Hard Drive Shredding vs. Degaussing — Which Should You Choose for Secure Data Destruction?

Every piece of data you store has its use. Over time, as employees, customers and projects come and go, you will likely end up hosting a significant amount of private data on your hard drives that you no longer need. While many organizations start by storing these hard drives on-site, over time, this can take up a lot of space. What you need is a method of secure data destruction that effectively disposes of your data without opening up issues of privacy.

Most commercial ventures choose one of two methods for disposing of their hard drives — hard drive shredding or degaussing. Both are effective methods of destroying data, and which option you choose will depend on your brand’s preferences and security practices. Explore both methods with NAID AAA Certified TrueShred today, and let us help find the right data destruction methods for you.

Hard Drive Shredding

When you dispose of important paperwork, most people use a shredder to disfigure the information and maintain privacy. You can do the same thing for your hard drives. The hard drive shredding process uses equipment similar to paper shredding, though the shredder involved is a much larger, more rugged machine.

Shredders are an excellent choice for both solid-state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs). However, if you are shredding SSDs, you should make sure your shredder or the team completing your shredding is capable of shredding the small chips inside the device, which may otherwise be recoverable.

Since shredding is already a well-known method of data disposal, it is an easy choice for many companies.

The Degaussing Process

Degaussing does not physically destroy the hard drive in question. During the degaussing process, hard drives are exposed to an extremely powerful magnet. Because information in hard drives is stored using a magnetic field, this magnet scrambles the data inside in seconds, rendering the drive unusable and inaccessible. From there, you can simply recycle the drive.

While degaussing is extremely convenient, time-effective and affordable, it is not the right choice for every company. Even though HHDs are magnetized, other electronic storage solutions, like USB drives and SSDs, are not, so degaussing would not be effective. Furthermore, if your industry has compliance standards that demand documentation of the data destruction, you may be unable to accurately prove destruction since the physical object is not destroyed.

Comparing the Methods

If both methods can quickly and effectively eliminate confidential data, how do you make the right choice for your business? Here are some of degaussing and shredding’s largest differences:

• Data security: While shredding will destroy information on any device, degaussing will only work on media stored magnetically.
• Environmental impact: Degaussed hard drives can be recycled. Shredded hard drives produce waste that has to be sorted before they can be disposed of and recycled.
• Cost: Degaussing takes more time and requires specialized equipment, so it costs more than shredding. Physically destroying hard drives is also more effort-intensive.
• Compliance: When meeting industry compliance is essential, shredding produces a clear paper trail documenting every step of the destruction process.

Choosing the Right Data Destruction Method for Your Needs

How you choose to destroy data is a personal decision based on your organization’s needs. As you weigh your options and consider which will benefit you most, these questions can help you get a good idea of which method is right for you:

• Do you need physical evidence of data destruction to ensure compliance?
• Is eco-friendliness an important tenet of your business practices?
• What is your business’s risk tolerance? Does shredding or degaussing fit your preferences?
• Are you looking to dispose of more than just hard drives — do you also need to get rid of USBs and other storage devices that do not operate on magnetic fields?
• How flexible is your budget?
• How confidential is the data you’re destroying?

Protect Your Privacy With Secure Data Destruction Services

Whether you prefer the physical shredding of your hard drive or data destruction through degaussing, TrueShred’s professionals are prepared to oblige. Regardless of your organization’s size or the amount of information you secure, we will help you determine the right data destruction method for your electronics and paper files and ensure security from start to finish.

Your data is one of the most vital parts of your entire operation. Make informed decisions about its storage and disposal with TrueShred. We specialize in providing personalized recommendations for commercial ventures in Washington, D.C., and beyond. Consult with our data protection experts today — our on- and off-site destruction services will protect your privacy better.