Data destruction is important for many industries. The level of destruction required for organizations will vary based on the sector, business needs, and equipment used. Disintegrators are popular in government agencies, financial institutions, healthcare operations, and other organizations processing confidential information on a regular basis.
Are you wondering if your organization needs a disintegrator? The Whitaker Brothers guide below can help you decide, and find the best disintegrator for your organization needs.
What does a disintegrator do?
Disintegrators destroy physical data storage systems, such as hard drives and CDs, by cutting them into small pieces. The ultra-fine particles are processed through a series of screens to ensure that they are small enough to prevent the recovery of data. Any pieces too large can be reprocessed so your data is secure.
Convenience is one of the most important factors for those buying disintegrators. Large organizations can destroy huge volumes of data quickly and efficiently on-site. This saves on the cost of hiring a third party to take the information off-site for destruction and guarantees that information is kept secure.
What types of materials can disintegrators destroy?
Paper and cardboard
One of the most common types of material to destroy is paper. Sensitive documents and paperwork should be destroyed to adhere to regulatory requirements, and a disintegrator makes it easy to destroy paper. Capable of processing large amounts at a time using a conveyor system, a disintegrator will break apart paper and cardboard so that information cannot be retrieved.
Multimedia
If your organization uses optical media to store information, you’ll need specialized equipment to effectively destroy it. Multimedia disintegrators, also known as optical media destroyers, are designed for this. With convenient slots for processing CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Rays, they have an average cycle time of 3 seconds per disc, depending on the brand. The automatic operation makes it easy to use. One of the reasons that optical media destroyers are so popular is that they are extremely portable, and adhere to security compliance standards.
Cash bills
When money is taken out of operation, it needs to be destroyed. Bills deemed unfit for use for the Federal Reserve’s standards, such as extremely worn or damaged notes, are shredded and destroyed. This prevents them from going back into operation, and ensures that only legal and legible tender is used. The money is then replaced by new, fresh bills. Some disintegrators are designed to process money.
Hard drives and solid-state drives
Even when data has been deleted from a hard disk drive (HDD) or solid-state drive (SSD), it can be retrieved or restored. This means that your sensitive information is vulnerable. A degausser can be used on a HDD to prevent data from being recovered, but this type of tool will not work on SSDs. This is why a disintegrator should be used instead. The disintegrator will break apart the HDD and SSDs into smaller pieces, making it challenging to retrieve data.
Why might businesses need to disintegrate data?
Process high-volumes of paper waste
Organizations with a high volume of paper waste will find that disintegrating the information will not only keep sensitive data secure, but also make it easier to dispose of waste. The paper waste can be transformed into paper rolls or blocks, and can be recycled with ease.
Break multimedia into recyclable pieces
A disintegrator will break down material into minuscule pieces, which can then be recycled. For environmentally-conscious organizations, this is the best choice, as the material can be repurposed while also keeping data secure.
Protect sensitive information
Deleting data is not enough to keep your information safe. It can still be retrieved, which is why a disintegrator should be used. These machines will break the data storage devices down into small pieces, making it difficult to retrieve information from them. This will help to keep your data secure.
Destroy data and meet regulatory requirements
Data protection regulatory bodies, such as The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), have specific requirements for data destruction. Following their specifications will ensure compliance and keep your data secure.
Whitaker Brothers' top picks for disintegrators
With more than 75 years of industry expertise, we know how important it is to get the best equipment for your needs. At Whitaker Brothers, we have extensive experience delivering data destruction equipment and disintegrators around the world. Here are some of our recommendations.
The portable optical media destroyer
Datastroyer is recognized as one of the data destruction industry leaders. The Datastroyer 303-DVD Optical Media Destroyer is one of the most popular picks for organizations looking for portable disintegration. Weighing just 15 lbs., and capable of processing an optical disc every 3 seconds, it is TAA and NIST SP 800-88 compliant.
GSA-listed disintegrator
Whitaker Brothers is proud to be an authorized GSA Advantage supplier, with a collection of GSA-listed disintegrators available to buy today. The Datastroyer DCS 100 Disintegrator is available with government pricing, so contact us for more information. This machine is approved for paper, keytape, and CDs/DVDs, with quiet operation of up to 85 dBA. It is relatively small in size, up to 40 ¾” in height, making it ideal for data destruction in smaller office spaces.
NSA-listed disintegrator
If you take data destruction seriously, you’ll find that our collection of NSA-listed disintegrators offers you everything you need. The Datastroyer DCS 600F Office Disintegrator has been NSA evaluated, and meets or exceeds NSA/CSS specifications 02-02 for paper and keytape destruction (Level 6), and 04-02 for optical media destruction. It can be used to destroy everything from keytape to CDs/DVDs, credit cards, and memory sticks.