SSD Shredding

Unique requirements for NAND technology.

SSDs are a different shredding use case to HDDs and Tapes. SSDs use exceedingly small NAND flash memory chips to store data. Unlike HDDs, SSDs have no moving parts, resulting in faster access times, improved durability, and energy efficiency.

Their popularity has surged due to these advantages and increasingly more SSDs are now being deployed. The challenge with SSD technology is that the data storing chips are exceedingly small.

This means that you need to cut the SSDs into exceedingly small pieces to ensure that no data bearing chips slip through the net.

Talk to us about SSD Shredding

Secure ITAD Offer:

  • In-house designed, bespoke made, state-of-the-art shredders
  • The only shredders approved by ADISA to cut to 2mm particulate size which is required for NAND technology
  • Mobile solutions that are power self-sufficient
  • At your facility or Off-site at our Secure Facilities
  • Equipment Asset listed and Certificates of Destruction provided

SSD Technology

With SSD technology, specialised shredders cut drives into tiny pieces, meaning that it is not possible to recover data from the individual chips. Once shredded, it is also not possible to put the pieces back together to get at the data!

Shredding works well for SSDs but there are some limitations and considerations.

Our Shredders

At Secure ITAD we have our own designed and custom-built SSD shredders. Our shredders are portable and can be loaded onto the back of a van. This allows us to access a lot more sites that have limitations on height and width.

Most other ITAD companies will use off-the-shelf Shredders that require large vehicles to transport and therefore are restricted in the access capability. If you engage with a reputable ITAD company they will work with you to ensure that access to your site is possible if you need on-site shredding.

For SSDs with NAND technology, anything other than 2mm shredding does not provide guarantee that all the NANDs will be destroyed. Secure ITAD are a leading exponent of the 2mm shred and are the only UK company with an ADISA (an industry accreditation scheme) certified shredder to cut to 2mm particulate.

Advantages

The obvious advantages of disk shredding are that it is highly effective and is completely irreversible. Once the disk is shredded it is gone. There is a lot of discussion in the ITAD industry about whether shredding is environmentally effective.

While Data Erasure, another option but not as complete as shredding, means that the disk can be re-used, shredding does not mean that the particulates go to landfill.

Good ITAD companies will work with accredited recycling companies so that the material can be processed and reused where possible.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are my shredding options?

Options are available for all requirements and budgets. For SSDs, the recommendation is to shred down to 2mm particulate so that all of the chips are destroyed and no data can be recovered.

What happens to the shredded material?

All the residue from the shredding will be sent to our Certified downstream partners for ethical recycling. The residue will be smelted down and any recyclable materials will be extracted and reused.

HDDs (Hard disk drives) have rotating platters on which the data is stored. Shredding these down to 19mm or smaller will mean that the particulates cannot be put back together so data retrieval is not possible.

SSDs (Static State Drives) do not have moving platters. Instead, the data resides on small NAND chips so we recommend shredding SSDs down to 2mm particulates.