Destroy a Hard Drive

If you want to destroy your hard drive, we recommend that you never simply throw it away. First and foremost, it’s important to ensure that the data is professionally destroyed. Even if you’ve deleted the data yourself, it’s important to turn in the hard drive to a recycling company like KH Metals. That way, valuable raw materials can be recovered. In addition to destroying hard drives, we’re also open daily to accept old laptops, old phones, scrap metal, and old circuit boards.

The best way to destroy a hard drive is to shred it using a shredder designed for that purpose. A more sustainable option for newer hard drives and SSDs is to erase the data so that the drive can be reused without the risk of a data breach. KH Metals offers both services.

Do you want to be sure your data won’t end up in the wrong hands? Our shredder reduces data storage media to a particle size that meets security level H-5 of the DIN 66399 standard. Since that standard covers more than just particle size, we do not claim to operate in full compliance with DIN 66399. However, our closed-loop process guarantees the integrity of your data, from pickup to destruction.

There are certainly ways for private individuals to destroy their own hard drive(s). For example, by drilling a few holes in it or by grinding the hard drive down. We strongly advise against this for businesses, as it is very time-consuming, can sometimes be dangerous, and because you will have no proof of proper destruction afterward.

No, formatting a hard drive does not destroy the data. It simply removes the references to where the data is stored. Think of it as tearing out the table of contents from a book. Our software is capable of truly destroying data. It’s therefore not surprising that wiping a hard drive with our software takes up to twelve hours or longer, while formatting takes only a few minutes.

No, we do not recommend destroying data through degaussing. Degaussing generates a very strong magnetic field that is supposed to erase the data on the hard drive. However, unlike wiping or shredding, there is no way to verify whether the data has actually been erased. With shredding, this is clearly visible to the naked eye, and our wipe software automatically verifies whether a disk has been successfully wiped.

Yes, this is possible, but only for larger quantities of hard drives. If the hard drives are not allowed to leave the premises, we can come to the business park with our mobile shredder.