HARD DRIVE SHREDDING
Data Destruction Inc. delivers hard drive shredding under NAID AAA Certification (administered by i-SIGMA, with annual third-party audit) using the NIST SP 800-88 r1 Destroy method category for both HDDs and SSDs. Engagements run on-site at the customer’s facility or off-site at a NAID AAA-certified facility, with documented chain of custody and a Certificate of Destruction listing serial numbers, method category, date, and witness mode.
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HARD DRIVE SHREDDING Service Option
HARD DRIVE Destruction
Data Destruction Inc. shredding equipment meets NIST SP 800-88 r1 Destroy-method standards and undergoes annual NAID AAA Certification audits by i-SIGMA, pulverizing HDDs and SSDs into verified particle sizes to ensure sensitive data remains permanently unreadable and protected from breaches.
ON-SITE HARD DRIVE SHREDDING
Supervise the hard drive shredding processes on your premises conducted by expert, certified personnel. The crew arrives in secure trucks with the necessary equipment on board and shred your hard drives. Receive the Certificate of Destruction instantly.
HARD DRIVE DISPOSAL
Our crew shreds both standard HDDs and SSDs using the appropriate equipment that can effectively smash the drives and render them unrepairable. Storage platters in HDDs and memory chips in SSDs need specific processing devices for effective shredding.
MEDIA SHREDDING
Hard drive shredding may be needed for all kinds of office equipment that contain media storage devices including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, servers, PDAs, smartphones, photocopiers, flash drives, DVDs, videotapes, and all other gadgets.
The IBM Cost of a Data Breach Report (most recent year) places the global average cost of a data breach at over $4 million. A defensible end-of-life data-destruction workflow (NAID AAA-certified, NIST SP 800-88 r1-compliant, with serialized chain of custody and Certificate of Destruction) is one of the controllable inputs to that cost calculation.
What Is Hard Drive Shredding
Hard drive shredding is where a mechanical device will physically destroy a hard drive in a way that it cannot ever be recovered. The platter is the part of the drive in which the data is stored, so this part must be completely severed during the process. This process will turn the hard drive into unrecognizable pieces. Shredding of a hard drive is important because it is the only real way of getting rid of data forever. Formatting a drive or using other destruction methods will not destroy data.
Hard drive shredding can be combined with paper-document shredding in a single mobile or facility engagement. Combined hard-drive + document destruction is common for office decommissioning, data-center retirement, and HIPAA / GLBA / FACTA-scoped purges where both digital media and paper records require defensible destruction. Each combined engagement closes with a single Certificate of Destruction listing both media types.
Why Do I Need Hard Drive Shredding?
It doesn’t matter how securely you think you erase a hard drive; the truth is, hard drive shredding is the only secure way to destroy data. Hackers that have the necessary tools and time can decipher the information stored on your hard drives.
Not using effective shredding methods can put your business at the risk of losing its reputation. Plus, there is the possibility of expensive lawsuits because of data breaches. You could also incur losses resulting from the cost of informing all entities about the leak in their personal information.
Before you dispose of the old equipment that your office has been using, make sure you take the necessary steps to destroy the hard drives in them. You might choose modalities like reformatting, erasing, hard drive degaussing, or wiping your hard drives to erase the data in them. These processes may be useful only if you want to reuse the devices in your business. If you intend to recycle them or send them to e-waste facilities, you must use hard drive shredding methods to sanitize the data storage media securely.
So, why do I need hard drive shredding? The answer is simple, you need to shred your hard drive to protect sensitive material that could fall into the hands of people who could use it to affect you or your customers negatively.
How To Choose A Hard Drive Shredding Company?
Procurement-defensible hard drive shredding is anchored on three audit-evidence elements: the NAID AAA Certification reference number (with the i-SIGMA administrator citation), the NIST SP 800-88 r1 method category (Clear / Purge / Destroy), and the documented chain of custody (barcoded asset manifest, sealed transport bin, two-person handling, witnessed transfer to the shredder, and time-stamped Certificate of Destruction). Vendors that cannot produce all three on request should be disqualified at the RFP stage.
You must consider many things when choosing your shredding company. They must follow industry standards, as well as provide you with security at all times. Here are just some of the other things you should look for when choosing a shredding company.
Shredding Equipment Options
Here are some of the devices they may use:
Hard Drive Crushers
Hard drive shredding devices can be mechanical or automated hydraulic units. These devices combine conical steel punches with the extreme force of up to 7,500 pounds to punch the hard drives. The force works to mangle the drives and bend them beyond repair. Not only are the housings completely deformed but the platters are also smashed entirely. Higher capacity hard drive crushers can process between 500 to 3,500 hard drives per hour.
Solid State Drive Crushers
Since Solid State Drives (SSDs) store data on memory chips, they need special devices for disposal. Expert data destruction agencies use shredding and crushing to eliminate SSDs that contain Personal identifying Information (PII) or Control Units (CUs). SSDs containing more sensitive data need complete disintegration of the memory chips to 2 mm or smaller particles for effective sanitization.
Shearing Devices
Shearing devices have the capability of shredding hard drives into tiny shards using 40,000 pounds of crushing force. They are highly effective for the thorough hard drive disposal of drive platters, housings, and all electronic elements.
Combination Shredders
Combination hard drive data shredders can process both standard HDDs and SSDs together. So, if you have a bunch of drives of both types, this device works perfectly.
