Our data wiping policy
When your IT equipment is collected each item is given a unique asset code so it can be tracked from the start to the end of its journey. Our operation takes it from donation site through to our secure warehouse, handled solely by our security cleared staff. After a clean and function test, all memory devices (hard drives etc.) are data wiped using approved software. Our preferred software is EBAN but where requested we can use Blancco (only by pre-arrangement please contact our collections team). The software securely and completely erases and overwrites all data on the computers so that it is totally unrecoverable, even by forensic software.EBAN and Blancco erase both internal and portable drives and are Department of Defense approved.
More information about standards can be found here:
http://articles.techrepubilc.com.com/5100-10878_11-5669904html
http://analysisandreview.com/computer-hardware/how-to-erase-your-hard-drive
We recommend that donors clear data from their PCs using secure data wiping software prior to donation for their own peace of mind, alternatively we can also issue certificate of data destruction (for a small administrative fee). Any hard drives that cannot be fully data wiped for whatever reason (surface errors, other faults causing the data wipe to fail) will be destroyed and recycled, and a certificate of destruction obtained.
Do it yourself - There is a Free tool for data wiping
A free program called DBAN is very suitable for data wiping your computer. Please note that all data on your computer's hard drive(s) will be lost once you run the program on it. Please ensure that you backup all of your data before you DBAN your computer. You should also always test your backup.You can find more information on using DBAN here.
