What is HDD?

A hard disk drive (HDD) is a traditional data storage device that stores data on spinning magnetic platters. A mechanical arm with read/write heads moves across the platters to read and write data. HDDs have been the standard storage technology for decades and remain common in desktops, servers, and enterprise storage arrays.

From a data security perspective, HDDs store data magnetically, which means they can be sanitized through software overwriting (data wiping), degaussing (magnetic erasure), or physical destruction (shredding). The choice of method depends on the sensitivity of the data and whether the drive will be reused.

HDDs that are still functional may have resale value, especially enterprise-grade drives in larger capacities. However, drives that have reached end-of-life or contain highly sensitive data should be physically destroyed. When recycled, HDDs are separated into their component materials — aluminum platters, rare earth magnets, steel housings, and circuit boards — each of which has recycling value.