Hard drive shredder

**Swampy** · 07-11-2014, 04:09 PM

I tried our local hospital which is affiliated with a much larger outfit in Atlanta and was quickly told they have a contract with a certified service that handled all of their recycling due to the fact that there was so much sensitive data. Apparently this company handles their recycling "A-Z". The only doctor's office I contacted told me pretty much the same thing. I did speak with a lady at an eye doctor's office who seemed open to the concept, but as of yet no calls (though I do need to follow back up) - I suspect the answer will be the same once she speaks with someone up the line.

I was able to get a couple of things from a local law office, but I knew the attorney well and he was comfortable with me destroying hard drives (which I did). I suspect law firms use the same types of services, as well as banks.

That seems a tough market to crack, justifiably so given the state of the world these days, without the right equipment and certifications.

**Mechanic688** · 07-11-2014, 04:41 PM

I know of one scrapper that used a heavy duty office paper shredder and would run the platters thru it, they are made from alum.

**Scrappah** · 07-11-2014, 04:58 PM

I've got some indirect experience. I worked at a healthcare facility for about six years. Most of my present customers are high end ... some are doctors. If there's anything that i've learned about " the suits " is that for the most part they're not very tech savvy. The suits at the insurance companies are even worse. LOL ... i had one that tried to repair a broken light switch by oiling it !

That doesn't mean that you should be a jerk about it. It just means that they're trusting you to know what you're doing and to treat them fairly because as smart as they are they don't have a clue about some things.

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There's something that i read at the HIPPA website. It said: Don't over think it !

If you put your mind to it you can come up with all kinds of scenarios and reasons for why it has to be complicated.

The task is simple .... effectively destroy the data. If no confidential information is released then it's not a problem.

It's only when you didn't do your job and information is released that the government gets involved.

**auminer** · 07-11-2014, 05:14 PM

I have one of these:

Three or four whacks with the pointy end of it has satisfied anyone I've ever had ask me to destroy their HD. Especially laptop HDs! One whack & a glass laptop platter will turn to glitterdust.

**manchvegassalvage** · 07-11-2014, 05:34 PM

Originally Posted by Scrappah

I'm just throwing something out there for everyone's consideration.

First off: This is a link to the HIPPA law. ( It's pretty vague )

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-201...sec164-310.pdf

Secondly: The mindset seems to be that you have to spend all kinds of money and buy a machine to do good data destruction. Why not step back and re-think this ?

All you would have to do to meet the HIPPA standard of hard drive destruction is the following:

A: Remove hard drive

B: Remove front cover of hard drive

C: Snip the reader arm away with a pair of wire cutters

D: Remove the platter(s)

E: Cut the platters into quarters with a pair of tin snips.(It's no more difficult than cutting up a credit card.)

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Someone just starting out could get into data destruction with an investment of under fifty dollars. As you make money with it re-invest the profits into buying better tools & machinery. That way you won't have to pay tax on your income.

Just don't let your customer see how easy it is.

We get orders to destroy 500+ drives all the time so that is why we shred them. ALL government contracts mandate that you shred them to a certain size ( Cant remember I will have to look at my paperwork) . I will also say this companies that like to pay for their data to be destroyed also like to see professional standards and also like to pay extra for the option to watch live streaming video of their drives being shredded. Our shredder paid for itself in about 6 months time.

**BRASSCATCHER** · 07-11-2014, 05:48 PM

The large businesses, hospitals etc pay for the service because the cost of destruction in relation to a lawsuit is miniscule. They put the burden of destruction and protecting information on the ewaste company. Its a tough part of the business to get into. The only other way would be to offer on site destruction, but who is going to sit and watch someone drill,hammer or disassemble their hard drives. I dont think even doing it for free would get you in the door. The people in charge want it done properly and they want the liability on someone else.

**Scrappah** · 07-11-2014, 06:21 PM

So really ... it's all about scale. If you're doing 500 hard drives at a time then you need a machine sized to the job so that you can do the job efficiently.

Also .... if you're playing with the big boys, and they have a standard that they've given you to work by, then you do the job to that specification.

Just curious ... did you start out big -or- did you gradually build up to it over a number of years ?

The reason i asked is that it appears that the large scale stuff is mostly locked up. Timing is everything. If you're jumping in now you're probably late to the party.

What about on a smaller scale ? Maybe it's one of those services that a small computer repair shop or e-waste company could offer to individuals & small businesses ?

**webuyselltradestuff** · 07-12-2014, 02:05 PM

the smaller scale stuff is wide open...$20 to wipe the hard drive to "better than department of defense" standards is usually good enough language for just about everyone....AND by doing so, you save the hard drive and it can be resold to recoop more $$$. And yes, before someone pipes up about liability this and that... GET FRIGGING insurance guys....they have insurance for this sort of thing.....use pro software (decent ones can run as little at $75-100) and PROVIDE copies of the COD (cert of destruction) to the person (you can email it to them) and keep a copy for however long your insurance company like (like 3 years) digitally.

The issue with a larger company is this...like what was said...the $100K MIN fine for data breach (and that can go up into the millions) is SO much of a weight, they just pay to have the drive destroyed (shredded)....the big companies that do that have a STRICT chain of command for the drives (like locked boxes with serials that are tracked to the facility, pictures or video of the drive serial and it going into the shredder etc....AND they have some HUGE liability insurance policies. The reason it is SO hard to get into that level of business is the sheer cost of ALL of that stuff combined....ie for major hospital, doctor practices etc accounts.

I would go the consumer route and actually will probably start offering the service in the next few months myself....I get ALOT of people that worry about their drives, so take care of the issue and then resell the hardware and get paid on both ends.

**bcrepurposing** · 07-12-2014, 02:28 PM

i get about 35 each and use a oxy acetilene torch.

i have done a few for businesses in the past. a couple even asked to have the slag polished and use them as conversation pieces and paper weights.

throw it on half dozen fire bricks in thier parking lot and melt it down. would have to double check but i think my torch uses a #1 tip. if you want to be unique i guess you could bring a crucible and cast it to something for them...

the fact they can record the event, it never leave sight resolves alot of questions about integrity and paper work.

if you can recover the data out of my slag piles i leave i will happily pay the premium jump for a claim on my insurance.