Updated November 2026 · Southern New Hampshire
Hard drive destruction for NH: drives, phones, tapes and discs physically destroyed
Bring your old hard drives, SSDs, phones, backup tapes, USB sticks, discs and x-ray film to our Tewksbury office, a short drive south of the New Hampshire line, and we physically destroy them. Every item is quoted before we start, and every job ends with a Certificate of Destruction.
Media is quoted per item and physically destroyed at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury. Certificate of Destruction on every job.
- Per item quotes up front
- Since 2007
- BBB A+
- HIPAA BAA on request
Quick answer
New Hampshire Document Shredding physically destroys hard drives, SSDs, phones, backup tapes, USB sticks, CDs, DVDs and x-ray film at its office at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA, about 15 minutes south of the Salem and Pelham line. Media is quoted per item before anything is destroyed, it is handled separately from paper, and the job ends with a Certificate of Destruction. Wiping a drive can be enough for reuse, but when a device is leaving your hands for good, physical destruction is the step that ends the question.
What we destroy, and what each one hides
Most people know that old paper files belong in a shredder. Fewer think about the drive inside the laptop that sat in the closet since 2016, or the box of backup tapes the last IT contractor left behind. Those hold the same tax returns, patient charts and client lists, often thousands of them, on something that fits in your hand.
Our document shredding business has handled paper for New Hampshire customers since 2007. Media is a separate job. It goes in its own bag, it is counted on its own line, and it is physically destroyed rather than run through the paper shredder with your files.
Here is what customers bring us most. If you have something that is not on this list, call before you drive down and we will tell you whether we take it and how it is priced.
- Hard disk drives from desktops, laptops, servers and external enclosures
- Solid state drives, including the small M.2 and NVMe sticks in newer laptops
- Phones that no longer work, or that you never want to see again
- Backup tapes and tape cartridges
- USB sticks and thumb drives
- CDs and DVDs, including burned data discs and imaging discs
- X-ray film and other medical film
| Item | Where the data sits | Why a wipe can fall short | How to bring it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard disk drive (HDD) | Magnetic platters inside a sealed case | Delete and quick format leave the data on the platters. Bad sectors can hold old data a wipe never reaches | Pulled from the computer if you can, loose in a labeled bag |
| Solid state drive (SSD) | Flash memory chips, often with spare capacity the computer cannot see | A simple overwrite may not reach the spare cells, which NIST calls overprovisioning | Pulled from the laptop if you can. Small M.2 sticks in an envelope so they do not get lost |
| Phone | Flash memory soldered to the board | A factory reset protects against casual recovery but depends on the phone working and the reset finishing | Powered off, SIM and memory card removed if you plan to keep them |
| Backup tape | Magnetic tape on a reel inside a cartridge | Tapes are rarely wiped at all. They sit in a closet for years with full copies of old systems | In the original cases, counted, in a box marked “tapes” |
| USB stick | Flash memory | Small, cheap and easy to forget. Most are never wiped | In an envelope with the count written on the front |
| CD or DVD | Data pressed or burned into the disc | Cannot be wiped. Burned discs stay readable for years | In sleeves or a spindle, separate from paper |
| X-ray film | Images and patient names on the film itself | Not paper, so it does not belong in the paper shredder | In its folders or envelopes, kept apart from paper charts |
X-ray film is its own small topic, because it is film and not paper. If you are sorting a parent’s old films or a practice’s archive, our post on what to do with old x-ray film walks through it.
Why wiping is not always enough
The federal reference point for this question is NIST Special Publication 800-88, Guidelines for Media Sanitization. For years everyone quoted Revision 1, from 2014. NIST withdrew Revision 1 on September 26, 2025 and replaced it with Revision 2, published the same day. If your IT policy still says “per NIST 800-88 Rev. 1”, it is worth updating the reference, though the core ideas carry over.
NIST sorts sanitization into three methods. They are not brand names or products. They describe how hard it would be for someone to get your data back after you are done.
Clear
Logical techniques that overwrite every location the user can reach, through the device’s normal interface. Think of an overwrite tool or a factory reset. NIST says Clear protects against simple, non-invasive recovery. It does not claim to stop a lab.
Purge
Physical or logical techniques that make recovery infeasible even with advanced laboratory methods. Cryptographic erase on a self-encrypting drive is the example NIST spends the most time on. The device can usually be reused afterward.
Destroy
Recovery is infeasible with laboratory methods and the media can never store data again. NIST lists physical techniques such as disintegrating, pulverizing, melting and shredding. This is the category our service sits in.
Notice what is missing from all three: pressing delete, emptying the trash and running a quick format. Those remove the pointers to your files, not the files. Free recovery software exists precisely because people do this and then change their minds.
Where wiping goes wrong in real life
The most common failure is the drive that will not cooperate. A laptop that will not boot cannot run a wipe. A drive with failing sectors can finish a wipe and still hold data in the parts it could not reach. NIST makes the same point: a device can look fully functional while some of it is no longer reachable through its interface.
