AG Technology

Vector-AG Technology Limited
  • Unit 2012, 20/F, Global Gateway Tower, 63 Wing Hong Street, Lai Chi Kok, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
WhatsApp Us
ISO 9001
ISO 9001

Author: b w

Posted on

Why should my business invest in a hard drive degausser?

Using a hard drive degausser in your business can provide total protection for your customer or employee data, but what are some of the advantages of investing in a data degausser? Below we explore some of the advantages that secure data erasure can provide businesses, not just from a practical standpoint, but also, from the point of view of the customer. 

With data security becoming more prevalent and following on from the European Union’s strict GDPR law, businesses are looking for solutions whereby they can protect their customer and internal data while also complying with legislation to ensure safe data disposal. 

Here are some of the advantages of hard drive degaussing and the use of magnetic data erasure in businesses today: 

Data security compliance for GDPR and data law

GDPR is one of the world’s strictest data compliance laws affecting all businesses that trade with or operate in the European Union. Data security has increasingly faced scrutiny after several high profile data breaches in the past several years have made governments step up their efforts to ensure people’s personal data is protected. 

Hard drive degaussing can help businesses erase data from a large number of different mediums to ensure that customer data is properly handled. This is particularly the case when systems are being upgraded and replaced with newer frameworks. The hard drive disposal process is delicate and should data not be erased from all mediums, businesses affected by the new GDPR data protection law can be held liable if data is hacked or accessed by a third party without customer consent. In this situation, disposing of hard drives requires secure data erasure through the use of a degausser so that it cannot be retrieved later. 

Destroying a hard drive’s sensitive data

For many businesses holding sensitive data – being able to erase hard drives securely is a must. This is because a simple hard drive wipe with software doesn’t magnetically remove the data from the actual hard disk itself. Sensitive data, particularly if handled by security companies, the defense industry and other government departments needs to be disposed of with the highest level of erasure, and without third parties being able to recover the data. 

Sensitive data erasure with degaussing is also beneficial for businesses that want to reassure investors and stakeholders that there are internal procedures for data handling and that these are being followed strictly to ensure data safety. 

Hard drive degaussing audits for transparency

Businesses can leverage hard drive degaussing audits to demonstrate their processes for data erasure. This information can be provided to senior stakeholders in the business, managers and other C-level executives to show hard drives being erased and the full reporting of each set of disks that have successfully gone through the process. These reports can also be used elsewhere for legal investigations and for general business data security practices. 

You may like to see the DataGauss XL-LG that comes with an auditing tool. 

Ensuring customer data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands

Being able to erase hard disks securely through degaussing helps businesses erase customer data completely from their systems. This can then be confirmed to customers in writing and supports business transparency as well as ensuring that no third parties can access older data or break into systems to gain sensitive data. 

Supporting internal data processes

Hard drive degaussers can be brought into a company and form part of the data erasure process. Businesses will already have existing processes and may wish to further strengthen their data disposal by adding a layer of security through degaussing. By investing in a hard drive degausser unit, a business can support the internal data erasure processes, create transparent reports and provide total assurance to customers and internal stakeholders that processes are being improved and upgraded for the highest level of data security. 

Improving public image through data protection guarantees

Outside of the practical elements of hard drive degaussing, businesses can also defend their reputation publicly and promote their use of hard drive degaussing as a way to properly handle data. This can strengthen the trust factor for a business with its customer base and also show external stakeholders, governments and organizations that data security is being taken seriously. 

Explore our full range of hard drive degaussers and hard disk destroyers and see how you can secure your business data for the future and improve your reputation through transparency and proper data handling. You can also speak to one of our advisors who can provide you with further insight on the hard drive degaussers we provide and what product will be best suited for your organization or business.  

Posted on

Hard Drive erasure software vs degaussing. Which is better?

When it comes to hard drive degaussing and software erasure tools, there are a number of distinct differences between the two methods that businesses and organizations need to be aware of. 

Using software erasure tools to erase a hard drive disk have some upsides for businesses however there are considerable disadvantages of the software erasing method that add a high degree of risk and uncertainty for those that choose this method of volume erasure over degaussing. 

