A method should be chosen for the storage you have, the information it holds and what should happen to the equipment afterward. A single claim of “secure destruction” does not tell you whether a drive was erased, physically destroyed or simply removed from a device.
Verified erasure for suitable reuse
Erasure aims to make data inaccessible while retaining usable equipment. The process needs to suit the device and produce a result that can be verified against the agreed outcome. A failed, inaccessible or damaged drive should be marked as an exception, not recorded as successfully erased. See our data erasure service and SSD comparison.
Physical destruction when media is retired
Destruction makes the data-bearing medium unusable. First identify the component that actually holds the data: an HDD in a desktop, an SSD in a laptop, a removable server drive or embedded storage. Agree whether the medium can be removed, what part will be destroyed and how the resulting batch will be counted. Our hard drive, SSD and other media pages cover different equipment.
Where degaussing fits
Degaussing is a magnetic-media technique. It is not a substitute for an SSD-specific method because flash storage is not magnetic recording. The suitability of a degaussing process depends on the particular magnetic media and equipment; ask for the process and verification details rather than assuming every tape or hard disk can be handled identically.
Agree the record before work begins
Keep an inventory of what was authorised for disposal and ask what transfer and completion evidence will be available. Decide whether batch counts, individual identifiers, witness arrangements or exceptions must be recorded. Our records guide explains how to reconcile the result.
Tell us the media types, counts, destination and postcode, and we will discuss a suitable available route. Ask about your batch.
Further reading: NIST SP 800-88 Revision 2, Guidelines for Media Sanitization.
Planning a data clearance?
Send your material, quantity and postcode, along with the records your organisation needs. We will confirm the available options for your job.