We recommend that the data is backed-up before turning it in to us. Once we get it, we destroy the data on the drive. Also, you do not have to physically make the drive inoperable; it is unnecessary.
Can you access my files when I submit a hard drive to you?
No, we do not look at the files on the hard drive. When the drive is connected to our industrial wiping application, the wiping application does not examine the content. The application only sees the sectors on the drive. Also, the wiping application does not contain software to look at the files so it cannot open a Word or Excel file, for example.