10-01 Disposal of Computer hardware Including Disk Drives

Policy # : 10-01

Effective: December 1, 2010

Revised: November 11, 2011

Section: Security

Subject: Safe and Secure Disposal of Computer Hardware

PURPOSE

To describe the procedure followed by Information Systems and Services (ISS) staff when preparing computer hardware for safe and secure disposal.

POLICY APPLIES TO

All members of ISS staff performing PC service work and all computers and computer related hardware used in the College of Health and Human Development (CHHD)

POLICY

If a computer’s hard drive is in working order, and of reasonable, usable size, it will be sent to Penn State’s Lion Surplus. The drive will be securely formatted using the software program DBAN before leaving CHHD.

If for any reason a hard drive needs to be destroyed before being sent to Lion Surplus, the hard drive will be physically destroyed by ISS making data recovery impossible. We will then dispose of the drive in an environmentally friendly way.

All other computer hardware components that are not part of a repurposed unit will be evaluated by ISS for use as spare parts. If a piece of hardware is deemed worthy of keeping it will be put in ISS’s spare parts inventory. All other components will be sent to Lion Surplus.