Hard drives cannot last forever. After some time, these hardware pieces slow down and inevitably break due to several factors. The reasons can range from hard disk corruption, excessive heat, power issues, and many more. And once its’ usable life comes to an end, thinking of the right disposal method is the next step. One of the options is to entrust the job with a hard drive shredding company.

However, the challenge is choosing the right hard drive shredding company for your business. Many IT asset disposal businesses specialize in hard drive shredding, but this does not guarantee a comprehensive experience. It’s crucial to pick one that not only shreds your hard disks efficiently but also makes sure to destroy the data inside. And aside from this, another critical consideration is the company’s compliance with these disposal measures.

Before we get into the elements that make a reliable hard drive shredding company, we need to define what hard drive shredding is.

Importance of Hard Drive Shredding

Old hard drives can contain sensitive information--from confidential emails, sales invoices, transactions, and many more. It’s vital to properly dispose of this hardware to avoid data breaches. In doing so, you also maintain security on classified company documents. Shredding hard disks ensures that no one will be able to access the information anymore. In this way, your files will remain uncompromised.

Aside from protecting these documents, hard drive shredding is an excellent business practice. With most of the information now stored in data, it becomes a duty for businesses to clean out hard drives regularly. Shredding these disks must become a part of that practice. By grinding down these old hard disks, you will secure your information. At the same time, you save on storage. Implementing this is also a sign that your company takes security seriously.

And throwing old ones away contributes to the accumulation of e-waste. There is a process for disposing of old electronics--whether its hard drives, cellphones, or TVs. Although with the abundance of e-waste nowadays, the proper disposal of these electronics are not assured. You can reduce your environmental footprint better. You can do this by disposing of hard drives with a hard drive shredding company. Aside from compliance with e-waste laws, these companies will make sure to shred your hard drive and properly dispose of it.

Moreover, these functions are the very purpose of a hard drive shredding company. This type of company takes care of it and grinds down hard disks for you. It gives you a hassle-free shredding and disposal process.

Hard Drive Shredding Done Wrong

Typically, the best practice for shredding hard drives is to wipe them out quickly. All before shipping them to a hard drive shredding company for secure data destruction. Some businesses opt to destroy their hard drives manually. So they can avoid investing in e-waste disposal company services. However, this method comes with some risks.

One, it leaves the hard drive vulnerable to data theft. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot erase hard drive data by physically destroying the hard drive. This belief is a common misconception among companies who have little to no IT experience. In reality, one can still extract the data using exploitative forensic methods. So while you destroy the hard drive, the sensitive information is still intact. As long as there is no proper data destruction.

Two, manually shredding drives introduces an employee safety hazard. It’s easy to have one of your employees shred or grind the hard disk into pieces, but is it safe? Shredders often have moving parts. These can injure unsuspecting employees if they are not careful. Using drillers, hammers, and even guns have their own safety risk attached to them. Shredding hard disks on your own might do more harm than good for the business.

Three, internally destroying drives presents a possible security risk. In the process of hard drive shredding, there must be a manual report of the serial number or tag of the destroyed hard drive. This manual reporting is susceptible to human error and even manipulation. This happens when employees take advantage of extracting confidential company info.

While you can fix this by having a concrete reporting system, this only reduces the risk of inaccurate reporting. Collusion is still a possibility among dishonest employees. That probability can negate this band-aid solution.

Four, hard drive shredding is not a 100 percent guarantee. This method indeed grinds hard disks down to smaller steel chunks. But it does not always eliminate data risk. Some pieces may still be big enough for data extraction. Shredding reduces the risk significantly, but the risk is still there. This downside also applies to tiny solid-state drives or SSDs. This size of storage comes out of shredders untouched.

Lastly, hard drive shredding falls under electronic waste disposal at the end of the day. A process subject to state laws and regulations. These measures are put in place to ensure proper e-waste recycling across states. Companies can incur penalties if they do not observe the appropriate standards for disposal. Getting certification to destroy hard disks internally is not only expensive. It is a lengthy process as well.

In a nutshell, hard drive shredding is more complicated than it looks. And physically smashing hard drives on your own does not help. Apart from the risk of fines and data extraction, there is no assurance of secure data destruction. The best way to go about it is to ship your old hard disks. Take them to a reliable hard drive shredding company.

Elements of a Good Hard Drive Shredding Company

Every hard drive shredding company is different. While the end goal is to shred hard drives, each company does it differently. The key to choosing the best one is through the service. Another factor is the quality assurance that they offer. You shouldn’t settle for anything less than the best.

Listed below are the elements that make a good hard drive shredding company:

Speedy and efficient hard drive shredding

Hard drive shredding shouldn’t take forever. The preparation before the shredding itself is meticulous. But destroying hard disks is a relatively fast process. This includes all the other procedures, such as data destruction.

And a good hard drive shredding company makes sure that while the process is quick; it is also efficient in this case. Efficient in terms of tools to be used before, during, and after the shredding.

Transparent audit reporting

Part of hard drive shredding is reporting the destruction of hard drives. Shredding or grinding down a hard drive comes with auditing it properly. This is done to update company databases on the hard drive’s current state. As mentioned earlier, reporting a destroyed hard drive requires keying in a serial number or asset tag of the said drive. Businesses must keep track of these audits. In order to ensure the destruction of the hard drive and its data.

A good hard drive shredding company offers an audit report after every shredding process. Since tracking these old hard disks is key to documentation. Not having an audit report after shredding opens up potential risks. These include the hard drive not being shredded and other concerns. Also feel free to  check these home theatre power manager devices.

PCI DSS compliance

The PCI DSS is a security standard set to protect credit card owners from credit card fraud or identity theft. This standard is imperative upon organizations that store cardholder information such as banks and other financial institutions. So when it comes to shredding these disks, the hard drive shredding company needs to be PCI DSS compliant.

There are some standards that the PCI DSS puts in place concerning data destruction. It make sure that all cardholder data in hard drives are unrecoverable. Also, it orders the total locking of all containers used in storing the old hard disks. A good hard drive shredding company takes note and follows these standards.

Safe and environment-friendly disposal

Disposing of hard drives presents a possible danger to a person’s health. As mentioned earlier, this is due to the materials that can be potentially toxic when exposed. Health risks aren’t the only issue. These materials can also be hazardous to the environment if they are not disposed of correctly.

A good hard drive shredding company is not only compliant with e-waste laws and standards. But is also certified to deal with different kinds of electronic waste.

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Contact Abtron Today!

Your information is not as safe as you think. Records of client details, company secrets and invoices are all crucial. The only way to secure the safe erasure of these confidential information is with comprehensive hard drive destruction. You can only do that with a reliable hard drive shredding company. In this way, you and your client’s data will remain uncompromised. Data security should be one of your top priorities. You can rest easy with Abtron’s IT Asset Disposal and Secure Data Destruction Services. They will ensure the proper disposal of your hard drive and your data. For more questions about hard drive shredding and why it’s essential, you can contact us at abtron.com.