 - A hard drive shredder is a mechanical device that physically destroys old hard drives in such a way that the data they contain cannot be recovered. At a minimum, this involves severing every track on every platter in a drive.
The data bits on a hard drive are not destroyed by formatting, or even by overwriting several times with other data. Specialized programs called hard drive shredding utilities overwrite data many times with "gibberish," but some engineers claim that the original data may be recoverable by a determined expert even after this process unless overwriting has taken place hundreds of times. Drilling holes in an old hard drive will not necessarily work, because some tracks are likely to remain unsevered unless hundreds of holes are drilled.
The most effective way to ensure complete data destruction on a defunct hard drive is to pulverize the assembly, in much the same way as a wood chipper disposes of tree limbs and brush. Environmental precautions must be taken when this is done, because the resulting particles can be toxic. Several companies offer hard drive shredding services for a fee, including secure pickup and transport, compliance with environmental regulations, and certification of data destruction. For the enterprise concerned about data theft, such a vendor may offer the best solution to the data destruction problem.
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Learn more about Secure data storage |
| Data backup security strategies: A tutorial on cloud security, encryption and data destruction: Data security concerns are climbing the priority list for data backup pros, including tape encryption, cloud backup, key management and data deletion options. |
| Encryption Special Report: Key management stumbling block to securing data: Data encryption is showing up in tape libraries, disk drives and backup software, but the technology is hindered by the lack of a single standard for managing encryption keys.
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| Disaster recovery planning and operations tutorial: In our tutorial on disaster recovery operations, learn about how to choose a DR facility, virtual servers and DR, and outsourcing disaster recovery services. |
| Data storage backup security tutorial: Tape encryption and cloud backup: Data storage backups are an necessary element of data protection plan, but they're often the biggest source of security woes. |
| Storage Decisions Session Downloads: Data Retention & Retrieval Track (Chicago 2009): This Storage Decisions Chicago 2009 track explores why a sound system for retaining and disposing of data is one of the modern requirements of storage management. |
| LAST UPDATED: |
15 Sep 2006
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