3 Things You Can Do to Ensure Your Data Can’t be Recovered During Recycling

ProTek Recycling takes your security very seriously when it comes to electronics recycling. To help with this, we offer Data Destruction services to maintain that all of your sensitive information and files are really wiped clean from your drives. This way, there’s no chance that any of your files and data can end up in the wrong hands!

Although you can always trust that you are in good hands with ProTek, there are still some additional steps you can take to wipe your data clean before bringing in your electronics for recycling, if you prefer.

• Use a disk-wiping tool. You can use a disk-wiping tool (such as DBAN), to wipe your drives clean of files and data. The existing files on your drives will be replaced with junk data. Once this is complete, you can then dispose of your computer. NOTE: If you still want the computer to be usable, just reinstall your operating system after the data is wiped!
• Reset your computer to factory settings. If you have Windows 8 or newer, there is a built-in feature that allows you to wipe your drives clean and returns your computer to its factory settings. When doing this process, be sure to select the “fully clean the drive” option. After this process is complete, your computer will not be able to recover any of your files.
• Do a “Full Format” for external hard drives. To erase data from external hard drives, connect the drive to your computer and perform a “full format.” Doing so will erase all data from the hard drive while changing the file system. This process works differently for different operating systems. You can learn more about quick format vs full format for new external hard drives.

If you try any of these tips, be sure to check your work by trying to recover files. Although your data will still be safe when you turn everything over to ProTek, you’ll at least want to know if it was done correctly for future reference!

Whether or not you complete any of these steps before you recycle your electronics with ProTek will not have any affect on our Data Destruction process. We will still ensure that your data is safe, and that’s our promise to you!