Three common misconceptions every Ft. Meyers business owner may have about hard drive destruction

Most Ft. Meyers companies are subject to regulations requiring them to erase or destroy old data with sensitive or confidential information. In today’s world, most of that data is stored on digital hard drives. Office managers may be laboring under misconceptions that they can manage digital data removal themselves — and doing so still leaves their companies at elevated risk.

Here are three common mistakes in thinking office managers often commit when it’s time to decommission old hard drives.

Misconception #1: Erasing, reformatting, demagnetizing, or destroying a hard drive gets rid of all data

Many computer users assume that deleting the contents of a hard drive removes every bit of information they need to expunge, or that the more drastic step of reformatting it gets rid of all its data and functionality.

Neither of those steps will finish the job, though. Data on an erased or reformatted is still there in fragmented form. Thieves have their own software programs to unlock that data and extract it for criminal activity.

Some office managers use magnets to clean data from their hard drives; this process is called degaussing. But unless done thoroughly and deliberately, degaussing won’t remove every bit of information, and modern hard drives are also much more magnet-resistant than in previous generations. Finally, just taking a blunt instrument and beating a hard drive up may destroy its structure — but it won’t do the same for its data.

Misconception #2: Recycling a hard drive is sufficient to protect data

While recycling is great for controlling waste and protecting the environment, it doesn’t guarantee that the old data a hard drive contains will vanish. Companies with in-house recycling services often leave dozens of electrical devices exposed for easy grabbing by anyone who happens by them.

Outsourced data destruction companies use patented methods that comprehensively remove every chance of accessing that information. Only after that process can they prepare the individual components for proper recycling.

Misconception #3: Hoarding and locking up old hard drives takes care of the worst data risks

We understand producing and staying with a policy for data retention and destruction is no business owner’s idea of a good time. Some believe it’s enough to simply lock old hard drives away in a supply closet or storage space.

Hopefully, it’s obvious why this is a grave error. No matter how safe the storage space may be, it doesn’t take much for someone with bad intentions to get past security measures and access the data of hard drives stored within. It’s essential to have a comprehensive data destruction policy in place and follow it strictly.

Complete and secure hard drive destruction in Ft. Meyers

ShredQuick uses a thorough, deliberate process to destroy hard drives so it’s impossible to harvest old data from them. Contact us today to keep your Ft. Meyers business’s digital data safe and out of reach.