or
services, thereby strengthening the data security of your company from any
outside threats. Degaussing diminishes the risks that are concerned with
potentially damaging financial data, emails and proprietary information thereby
uprooting the risks of compromising any information being exposed.
