Data handling
Data on old computers: what to know before pickup
Plain information about what we do and don't offer, so you can decide what to do with your own drives.
East Tennessee E-Waste does not currently offer certified data destruction, and we do not issue certificates of data destruction or sanitization. Please don't rely on us to meet any legal, regulatory or contractual data-disposal requirement.
We expect to receive drives
Computers, laptops, servers and some network equipment contain hard drives, SSDs or other storage that may hold personal or business information. Our work includes testing equipment for reuse and dismantling what can't be reused, so storage devices will pass through our hands unless you remove them first.
If your data is sensitive, remove the drives first
If a device holds information you wouldn't want anyone else to see — financial records, client or patient files, passwords, personal documents — the safest step is to remove the storage drives before pickup and keep or destroy them yourself. Tell us in your request that the drives have been removed.
- Back up anything you want to keep before you hand equipment over.
- Sign out of accounts and, where possible, deregister the device.
- Businesses with legal, regulatory or contractual data obligations should handle drive destruction according to those requirements, using a provider that can document it.
Not sure what's on a device?
Say so in your pickup request — the form asks whether devices contain hard drives or SSDs, and “Unsure” is a fine answer. We will talk it through with you before pickup.
Where we're headed
We intend to develop formal data handling procedures — such as drive wiping, equipment inventory and documented destruction — as our commercial services mature. We will describe those services here only once they actually exist.
Have electronics you need to get rid of?
Tell us what you have and where it is. We will confirm what we can take and arrange a pickup time.