Below you will see both the advantages and disadvantages of using software to erase hard disks and where data degaussing with a hard drive degausser or a destroyer, can be more appropriate. 

Advantages of software to erase data

  • Often easy to use, and gets the job done in a few clicks of a mouse.
  • It’s cheap, and can be applied to a number of computers and laptops at the office depending on the licence you buy.
  • Software erases existing data on the disk.

Disadvantages of software erasure

  • Every hard drive has bad sectors and the software is unable to erase these parts. In a typical hard drive, these bad sectors will not be accessible by any kind of overwrite software program, and the user would need to possess the hard drive’s original bitmap to be able to erase these. Therefore, the data in those sectors will remain and can be accessed at a later stage.
  • Software doesn’t erase the data on the disk. In fact, it overwrites a new layer of data, leaving the previous data layer intact.
  • Hard drives that have developed faults, or crashed, and can’t be booted with software, will inevitably have large chunks of data remaining on them, which can’t be erased.
  • Hard drives often possess an internal auto-recovery function which is known as a Ghost List or G-List for short. This recovery tool enables the disk to automatically save your file and document data without your knowledge to prevent data loss. This portion of the hard drive cannot be accessed by software programs under any circumstances and therefore retains key data information long after you’ve used the software to erase the rest of the disk.
  • The BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) may limit you in terms of the size of disks you can erase. In particular, if you have upgraded to 1TB or 2TB drives or larger, there can be restrictions where not all data can be erased – requiring different software for different types of hard drive volumes.
  • Hard drives also come in two types of standards, SCSI and IDE, meaning that the overwrite software programs you buy must be able to work sometimes on two formats requiring two sets of programs as one cannot write on the other.
  • Software can’t physically remove the data from hard drives no matter how many times it is used to overwrite the data – problematic especially for companies and government departments that require a complete erasure solution for sensitive data.
  • Software erasing is not an effective insurance policy against data theft and leaves businesses and organizations exposed to data leaks should hard drives be disposed, re-sold or re-used by other parts of the business without the same level of security.
  • Auditors and insurers looking into issues such as data security and data breaches will review systems and solutions in place by the data controller (Your business or organization). If software erasure is the primary method of data removal, this may be considered an unsatisfactory policy to protect and erase data – potentially exposing you to millions of dollars in damages and being void of certain insurance policies.

There are clearly a large number of disadvantages for the software operator in the case of erasing data from a hard drive, and for many businesses and organizations that choose to use this method only.  For small businesses and freelancers, this may be more of an appropriate method to erase a disk however in a majority of cases, software is not a viable solution given the high risk nature of data falling into the wrong hands, and the costs of potential lawsuits or losing insurance covers. 

Degaussing on the other hand provides some upsides for businesses as well as disadvantages that we will look at below:

Advantages of data degaussing

  • The disk of the hard drive and all its data will be magnetically erased – therefore the data will be completely unretrievable and physically no longer exist on the disk itself. 
  • With a hard drive degausser, the operator can completely audit their data erasure and provide transparent logs that prove the volume data was destroyed (see our popular DataGauss LG degausser for more information.)
  • Hard drive degaussing eliminates the risk of data being recovered either by another company, a foreign government or a criminal enterprise, therefore when a company or organization is audited about their data security processes, a hard drive degausser will ensure that data is unrecoverable in any scenario. 
  • Data degaussing provides businesses with the option to not only erase the data that is on the volume of the disk itself, but to safely dispose of their hard drives for the purpose of recycling. 
  • Old systems that are no longer in use, including hard drives from the 90s, tapes, and magnetic media, can be fully erased by default regardless of format, age or what’s on the disk. Degaussing destroys all data on any medium of this kind – which is not possible with traditional erasure software. 
  • Data degaussers are easy to operate and often take just a few seconds to fully erase the entire disk (See our Degausser range to check the speed of degaussing). In comparison to software, which can take hours or days depending on the number of disks, degaussing is a huge time saver. 
  • Degaussing can also be combined with data destruction, giving operators the possibility of crushing their own hard drives for disposal once they have been degaussed. (See our Crunch 250 Hard Drive Destroyer for more details). 
  • And finally, degaussers are highly recommended for businesses, and especially government departments that require the highest level of data security, to protect industrial secrets, information on individuals and much more. (We have NSA, NATO and DoD approved degaussers.)

