Many of us wouldn't think twice before recycling a broken copy machine, cell phone, or video game system, but these days that could be dangerous. These devices, and many others, have quietly evolved into multi-tasking power houses, and while that can be great for productivity, it also means that some of them now contain hard drives that are fully capable of storing your personal information. Any device, broken or not that contains a hard drive must be given careful consideration before it is disposed or reused. It is important that all hard drives be securely destroyed to be considered safe. It is a common myth, believed by many, that if you delete your files they cannot be accessed anymore. Truth is, computer savvy individuals can still access data even after it has been seemingly erased from a hard drive.
Recently a company in the healthcare industry found this out when it was revealed that a used copy machine they had sold to a cable network still contained files of more than 20,000 copies that they had made of private medical records.
The only way to make sure devices that contain hard drives are safely destroyed is to physically destroy them. The punch method which is done by punching a hole through the disk or disk has been shown to be less reliable. At AMS Store and Shred, LLC we physically destroy the entire hard drive by shredding it. Our method eliminates the risk that your data will be stolen and protects you against any compliance violations.