Hard Drive Essay

E precise constancy has to underwrite complete privacy to its clients everyones confidentiality must be protected at all cost. The kick the bucketage of time makes no difference regardless of how practically time has passed the client still has authority over who is privy to their info. unconnected from it being a mere ethical concern, protection of private records is directly besides a law. This is easy to do when the reckoners argon being apply and functioning a hundred percent, but what just about when impudent information processors knock back the old? Computers atomic number 18nt simply sent off to the scrap clutch and landfills anymore, instead of that, those computers are being recycled.Old computers are usually replaced because of high performance demands, so in places much(prenominal) as banks, hospitals and other such organizations, the old computers are located to users with lesser performance demands. FNB Corp in Naples, with $7 billion-assets, does j ust that and John C. Klumpp, the operations and technology manager verifies it. We sign up several approaches. Newer systems are generally being purchased in areas where newer technology is unavoidable to support new functionality and the older systems are moved to areas where in that location is no demand for new functionality. (Jones, 2003)Computers are sometimes charge given to employees and there are several advantages to giving older computers to employees. It could bring about a certain degree of commitment and loyalty and if documented carefully it could also be used as a tax benefit. Personal computer used at homes are generally exchange off or donated to charity. According to Gartner Dataquest, about 150 used life-threatening drives were sold via auxiliary sales market last year. At the same time about 200 new hard drives were shipped. That thinks for every 10 new hard drives that enter the market, 7 used ones will be sold off. A nonable national organization that people should familiarize themselves with is the national Cristina Foundation). The charitys motto is Machines you flush toilet write off. People you cant. The Cristina group, started in 1985 by a computer expert and his daughters special education teacher, takes in outmoded personal computer technology, checks it out, and places it with train and educational organizations, without charge to donors or recipients.The organizations website, www. cristina. org, has an extensive enquire and answer section that covers such issues as tax benefits for donors. Retired computers pose certification risks. Computers used at home ask bank put forwardments, utility bills and til now pre-approved credit card requests, such vital in data formation if fallen into the unlawful hands could lead to identity theft, computers used in the medical industry can contain credit card numbers and medical biography and computers used in the finance sector could contain sensitive information which if leaked could lead to a substantial amount of loss.If the information from these computers is simply deleted and even if the hard discus is formatted, there are still ways of retrieving privileged information. Many people believe that formatting completely deletes data from the hard record book, the reason for this range from the message that appears on the screen which terra firmas that all data from drive C will be lost to what the word format implies. The data isnt really wiped off the hard disk with the meet tools all the data can be recovered. The two certified ways in which information is truly removed from hard drives are disk wiping and actual physical destruction of the hard disk.If a disk has to be wiped clean then the information should first be deleted then the disk should be overwritten with 1, then 0 and then 1. This ensures that the parcel package and data is truly unrecoverable. Programs which wipe the disk clean with this method are Disk Wipe, Eraser, Sure D elete and Norton Ghost. Physical destruction of the disk is not except very costly but also very difficult. It is only necessary when and if the level of data confidentiality required is very high. I is not acceptable to drill holes in a hard drive to physically destroy it, a popular method of physical destruction is degaussing. all in all these processes require funding and while this could be a good whim for those with computers at home, it is not a very logical decision for voluminous banks and firms. The hours, funds and staff required to do such jobs properly are more often than not, just not available. In such mass what is one to do? Many organizations turn to Hard Drive sanitation Companies, such establishments not only destroy the hardware or software in the hardware completely but also issue a certificate of destruction.One company that chose the Hard Drive Crusher was Goodwill gray California (GSC), which operates 46 retail stores, 39 attended donation centers, three campuses and 18 workforce/training centers in the counties of Los Angeles. The organization was worried about liabilities associated with the information stored in thousands of PCs donated to the charity each month. Goodwill wanted an environmentally friendly solution that also guaranteed data destruction. The key problem with such organizations is that they withstand to be extremely trust-worthy, or the purpose of destroying the drives is completely pointless. They prolong to come recommend by someone who themselves are very accredited and banks and such other organizations hesitate in handing over hard drives with very sensitive information to complete strangers. Retired computers not only pose aegis risks but are great environmental risk too. California, Massachusetts, and Minnesota have already outlawed the disposal of computer waste in landfills in 2003 alone, 23 states initiated legislation to address the mounting problem of computer waste. (Meller, Ella, and Young)The n onprofit organization National Safety Council based in Itasca, Illinois, estimates that 20. 6 million scope computers became obsolete in 1998, and about a quarter were simply impel away. These dumped electronics can pose environmental hazards. (http//www. ehponline. org/docs/2000/108-9/forum. html) The average CRT (the leaded water ice picture tube inside the monitor or television) contains 5-8 pounds of lead. Although the updated regulations focus on CRTs, Massachusetts environmental officials expect people to recycle their entire computers.recycle the complete unit will eliminate further potential environmental hazards since a computers circuit board may contain other alloys besides lead, such as cadmium. (Greene, 2000) Hard Drives been identified by the Environmental Protection Agency as hazardous waste as they contain this metal. Some other states are also beginning to acquire the problem of electronics dumping. In California, for example, residents of San Josethe heart of Silicon Valleyare back up to dump their outdated hard drives into curbside cycle containers along with the usual moldable milk jugs and metal soup cans.A proper disposal picture should be made to ensure that organizations dont beget themselves in violation of the RCRA. The main tow facts to be considered when disposing computer are what state laws are in place to deal with the proper disposal of computer equipment in accordance with the Environmental Protection Agency and what are the state laws with regard to the data privacy. (29 states have environmental laws and 20 states have data privacy laws). Organizations should realize that when they store computers to be later used, they are squander time.Those computers will probably never be used again and in the mean time their market value will probably be diminished. So if they have selling the equipment in mind it should be make as soon as possible and if not the proper methods of recycling should be investigated. Eric Malmg ren, the information systems officer for The Bank of Lancaster, ($261 million-assets) in Kilmarnock says, The Information Systems division has disposed of PCs from time to time. When I say disposed of, I mean weve just taken them out of circulation.We have not actually propel them in a dumpster. They are stored at my location until I find a recycler to take them so they dont wind up in a landfill. (Jones, 2003) Some recyclers are very environment conscience, they pass the drives through shredders exposing it to very powerful permanent magnets, and then the particles are accumulate after each shredding. They are weighed and place in large credit card recycling containers, which are then sealed and transferred to metal refineries for smelting, base metal recovery and such.