Before we collect from you, we encourage you to make sure all your data has been removed from any computers – desktops, laptops, servers, etc – and in particular, removable storage media such as:
- CDs and DVDs
- Floppy Diskettes
- Tapes
- Memory Sticks
- SD Cards
- SIM Cards
For your own protection, if we do find any removable media, we will of course destroy it, but we are mindful that the data that we’re destroying may be important to you.
We do, however, expect to find permanently installed storage media such as:
- Hard Disk Drives
- Solid State Drives (SATA and NVMe)
Safe Recycling will make the assumption that all of these devices may potentially contain data and will be treated accordingly. This means that the data is either removed, or for all practical purposes the storage device rendered unreadable.
Mobile Phones
A special mention about Mobile Phones, Smart Phones, Tablets and similar devices…
***Please can you try and make sure all User Logins have been removed before we collect!
If not, we may be unable to completely wipe all the data from the device using the ‘factory reset’ command. If this is the case, we will almost certainly have no option but to destroy the phone to prevent any user data from being accessed.
The manufacturers will not allow Safe Recycling to ‘factory reset’ the device if there is a login request present. The assumption will be that the device has been acquired in suspicious circumstances…in other words, stolen.
You may of course wish to carry out the factory reset yourselves. If you need further advice on this subject, please don’t hesitate to contact us.