Disadvantages of degaussing

  • Using a degausser can be more costly for a small business that has very few HDDs to erase, and is not ideal for the individual user or freelancer. 
  • Degaussing machines require a place to be stored (in an office, or under a desk) unlike software which is a download or DVD. 

For degaussing, there are a number of advantages over disadvantages, but most importantly, in this analysis, the business owner must understand that degaussing is a complete destruction solution for data vs software, which is merely an overwrite – and not a viable way of truly erasing data from hard drives. Depending on your use case, software may be sufficient, but for many, the high risk nature of not being able to fully erase data from the disk is likely to be far more costly for the owner when facing any kind of data breach in the future. 

In conclusion, erasing data with software may be a convenient, cheap solution to erase a volume for re-use by small companies or individuals, but in most cases, businesses will be taking a huge risk with their data by choosing this option, and exposing themselves to costs in an era where data laws are imposing strict penalties for oversights in the data space – and companies are being held accountable for failures, often in public.  

—-

If you are interested in learning more about how you can benefit from a degausser, and what kind of machine would be suitable, get in contact and an advisor will be able to recommend you a number of options. Alternatively you can call us during business hours to discover more about our product range and speak with one of our engineers. We ship and sell degaussers for a wide variety of organizations and businesses in more than 30 countries, and can provide you with an unlimited lifetime technical guarantee on any unit you buy from us – a world first, and only offered by Verity Systems. 

Posted on

Securing your data with NSA certified degaussers: What we offer

Working with government departments, businesses and organizations in more than 20 countries, we understand how important it is for you to be able to securely erase your data with a high level of security and compliance. Whether you are looking to invest in a degausser for the first time or are seeking to upgrade your data security infrastructure, we provide a number of solutions and specialized degaussers to enable you to fully erase data from hard drives and tapes.

Our degaussers enable the total erasure of data, ensuring that you can securely remove sensitive information from all magnetic media before disposing of your hard drives and tapes. We offer DoD compliant, NSA and NATO certified units for organizations and also a secure data auditing solution that enables the operator to verify and report on each drive that is successfully degaussed and erased. This provides you with a powerful, and easy-to-use tool to create audit ready reports of data destruction – essential for full transparency and complying with data laws in many countries including the EU’s GDPR.

Our DoD compliant degaussers come with a 2-years full parts and labor factory warranty along with lifetime technical support – unparalleled in the degaussing market and exclusively on offer by VS Security Products. All our clients benefit from having an advisor on standby, enabling you to diagnose any issues with your units with the support of our expert technical team of engineers with 30+ years’ experience.

You can also choose to order our degaussers with a destroyer as a combo should you wish to crush your erased hard drives and recycle them securely once you have erased your data – a popular option for many of our clients that wish to fully dispose of their old systems in total security. We also provide bulk discounts if you wish to order several units for your organization and we will provide any technical documentation or certification upon request.

You can explore our NSA and NATO certified degaussers below for further information on each unit and their technical specifications.

NSA and NATO listed degaussers

SDD Master – Government approved degausser with NSA certification

SV91M – Government approved degausser with NATO certification

Hard Drive Destroyer

Crunch 250 – Fully destroy your hard drives after erasure

We also provide a range of state-of-the-art pulse discharge degaussers which you can see below in more detail:

Automatic degaussers

DataGauss, DataGauss XL degausser with Data Destruction Auditor

DataGone degausser for high volume erasing

Posted on

VS Security Products heading to GITEX Technology Week 2018 In Dubai

VS Security Products has announced it will attend the 2018 GITEX Technology Week in Dubai this October to showcase some of its latest hard drive degaussers.

