Just a quick guide for getting rid of old data:

Overwrite it

Deleting files and folders before disposing of a hard drive does not delete the data, drives need to be cleaned and reformatted, best contact an expert such as Secure Data Recycling

Smash it Up

Seem obvious, just take a hammer to a hard drive, but data can still be retrieved from partially smashed hard drives, our advice is pass the old drive to a company such as Secure Data Recycling and shred the whole drive!

Demagnetise it

Placing a big magnet next to a hard drive, does nothing. You need proper and often expensive demagnetising, or degaussing equipment. This works on hard drives as the data is stored by changing the magnetic alignment of areas of the disc platters, known as magnetic domains.

This is a service offered by Secure Data Recycling

Disc Destruction

As with Smashing up the complete drive, simply scratching a disc or cutting it in half still puts you at risk. Your old disc needs to be fed into an industrial shredder such as those in operation at Secure Data Recycling.

Purge Your Printer

Oh and don’t forget your printer, many office printers have internal hard drives, it is all to easy just to focus on the PC’s.  Data is stored everywhere and criminals know this, so again…don’t forget the printer