Degaussing is a highly involved and precise process that is used to removed data from a device such as a hard drive, cassette tapes, diskettes, film reels, and other electronic storage devices. It uses a super high powered electro-magnet to clear the data off the device. When it is exposed to the magnetic field in the degaussing machine, all magnetic data that has been stored on the device is erased or even neutralized in some cases. Degaussing is one of the few guaranteed ways to ensure your data has been truly deleted and cannot be accessed, uploaded, read, or copied in any way. Using a degausser will assure you that your private information cannot be used against you.
How Does Degaussing Erase Hard Drive Data?
To understand the process of hard drive degaussing, it is important to know how information gets recorded onto these storage devices, like a computer’s hard drive. From the 1920s on, Magnetic media has been present and has been used in many different types of technology. Magnetic tape, which is what the data is stored upon, consists of 3 components which are powder that has been produced from metal iron oxide, a binder substance of some sort, and finally we have the film backing. The first and most simplistic of the recording devices was the tape recorder. When you are making a recording onto the tape, a mild magnetic field is generated, which in turns changes where the fine iron oxide powder is on the strip and it is this rearranging that makes the recoding data into visible patterns on the tape. The patter is read with playback heads before being changed into a feedback we can understand- sound, video, or computer data. Hard drives and other storage devices function in basically the same way.
Get Help for Your Hard Drive Degaussing Needs
A degausser works to protect your data by creating a very strong a magnetic field that is so powerful that it permanently rearranges the pattern made in the oxide powder on the tape. Its like having nice rows of tiny blocks and then shaking them all up so they are completely scatters and randomized. There is no way to reassemble them the way they were and so they cannot be read. If you need your hard drives or other system storage devices cleared before disposal, call EPE Components today and let take care of your degaussing needs!