Along with distributing partner RAS Infotech, VS Security Products will highlight its popular degaussers including the DataGauss XL-LG hard drive degausser, which comes with the unique Data Destruction Auditor providing companies with the option to produce accurate data erasure reports. The NATO approved SV91M hard drive degausser will also be included in this year’s technology demonstration which provides businesses and government departments the highest level of data erasure.

This year’s GITEX Technology Week takes place at the Dubai World Trade Center and welcomes some of the world’s top brands demonstrating the latest advancements in technology and applications covering areas such as cybersecurity, Blockchain and IoT. This year’s attendees will include Google, Amazon, Huawei, Ebay, Linkedin, Uber, Renault, IBM, Siemens, HP and a host of other technology and manufacturing brands. 

David Tucker, Managing Director of VS Security Products will attend the event and will discuss the future of technology and data security as well as the evolution of hard drive degaussing with businesses looking to improve their data erasure processes. With over 30 years’ experience in the industry, Tucker brings a depth of knowledge on data security and will be available for meetings during GITEX to demonstrate some of the latest degaussers from the VS Security Products range.

“We are looking forward to attending this year’s GITEX Technology Week in Dubai and will be discussing the future of data security with a number of our key partners in the Middle East as well as demonstrating our degaussers to attendees during the event. We have seen a big increase in interest from businesses in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and other countries that want to protect their data. With our hard drive crushers and degaussers, we are ideally positioned to support businesses as well as governments that wish to protect their most sensitive data.”

“Along with our partners we will be presenting our solutions to a number of businesses attending GITEX that are looking to improve their own data security processes – and demonstrating how hard drive degaussers and crushers can be operated.” – David Tucker, Managing Director, VS Security Products.

Posted on

VS Security Products Launch New Responsive website

January 2016 – World leading data destruction specialists VS Security Products today unveiled its new website, creating a strong online identity that will reaffirm VS Security Product’s standing as the work leading authority in data erasure and destruction.

The new website has been designed to reflect VS Security Product’s ongoing commitment to the data destruction industry and the customers, distributors and resellers they work with as well as increasing VS Security Products digital marketing activity and online presence.

With a clean and modern look the website has been designed to provide the ultimate user-friendly experience with improved navigation and functionality throughout, allowing customers to access detailed product information and videos.

Commenting on the new website, managing Director David Tucker said; “We feel that during our time of growth its right to invest in our marketing strategy and so create a stronger online presence that reflects our standing in the data destruction sector. We hope it provides a useful, informative portal for our customers to get to know VS Security Products and our products just a little better!”

Posted on

Data Destruction Auditor -The New Name for Erasure Log Manager

The All New Data Destruction Auditor 

In 2014 we launched our unique ‘Erasure Log Manager” feature to tremendous success. So much so, that models which include the logging feature our now our biggest sellers!

To help improve understanding of the system we have decided to rename the Erasure Log Manager as the “Data Destruction Auditor”.

Some customers assume it is just a software program but it is much, much more! By simply connecting the Hard Disk Drive Degaussers or Destroyer to a PC or Laptop via a USB, the customer can produce an Audit Ready Report which includes details of all the Hard Drives he/she has degaussed plus confirmation that the erasure was completed successfully.

The report generated includes detail such as: Hard Drive details (i.e. serial number); the model of degausser used; the date and time; and most importantly, details of the degauss cycle itself including the strength of the magnetic field and its successful completion! An optional barcode scanner is also available for fast and accurate data entry.

The report can be printed or exported as a .csv to a program like Excel.

To help customers see what the Data Destruction Auditor can offer them, and to demonstrate just how simple it is to use, we have created a new video.

The Data Destruction Auditor is available on all our Pulse Degausser Range.  It is a factory fitted option on the DataGauss, DataGauss XL, and DATAGONE and is fitted as standard on the NSA Approved SDD Master and Crunch 250 Destroyer. Videos of each of the models being used with the DDA are also available on the website.

Posted on

Universities facing increased data security risks after breaches made public

A number of universities around the world have experienced data breaches in the last several months which is part of a growing, global problem for education and for institutions seeking to protect their data.  As cybersecurity threats become more apparent, student data with records such as telephone numbers, social security numbers or addresses can sometimes lead to identity theft and fraud. This poses a risk for people affected by the breach, and also impacts the reputation of institutions that are doing their best to create a safe data environment for their students, family members and staff. 

