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For the guys that do the larger scale computer recycling, do any of you have any recommendations for a hard drive shredder. I'm looking for a small one at this time, one that would probably never seem more than a few hundred drives a month.
Hoping that if I were to add this service, I could land some of the bigger companies / organizations that need to make sure that their hard drives are properly destroyed.
Thank you.
I have been looking for a mobile shear for HDs. So I'm all ears if you hear something about that too
Someone on here was using a modified wood splitter. About a year ago,,,
all the shredders I have looked at were NOT cheap...I also checked on a degausser and MAN they were pretty **** expensive as well. I know alot of places want drives shredded, BUT you can also do data destruction with some software out there that provides a COD (certificate of destruction) that is satisfactory for HIPPA and other regulations. You can actually wipe to NSA standards (up to 7 passes) and Hippa only requires Department of Defense (3 passes)...this might be a good way to at least provide the service and get started.....the other options run from about $3K-10K to get either a degausser or a shredder....
There are a couple of threads I participated in on the data destruction...you might search for those and read through them....will get you up to speed pretty quickly.
Good luck!
Actually I had a go at this...after reading about using a log splitter, first the small home splitters are not strong enough, the 20 ton splitter needed a jig (Read block that allowed the drive to be bent enough to break through it) to properly split the drive. DO NOT put them in thin ways, put them in upright on their side top of drive facing wedge, let her rip and keep going. I found I could do two at a time and managed to go through all 6 buckets of drives in about an hour. My grandfather on the other hand was a bit upset that I was splitting metal with his new wood splitter...
Also I've had a go and simply firing up the oxy-acetylene torch and burning a hole through each...this proved incredibly time consuming.
For maximum returns and because I've become so good at it I simply break the hard drives down into their components...aluminum is up enough where I live that not doing this is wasting perfectly good money. It takes about a minute to totally tear down a drive with two $99.00 screwguns and 10 bucks worth of torx bits. When you come to the drives with the split ring mounts, smash those and sell em as breakage. For what it's worth EVERY drive has about 3/4 lb of aluminum...so for that whole minute you spent your return is already 50 cents or so, factor in the readers, platters, boards and magnets and you can see why I do what I do. Shredding is for people who would rather PAY for a device that throws perfectly good money away.
HD shredders run at a minimum of $4000.00 and go up from there. The companies that have them charge an a average of $10 per hard drive to shred them.
army,
You're method sounds fun, but does not destroy the platters that contains the information that companies and some people need and want to stay confidential
Once the platter has been removed from the drive it just isn't feasible to recover information from it.
You would need to know what brand of hard drive,what model, the date of manufacture, and which firmware edition the platter came from in order to install it into a donor drive. Not to mention .... this all has to be done in a cleanroom. Just a few specs of dust can put so many bad sectors on a platter that it becomes unreadable.
Scrappah,Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrappah
That might be true, but when dealing with the types of companies that I'm trying to land for E-waste, it just won't fly. Hospitals and doctors have HIPPA regulations to worry about, financial institutes deal with significant sums of money and other companies deal with confidential government information. All of these companies pay to have hard drives shredded. They won't just let anybody take there hard drives home under the assumption that they will be taken apart and sufficiently destroyed.
I completely agree ! If you're dealing with the big boys you have to work to their standard of expectations.
Here's where it gets weird. You take the drives "off site" to your home -or- shop and instead of dismantling them you run em' through a shredder and issue a report. This all hinges on the integrity of the service provider.
Wouldn't it be better to do the HDD destruction on site in front of one of their appointed representatives ? That way there's absolutely no question about the chain of custody.
Seems like it would be a whole lot easier to destroy a platter than it would be an entire HDD. A portable oxy acetylene rig with a cherry blossom would melt it into a puddle in no time. Setup cost for the equipment and tank lease would be under 1,500.00 USD.
Have you ever seen a sheet metal shear like what they use in metal working shops ? Something like that would shear the platters into halves and quarters.
Seems like a bearing press could be used to fold the platters in half with the right jig.
Is there any way to lease a shredding machine ? I've known some businesses to lease their specialty equipment when a direct buy wasn't an option.
Why not cut them in half with a jigsaw?
Edit: If your cutting them whole you might want to take some precautions against the dust. That kind of dust can be hazardous. Maybe one of these.
Edit again: Or maybe one of these would be better.
a small shredding machine that could be rolled into an enclosed trailer or box truck is all I'm looking for.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrappah
Maybe a lease or finance would be your best option.
For whatever it's worth ... i just cut a platter into pieces with a pair of tin snips.
That was what I was saying in my post above and the other person also mentioned....the SMALL ones run $4K (the ones that can go in a truck) all the way up to a large (read: FASTER) one that is $10-12K+....they are just expensive machines....look for a lease on one maybe or take the suggestion I also gave you to do DATA DESTRUCTION via software that COMPLIES with HIPPA...the data is basically unrecoverable on a 5 pass and even the NSA agrees that 7 passes is good enough for them....now be prepared...5-7 passes TAKES some time...ie you need to build/buy a multiple hard drive server (there is thread on this too) with a fast enough multicore processor and a bunch of ram....will run you about $1500-2K NEW and you can do about 10 drives at a time....you just run them overnight and the software will spit out a certificate of destruction that you give to the business for their records (the COD gives the serial of the hard drive along with some other info, how many passes etc happened and the results).Quote:
Originally Posted by mthomasdev
That should give you all the BASIC/STARTER info you need for the various methods of getting into the data destruction / hard drive shredding business...
If someone is truly interested, here is an affordable option. Supply your own box truck or inclosed trailer and supply your own generator to cut the starting price down some more.
ameri-shred is the company
Actually the log splitter mangles the heck out of the platters...often in two pieces and lots of jagged edges.
Mech,Quote:
Originally Posted by Mechanic688
the link brings me back to the start of the thread.
I think I saw what you were talking about last night, but would appreciate the link. Thank you.
This shredder is on ebay and is pretty cheap. Scrap Pulverizer Shredder Hammer Mill | eBay
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. ;)
I agree, the law reads vague to me as well. I do not offer the destruction service at this time. I imagine the need is to come up to the standards set by the customer's liability insurance company's standard.
Anyone have experience dealing with medical related businesses? Mike
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.
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.
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.
I have one of these:
http://www.ironworkerstool.com/v/vsp...ng%20E30-2.jpg
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.
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrappah
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.
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 ?
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.
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.