Hard Drive Recycling
Secure hard drive recycling with certified data destruction. We accept HDDs, SSDs, and all storage media. NIST 800-88 compliant.
Hard drives are the most data-sensitive items in any electronics recycling stream. EverTrade Electronics provides secure hard drive recycling with your choice of NIST 800-88 compliant data wiping (for drives that will be refurbished) or physical shredding (for maximum security). Every drive is documented by serial number, and businesses receive certificates of destruction for compliance records.
What Hard Drives We Accept
Desktop HDDs
3.5-inch hard disk drives from desktops and servers
Laptop HDDs
2.5-inch hard disk drives from laptops
SSDs
All solid-state drives — SATA, NVMe, M.2, and enterprise
External Drives
USB external drives, portable drives, and backup drives
Tape Media
LTO tapes, DLT tapes, and other backup tape formats
Flash Storage
USB drives, SD cards, and other flash media
Why Recycle Hard Drives?
- Hard drives contain valuable rare earth magnets, aluminum, and circuit board materials
- Data on improperly discarded drives can be recovered by identity thieves
- HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and SOX regulations require documented drive destruction
- Physical shredding is the only way to guarantee 100% data destruction on failed drives
Data Security
We offer two destruction methods: software wiping (NIST 800-88 Clear/Purge for reusable drives) and physical shredding (industrial shredder reducing drives to 2-inch fragments). Both methods include serial number documentation and certificates of destruction.
How It Works
1. Contact Us
Call, text, or fill out our contact form. For businesses, we can schedule a free pickup.
2. Drop Off or Pickup
Bring items to our Sugar Land facility or we pick up for bulk business loads.
3. We Handle the Rest
Data destruction, recycling, and certificates — we take care of everything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is hard drives recycling really free?
Yes! There is no charge to recycle hard drives at EverTrade Electronics. Just drive up during business hours — no appointment needed. Businesses can schedule free pickup for pallet-size loads or larger.
Do you accept broken hard drives?
Absolutely. We accept hard drives in any condition — working, broken, water-damaged, cracked screens, or missing parts. There is still value in the materials.
What happens to my hard drives after drop-off?
First, any data storage is securely wiped or destroyed. Working items may be refurbished for resale. Non-working items are disassembled and sorted for material recovery — metals, plastics, and circuit boards are each processed separately.
Related Services
Related Glossary Terms
HDD
A hard disk drive (HDD) is a data storage device that uses spinning magnetic platters and a read/write head to store and retrieve data. HDDs require sanitization before disposal.
EquipmentSSD
A solid-state drive (SSD) stores data on flash memory chips with no moving parts. SSDs require different sanitization methods than traditional hard drives.
Data SecurityHard Drive Shredding
Hard drive shredding is the physical destruction of hard drives using industrial shredders, reducing them to small fragments to ensure complete data destruction.
Data SecurityData Wiping
Data wiping is a software-based method of overwriting all data on a storage device with random patterns, making the original data unrecoverable while keeping the drive reusable.
Data SecurityDegaussing
Degaussing uses a powerful magnetic field to erase data on magnetic storage media like hard drives and tapes, rendering them permanently unreadable.
Data SecurityNIST 800-88
NIST Special Publication 800-88 is the U.S. government standard for media sanitization, providing guidelines for securely erasing data from storage devices before disposal or reuse.
Ready to Recycle Your Hard Drives?
Free drop-off. Free business pickup. Zero hassle.