Universities handle a lot of sensitive data including financial information when courses are booked and payments are transacted. Records have to be kept for certain pieces of information and sometimes this information may not be properly processed or there is a lack of data security practices – leading to older data, and disused hard drives suddenly becoming accessed by hackers who can then steal information.  

There are a number of ways institutions can protect their data and even create processes where older systems are recycled so that data is removed using degaussing or a HDD destroyer. With a degausser, hard drives and old tapes can be wiped clean ensuring that historical data and archives are removed from the medium before they are disposed of or recycled. In the recycling process, once a hard drive is degaussed it can be safely crushed. 

To understand more about the degaussing and hard drive crushing process, contact one of our experts and see how you can benefit from an added layer of data security by having on-site automatic or manual hard drive degaussers, and a destroyer. 

Posted on

GDPR risks grow for unprepared businesses

Businesses are grappling with more stringent data laws since GDPR came into effect last May. As data security becomes a top priority for lawmakers, businesses are under pressure to ensure personal data and records are protected. 

GDPR regulations require businesses to seek consent from their users before processing data. The way data is handled is also crucial, especially when it is transferred between countries. In some cases, countries outside the EU don’t have what’s called an ‘adequacy’ agreement, which increases risk for data transference, and therefore businesses have to possess strict data processing policies. 

Because data is becoming more valuable and important to consumers, it’s essential that businesses are implementing proper data handling procedures which includes the safe removal of records, and dated information. The risk in having this information compromised, leaked, or published to the web means that, in the process of data removal, companies need to ensure that they have a way to fully erase those records without the possibility of recovery. 

In order for a business to have certainty with data removal, it is recommended to use software erasure and degaussing in combination. The reason for this is that a business can not only prove that is has erased the physical data from the medium, but that it has also been magnetically wiped. 

Verity Systems provides a full solution for data erasure which enables companies to ensure they have total compliance with GDPR and can remove data safely from older systems including hard drives (HDD and SSD), as well as tapes. 

To discover more about our range of hard drive degaussers and destroyers, you can see some of our automatic hard drive degaussers to see how you can start protecting your business, and ensuring that you comply with data laws. 

Posted on

Preparing for the California Consumer Privacy Act

Last year, following the implementation the EU’s GDPR law, California enacted a piece of legislation called the California Consumer Privacy Act which will go into effect on January 1, 2020. 

The California Consumer Privacy Act is seen as the GDPR equivalent for the state, and will require businesses to implement strict data policies to protect consumers and personal information. 

Among some of the provisions of the Privacy Act include a consumer’s right to request what types of personal information is being held by a business, a right to decline the sale of personal information, the right to know what information is being used and for what purpose.

For businesses, the new law also places emphasis on data security and protection to ensure that personal data is handled properly.  Many of the provisions in the new law are similar to GDPR and businesses will need to implement privacy policies and in cases, have a data compliance officer to ensure data is properly handled. 

Due to the nature of this new law, and the subsequent impact it is having on other states, it is a certainty that equivalent laws for other U.S. states will have similar provisions, and require businesses to protect data. 

The U.S. is also signatory to the Privacy Shield agreement with the European Union on data transference, and is continuing to work with other countries to protect people’s information when transferred across borders. This affects international businesses that store data in one country, and transfer that information to another in order to facilitate a transaction, a booking, or any kind of data processing activity. 

For businesses that want to be fully compliant with new data laws, they can ensure that data is protected through proper erasure and removal processes. By erasing records and personal information with full auditing, an organization can prove to law enforcement and data regulators that it is properly handling information, and securely removing it when no longer needed. 

In order to do this, hard drive degaussing and erasure is recommended. Brands and government agencies as well as small businesses can implement data protection and erasure by investing in degaussing equipment that can be used in an office environment. This allows organisations to document their data, and erase hard drives and tapes with full transparency. 

