Data Destruction Process

destroyed hard drives

Data Destruction Process

As an e-waste recycling company, when we collect laptops or computer; one common question is asked to us by most of our customers is that – “what will happen to data stored on computers?”  Hence, here we would like to share our procedure of Data Destruction:

1. All drives are immediately locked in the cage after weigh in. [Ref. Image 1]

2. Drives requiring Certificate of Destruction by the customer are placed in a separate plastic bin with the customer pickup sheet attached and then placed in a cage. Customer information is immediately entered into IMS. [Ref. Image 2]

3. All other drives are placed in a plastic bin labeled “to wipe” and placed in a locked cage. [Ref. Image 3]

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Safe storing and sorting

4. Those that are not SATA (PCI, SAS, other) or <80GB are sent to our hard drive destruction device to be destroyed.  [Ref. Image 4 & 5]

5. SATA disks greater than or equal to 80GB are added to “To Wipe” bin in a locked cage. [Ref. Image 6]

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Categorize drives for processing

6. When ready to wipe the customers requesting data wipe/destruction are always done first.  Pull the appropriate customer bin(s) and take into DBAN (Darik’s Boot and NUKE) office.  Only take one customer at a time so they don’t get mixed together.

7. Boot up one or more computers depending on the quantity of drives to wipe.  Each station (4 total) accommodates 4 drives at once.

8. Visual inspection: Drive checked for connection type and size.

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Hard drive connection types

9. While booting into DBAN software, SATA cables attached to each drive.

10. When software’s ready, operator types in ” autonuke” to start the DBAN wiping process.

11. When the wipe is complete, the software will say green “succeeded” or red “fail”.

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Hard drive wipe

12. Failed hard drives go to the hard drive destruction device to be destroyed.

13. Successful wipes go into “Completed Wipes” bin for bar-coding. [Ref. Image 7]

14. If a customer requested Certificate of Destruction a report is generated through the IMS.

15. Login into the IMS – r3ewaste.com/inventory –  login with valid credentials –  Master – Data Destruction – pull up customer then enter a Serial number, Manufacturer, Size and method of destruction (wiped or drilled) for each drive. When all of been entered hit Submit button to generate a report. [Ref. Image 8]

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Final hard drive processing

All other wiped drives are input in the IMS, a barcode printed and taken into stock and placed in a locked cabinet in Online Sales Test/Repair office. [Ref. Image 9]

 

Don’t be a victim of identity theft or fraud, make sure your electronic & computer recycler is destroying your data effectively. If you’re interested in having your E-waste recycled responsibly, please contact us today!