Disposing of your devices

The day will come when your device has become old enough to be considered outdated, it no longer works properly or has failed and needs replacing. Before taking it to a recycling facility or giving it to someone else, it is prudent to remove all the data it contains – sensitive or not.

 

Why is this an issue?

Because failure to do so allows someone else to misuse your data, particularly if it is “interesting” as it may contain recorded passwords for your e-mail or other accounts, financial details and, most importantly corporate information about your place of employment.

 

What you should do about it

If the device has failed beyond the point that it can be repaired, physical destruction is advisable. If it has a physical hard disk, remove it and take a large hammer to it or saw it in half. If it contains solid-state memory “chips”, remove them and break them or burn them.

 

If the device is just “old” and still works, uninstall all licensed software and remove all the data. Recycle it if at all possible as it contains valuable materials in short supply.

 

BEWARE: using the “delete” key does not actually remove the data – it just makes available storage space for other data to overwrite it. This allows someone with a little knowledge and some tools to recover what you thought was “deleted”.

 

A better way of removing the data is to use software designed for this purpose with names such as “Erase” or “Shred”. Several anti-virus products include such a feature.