You can learn more about data degaussing and see some of our recommended hard drive degaussers which provide the option for businesses to track their data erasure live, and deliver full reports to data compliance officers and regulators. 

Posted on

Degaussing: An Introduction

An Introduction to Degaussing

  1. What is a degausser?
  2. How does a degausser work?
  3. Operation of degaussers
  4. Detailed benefits of degaussers
  5. Points to consider when choosing a degausser
  6. Who uses a degausser?
  7. More about magnetic media

Degaussing definition – What is a Degausser?

It is a machine used to eliminate data stored on computer and laptop hard drives, floppy disks and magnetic tape, by randomly changing the alignment of magnetic domains on the medium.

Degaussing takes its meaning from Johann Gauss (1777-1855) a mathematician who studied and worked on electro-magnetic fields. Data is stored on magnetic media by making very small areas called magnetic domains change their magnetic alignment to be in the direction of an applied magnetic field. Degaussing magnetic media leaves the domains in random patterns with no preference to orientation, thereby rendering previous data unrecoverable. A degausser is therefore used to completely erase all audio, video and data signals from magnetic storage media.

This process is effective in a range of industries including video, audio, computer, broadcast and data security.

Benefits of Using a Degausser

  • Assurance that all sensitive data has been erased permanently
  • Disposes classified media quickly, safely and in-house
  • Improvement in the quality of output
  • Sizeable savings in operating costs
  • Meets the NSA and CESG requirements for sanitisation of classified information

Simply overwriting magnetic media does not completely erase data. Only a degausser can remove data 100% and ensure that confidential data is securely and completely erased.

How does a Degausser work?

It works by passing any magnetic media through a powerful magnet field to rearrange the polarity of the particles, thus completely removing any resemblance of previously recorded data. Although this process of course is simple in theory, in practice, the vast variation of media formats and magnetic densities makes the correct process quite difficult to achieve. The degausser is constructed in such a way as to enable the generated magnetic field to be available to the media when it is transported through it, which can be by physically holding the media and moving it through the field by hand, having it automatically conveyed by a belt transporter or rotated on a motorized spindle.

Different media demand varying magnetic field strength, therefore the coils that generate the magnetic field will also vary depending on this requirement. Generally speaking, a coil is a degausser which should have two to three times the energy rating of the material being degaussed. Where media has a security classification, Restricted, Confidential, Secret or Top Secret, a considerably higher energy rating will be required. This rating is measured in Oersteds after Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1851) who discovered the magnetic qualities of electricity. Further efficiency can be achieved by using more than one coil in multi-axial orientation; this produces a more effective degaussing field. Even better performance can be achieved by rotating the coils or the media during the process.

Operation of Degaussers

The operation of degaussers will vary depending on the type and quality of media and the speed and degree of erasure required. When erasing tapes, either the cassette must move through the magnetic field or you must move a magnetic field over the cassette. In each case, the consistency of the motion, the strength of the field and the distribution of that field over the entire media are what determine the quality of the erasure.

Most professionals and engineers agree that a conveyor transport degausser, which allows the user to place the magnetic media on a small belt, which in turn passes the media through or over the degaussing coils at a constant speed, assures the most uniform process. Custom-designed degaussers can assist with the specialist needs of bulk operators with belt feed conveyors; collection hoppers are available to deal with tapes, disks and reels, all helping in making the operation effective & efficient.

Effective degaussing is very much a performance factor of the machine and generally passing the media through the field twice does not improve the effectiveness. If however the media is rotated by 90 degrees, some improvement can be achieved. VS Security Products have developed an eraser employing “state of the art” technology that uses a rotating coil technique. The media passes on a variable speed conveyor belt through a field, generated by two powerful coils, which are rotating, one above the media, the other beneath it.

With the ever-increasing demand to fit more & more data on smaller media, there is now a requirement that can be more important than absolute erasure. That is consistency of erasure.

It is widely understood that data at a high packing density stored on magnetic media is easier to erase than lower density data. The data signal to noise ratios, bit-to-bit phase relationships, amplitude variations all become more critical and require more sophisticated electronics to ensure valid error free data recovery. Variations of magnetic flux, remaining from a poor erasure cycle, will make data recovery more difficult and will result in increasing errors.

