How to destroy old backups

Much of the emphasis in the data backup world revolves around recovering data, but what about data you want to destroy rather than recover?

You don't want to just dump tape cartridges or disk in the trash. That's not green, and it may cause legal problems if the media contains personal information such as social security numbers. But there are environmentally friendly options for destroying backup media, whether it's tape or disk. There are also software programs that will overwrite data, and there is degaussing, which exposes the media to a powerful magnetic field and wipes out all of the data. Another option is to send your tapes to a company that offers tape destruction services.

According to a June 2009 research report by the Enterprise Strategy Group called "Protecting Confidential Data Revisited," 53% of large enterprises surveyed used "brute-force" methods, such as physically destroying their disk drives and tapes. Other enterprises used data destruction software (35%) and homegrown tools and processes (25%). But whatever method they chose, 82% of respondents said they have formal policies and procedures in place for data destruction of storage media.

Green data destruction

Russ Fellows, senior analyst with the Evaluator Group, considers destroying data with a degausser the greenest method for data destruction.

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Source: searchstorage.techtarget..com.au
By: Heather Darcy