Data wiping and destruction

Deleting your files does not delete your files

The single most important thing on this page.

When you delete a file (and even when you empty the Recycle Bin), the data is still physically on the drive. All that’s changed is that the space is marked reusable. Until something overwrites it, the file is recoverable, with free software, by anyone, in minutes.

Formatting is usually no better: a quick format wipes the index, not the contents.

This is how people end up with their tax records, client databases and family photos in the hands of whoever bought their old computer. It’s common, and it’s entirely avoidable.

What we do

Every device that comes to us has its data professionally wiped using industry-standard software that meets Australian privacy standards, before it is tested, graded, or put on a shelf.

Certificates of data destruction

Business customers can request a certificate of data destruction.

If you’re an organisation, you likely need one. Under the Privacy Act, you must take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information you no longer need, and “we gave the old laptops to a bloke” is not a step you can evidence to a regulator, an insurer, or a client.

A certificate gives you a documented record that the data on specific drives was destroyed. Ask us for one when you hand equipment over. Don’t wait until afterwards.

Placeholder: confirm

Worth stating explicitly here: the standard you wipe to (if you certify to a recognised one such as NIST SP 800-88, name it), whether certificates are free or charged, and whether they’re itemised by serial number.

Business and government buyers make purchasing decisions on exactly this. Being specific wins work that vagueness loses, but only claim what you actually do, because this is the claim most likely to be tested.

Wiping a computer yourself

If you’d rather not hand over a drive with data on it at all, wipe it first.

Windows 10/11: Settings → System → Recovery → Reset this PC → Remove everything → and critically, when asked, choose “Clean data” (sometimes worded “Fully clean the drive”). That option is the one that actually overwrites the data. It takes hours rather than minutes; that’s the point. The quick option is not secure.

Make certain you have your files off first. This is irreversible. See Transferring your files.

If the computer won’t turn on

You can’t wipe a drive from an operating system that won’t start, but the data on it is still perfectly readable to anyone who takes the drive out. A dead computer is not a safe computer.

Bring it to us and we’ll deal with the drive properly.

The cautious option

Entirely reasonable, and we’re happy to accommodate it: keep the drive.

Ask us to remove it and hand it back, and dispose of it yourself. You lose a little trade-in value, since the machine is then incomplete, and you gain the certainty of never having handed your data to anyone at all.

For some businesses that trade is obviously worth it. Just tell us up front.