Detailed Benefits of Degaussers

The resultant benefits are substantial, producers of audio and video tapes achieve better yields as well as increased quality. Data users enjoy greater efficiency due to considerably reduced “error rates”. Professional users in every sector, from government to business, benefit from incorporating degaussing within their magnetic media processing procedure and achieve considerable cost savings by being able to confidently reuse again and again media previously discarded. All in all there is a very strong financial and operational case to use degaussers, especially manufactured by the world’s leading specialists, VS Security Products .

The controlled application of degaussers to the process involved in the production & operation of magnetic media can achieve considerable savings. For a start, many operators who do not currently degauss, simply throw away suspect media that, with a careful process of degaussing applied to it, would have a considerable extended life. Many operators claim benefit of up to four times the useful life of some types of media.

Further direct & indirect savings can also be achieved. Quality of performance of the media has a very high value, although it would be difficult to qualify. Indirectly, there are additional cost savings to producers and to end users due to the considerable reduction of “down time” of computers and data processing apparatus arising from faulty or imperfect magnetic media being used. Diskette duplicators claim to gain upwards of 25% better production yields directly attributable to degaussing their bulk bland diskettes, prior to processing.

Another benefit is that magnetic media is very difficult to dispose of. If it is burned, it emits toxic fumes, if it is buried, it is not biodegradable. By re-using your media as many times as possible, you are adding you your company’s recycling programme.

The amount of magnetic media used in the broadcast, computer and software industries has resulted in professional users striving to achieve higher quality and efficiency, whilst at the same time searching for cost savings. By degaussing magnetic media using “deep erasure”, created by powerful magnetic fields, users or producers find that previously recorded data, or certification signal can be eliminated completely from tapes, cassettes or cartridges. The effectiveness that this method of erasure achieves far exceeds that of DC erasure (this is the method that is used in hard disk drives).

Points to Consider When Choosing a Degausser

  1. Type of media used: What formats do you need to be degaussed? Different degaussers can handle different types of media.
  2. Volume of media: How much media do you need to degauss and in what sort of timeframe?
  3. Density of media: Magnetic media varies in its density. You will need a degausser with enough power to completely erase data on your media.
  4. Type of Operation: Manual or Automatic. Do you have enough time to erase tapes manually or would you prefer an automated system?
  5. Proposed location of degausser: How much room do you have for a degausser?

Who uses a Degausser?

Anybody who uses magnetic media will benefit from the use of a degausser, including:

  • Radio/Television broadcasters: enables expensive tapes to be re-used
  • Computer departments of corporations: allows re-use of back up tapes and safe disposal of information from PC hard drives
  • Data Storage Companies: data no longer needed can be easily and efficiently erased
  • Defense Organizations: confidential and top secret information can be erased
  • CCTV Operators: allows VHS tapes to be re-used again and again
  • Audio/Video duplicators: allows re-use of any production over runs and returned out of date tapes
  • Financial Services: Banks and insurance companies can use a degausser to re-use magnetic media for voice logging systems
  • Emergency Services: Re-use tapes used in voice logging systems
  • Hospitals: erase sensitive information held on magnetic media, such as patient records no longer required
  • Universities: allows student records that are no longer needed to be erased

More About Magnetic Media

The term magnetic media covers a vast range of material from audio/video tapes and cassettes to computer diskettes and reels, supplied in a wide choice of sizes and complexities. All of them however, perform in the same basic way yet have significantly differing characteristics in performance and in operation that will require differing erasure processes.

Magnetic media consists of material that is coated with minute metallic particles that react to magnetic influences applied to them. Such influences fall into two types.

The first is the intended influence or signal that provides the desired “Play-back” from the original recording. Ideally the reply should replicate the original recording, whether this is from audio, video or computer data source. The second influence is the unwanted signal, which can take the form of distortion, bias, corruption or interference and can produce undesirable effects such as poor quality audio or video media or software glitches in data material. Clearly any process which enhances the first and eliminates the second is desirable and a degausser can achieve this.