Best Disposal Methods for Destroying Hard Drives Containing PII

A.

Given the sensitive nature of the data on the hard drives, it is crucial to dispose of them in a secure and responsible manner to prevent unauthorized access to the data.

Option A: Shred the hard drives Shredding the hard drives is one of the most secure methods of destroying them. This involves physically shredding the hard drive into small pieces, rendering it unusable and irreparable. This method is highly recommended for hard drives that contain sensitive data as it ensures complete destruction of the drive.

Option B: Complete a hard wipe A hard wipe is a process that involves overwriting all data on the hard drive with random characters to prevent recovery of the original data. While this method can be effective, there is still a small chance that the original data can be recovered using advanced data recovery techniques. As such, it is not the most secure method of disposing of sensitive data.

Option C: Perform a soft wipe A soft wipe involves deleting files and formatting the drive, which is not secure enough when it comes to disposing of sensitive data as the data can still be recovered through data recovery software. Hence, this method is not recommended for disposing of hard drives that contain sensitive data.

Option D: Delete the partition table Deleting the partition table only removes the record of where the data is located on the drive, but the data still remains on the disk. This method is not effective in disposing of sensitive data as the data can still be recovered using data recovery software.

In conclusion, option A (Shred the hard drives) is the best method for disposing of hard drives that contain PII as it is the most secure and ensures that the data cannot be recovered.