CHOOSE FROM ONSITE AND OFFSITE HARD DRIVE SHREDDING
Businesses can opt for onsite and offsite hard drive shredding options. Set up a weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly data disposal schedule depending on your company requirements.
On-Site Hard Drive Shredding
- For the most secure option, you can choose on-site hard drive shredding. The sanitization crew arrives on your premises in mobile hard drive destruction trucks that have the necessary equipment on board. Under your supervision, they destroy the hard drives into small particles. You’ll receive a Certificate of Destruction once the task is complete.
Off-Site Hard Drive Shredding
- If you opt for off-site hard drive shredding, we offer secure off-site destruction options where a certified crew arrives in secure trucks with GPS tracking systems. They collect and seal all storage media in locked boxes and transport them under a chain of responsible supervision to their facility. Expert technicians take care of the drive disposal in closed labs that have recorded surveillance. All precautions are taken since e-waste can be toxic. Later, the e-waste is delivered to recycling plants. You’ll receive a Certificate of Destruction once the hard drive disposal is complete.
HOW MUCH DOES HARD DRIVE SHREDDING COST?
The cost of shredding a hard drive will vary depending on the type of service you choose and the number of drives you wish to destroy. You can contact us at (866) 850-7977 or fill out our online data destruction request form. We will be able to give you the exact price of your shredding project.
Complete Assurance When Hiring Data Destruction Inc.
For federal-agency engagements requiring National Security Agency / Central Security Service (NSA/CSS) Evaluated Products List (EPL) equipment, Data Destruction Inc. operates equipment listed on the NSA/CSS EPL alongside the NIST SP 800-88 r1 Destroy-method particle-size targets and NAID AAA Certification scope.
Professional teams offering you hard drive data wiping and hard drive disposal services provide you with complete assurance.
Here’s how:
- All crew goes through the necessary background checks before hiring. Certified companies also verify employment history and conduct initial and annual criminal record checks at unexpected times in the year. They may also run drug screenings from time to time.
- All crew reports for work in uniforms with photo identification. Their tags display their name, company designation, and company logo.
- Each technician is held accountable for the assigned task.
- You’ll receive regular updates on the status of the data destruction procedures. Once the processes are complete, you’ll receive a final task completion sheet and Certificate of Destruction. This procedure helps you keep track of the exact dates of the hard drive shredding and delivery to recycling plants.
- On your request, the data destruction service might keep a record of the serial number of each hard drive they dispose of. This procedure ensures added security and compliance with HIPAA, FACTA, GLBA, and HITECH regulations. In case there is an issue with data breaches, the serial number record can provide proof of destruction and help indemnify your business.
- Once the hard drives are reduced to small shards, as per federal and state regulations, they are dispatched to electronics and metal recycling facilities. These partners melt the devices down to their alloy state for reuse.
Frequently Asked Questions
Hard drive shredding is the NIST SP 800-88 r1 Destroy method category: physical destruction to particle size ≤ 6 mm for HDDs and ≤ 2 mm for SSDs. Degaussing is the NIST SP 800-88 r1 Purge method category for magnetic media (HDDs and tapes only) using a high-energy magnetic field to neutralize the magnetic domains. Degaussing does not work on SSDs (no magnetic medium); for SSDs only Purge by cryptographic erasure or Destroy by physical destruction is defensible.
Hard drive shredding pricing depends on three procurement levers: (1) volume (per-drive vs flat truck-roll, with bulk discounts at ≥100 drives or recurring quarterly engagements); (2) engagement mode (on-site mobile shredding carries a truck-roll premium over off-site facility shredding); and (3) certification scope (NAID AAA-certified workflows include manifest, chain-of-custody log, witnessed destruction, and Certificate of Destruction at no separate line item). Request a quote at (866)850-7977 for a scoped engagement estimate.
The Certificate of Destruction issued at the close of every Data Destruction Inc. hard drive shredding engagement contains: the asset serial numbers (one row per drive), the destruction date and time, the destruction location (on-site customer address or off-site NAID AAA-certified facility), the destruction method category per NIST SP 800-88 r1 (Clear, Purge, or Destroy), the operator and witness identifiers, the sealed-bin manifest reference, and the NAID AAA Certification reference number administered by i-SIGMA. The Certificate is the audit-evidence package required for HIPAA 45 CFR §164.310(d)(2), PCI DSS v4 Requirement 9.4, GLBA 16 CFR Part 314, and FACTA 16 CFR Part 682.
LET US CONTACT YOU
DATA DESTRUCTION LOCATIONS
SHREDDING SERVICES DALLAS
1717 Mckinney Ave. Suite 700
Dallas, TX 75202-1236
(469) 949-2840
SHREDDING SERVICES NEW YORK CITY
100 Church Street. 8Th Floor
New York City, NY 10007-2630
(516)-990-4096
SHREDDING SERVICES SAN JOSE
2033 Gateway Place. 5Th Floor
San Jose, CA 95110
(408) 459-4418
SHREDDING SERVICES SAN DIEGO
350 10Th Avenue. Suite 1000
San Diego, CA 92101-7496
(619) 916-4696
SHREDDING SERVICES LOS ANGELES
633 West Fifth Street. 26Th And 28Th Floors
Los Angeles, CA 90071
(213) 205-3688
SHREDDING SERVICES IRVINE
7545 Irvine Center Drive. Irvine Business Center, Suite 200
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 793-7178
SHREDDING SERVICES WASHINGTON
601 Pennsylvania Ave. Nw, South Building, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20004
(240) 266-3056
