Storage & Drives
Recycling
Storage drive recycling handles the secure destruction and material recovery of hard disk drives (HDDs), solid state drives (SSDs), tape drives, optical drives, and external storage devices — with NIST 800-88 compliant data destruction as the mandatory first step.
Data Security Warning
Storage drives are the highest-risk component in any electronics recycling stream. Every drive — HDD, SSD, tape, flash — contains potentially recoverable data until properly destroyed. We offer three NIST 800-88 destruction levels: Clear (software overwrite for drive reuse), Purge (degaussing for HDDs or cryptographic erase for SEDs), and Destroy (physical shredding). Certificate of Destruction per drive with serial number, method, and date.
What We Accept
All items processed through certified facilities with full documentation.
Get a Quote arrow_forwardRecycling Process
Intake & Logging
Every drive logged by serial number, capacity, and type. Chain-of-custody documented from your facility to ours.
Destruction Method
Based on your security requirements: software overwrite (NIST Clear), degaussing (NIST Purge — HDDs only), or physical shredding (NIST Destroy — all drive types).
Verification
Software-wiped drives verified via read-back. Degaussed drives tested with field meter. Shredded drives reduced to particles below data recovery threshold.
Material Recovery
Destroyed drives yield aluminum platters, rare earth magnets (neodymium), circuit boards with precious metals, and steel housings.
Related Services
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Storage & Drives Questions
Common questions about storage & drives recycling.
Back to Electronics arrow_forwardYes. Standard formatting only removes the file system index — data remains on the platters and is recoverable with forensic tools. Even a "full format" doesn't overwrite all sectors. NIST 800-88 compliant destruction is required for actual data elimination.
No. Degaussing only works on magnetic media (HDDs and tapes). SSDs use flash memory chips that are not affected by magnetic fields. SSDs require cryptographic erasure (for self-encrypting drives) or physical shredding.
Clear: logical overwrite — data unrecoverable by standard tools, drive reusable. Purge: degaussing or cryptographic erase — data unrecoverable by laboratory techniques, drive may not be reusable. Destroy: physical shredding — media reduced to particles, no recovery possible under any circumstances.
Yes. Our mobile shredding trucks come to your location. Drives are destroyed on premises while you watch. Certificates of Destruction issued before our truck departs. Ideal for highest-security environments.
HDDs contain: aluminum platters, rare earth neodymium magnets (valuable), circuit boards with gold/silver, steel housings, and copper windings. SSDs contain circuit boards with precious metals and NAND flash chips with trace metals.
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