A second failure is using the wrong tool for the media. NIST gives a blunt example in Revision 2: a degausser can run to completion on an SSD and sanitize nothing, because an SSD is not magnetic. Overwrite tools written for spinning disks have a similar blind spot on flash drives, which keep spare cells that a simple write never touches.
Then there is the simplest one. Nobody checked. NIST builds verification into its process for a reason. A wipe that was started on a Friday afternoon and never confirmed is a guess, and a guess is hard to defend if a client or a regulator asks.
None of this means wiping is useless. If you plan to reuse or donate a working machine, a proper purge is the right tool, and destroying a good laptop to protect one spreadsheet is wasteful. The point is to choose on purpose, and to destroy when the device is leaving for good or when you cannot prove the wipe worked.
Wipe or destroy: how to decide in two minutes
Revision 2 of the NIST guide opens its process with one question, which is whether the media will be reused. That is the right place to start for a small office or a household too. Follow the tree below for each device on your pile.
For three dead laptops, destroy the drives. For a working office PC going to a nonprofit, have your IT person purge it with the drive maker’s secure erase or cryptographic erase tool, confirm it, and write down what was done. For a drawer of USB sticks with no labels, destroy them. Nobody is going to open each one to check.
If your organization handles very sensitive data, read your own security policy before you pick a method. NIST Revision 2 notes that as drives get denser, some destructive techniques can leave fragments readable in a lab, and it tells agencies to match the method to the security category of the data. If your policy names a particle size or a specific standard, tell us when you call and we will tell you plainly whether our process meets it.
A belt-and-braces approach many IT people like: purge the drive first if it still works, then bring it in for physical destruction. The purge protects the data, and the destruction makes sure the device never comes back.
How hard drive destruction works at our office
Every media job runs through the same office as our paper work: 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, on Route 38 near the I-495 interchange in Tewksbury. There is no truck at your curb and no destruction at your address. This is the order things happen in.
- Call or book for a quote. Tell us what you have and how many. Drives, phones and tapes are quoted per item, so a count by type is all we need. You get the price before you drive down.
- Bag and label at home. Keep media in its own bag or box, separate from paper. Write the count on the outside. If you want serial numbers on your certificate, print a list and tape it to the bag.
- Bring it in on a weekday. We are open Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Park out front. The drive is about 15 minutes from the Salem or Pelham line by I-93 or Route 38.
- Count at the counter. We count the items with you and check them against your list. Anything that does not match gets sorted out before you leave, not after.
- Physical destruction. The media is physically destroyed at our office so it cannot be read or used again. Media is never mixed into a paper load.
- Certificate of Destruction. You receive a certificate for the job. File it with your IT asset list, your HIPAA records or your client file, wherever an auditor would look first.
If you already have paper to shred, the media can come on the same trip. Our drop-off shredding counter takes walk-ins on weekdays at 99 cents per pound for paper, and the drives go on their own line of the quote. Offices booking a paper pickup can ask about media when they book, and we will tell you how it will be bagged and quoted.
What the Certificate of Destruction lists
A certificate is only useful if it answers the question someone will ask later: what was destroyed, when, and by whom. Every job we do comes with one, at no extra charge beyond the per-job HIPAA filing fee. Our page on the certificate of destruction shows how it works for paper. For media, a few details matter more.
| Field | What it records | Your part |
|---|---|---|
| Customer | Your name or your organization’s name | Use the legal name your auditor or insurer knows |
| Date | The day the job was completed | Match it to the date in your asset log |
| Item counts by type | How many drives, phones, tapes, sticks and discs | Count before you leave home so the numbers agree |
| Serial numbers | Listed when you ask for them to be listed | Bring a printed list and ask for serial numbers to be listed |
| Method | Physical destruction | Note it in your records under NIST’s Destroy method |
| Signature | Signed by our staff | Keep the original with the asset records |
NIST Revision 2 includes a sample Certificate of Sanitization in its Appendix C. It asks for media type, make, model, serial number, the method used (Clear, Purge or Destroy) and where the media ended up. If your internal form follows that layout, bring it and we will help you fill in the fields that relate to our part of the job.
One tip from the counter: the serial number is printed on the drive’s label, not on the laptop’s case. Pull the drive, photograph or write down the label, and you have the record your IT inventory actually needs. A laptop’s own serial number tells you nothing about which drive was inside it after a repair.
How hard drive destruction is quoted
Paper is easy to price. It goes on the scale and you pay by the pound. Media does not work that way, because a server drive and a thumb drive weigh very different amounts and take different handling. That is why we quote media per item, and why we do not publish a single per-drive number that would be wrong for half the things people bring.
| What you bring | How it is priced | What else applies |
|---|---|---|
| Drives, phones, tapes, sticks, discs, film | Quoted per item before we start | Certificate of Destruction included |
| Paper at the drop-off counter | 99 cents per pound, or $15 small and $20 large per box at 10 boxes or more | $14.95 HIPAA filing fee and $19.95 environmental fee, $34.90 per job |
| Paper by pickup | Same rates as drop-off plus a zone fee of $129.95, $159.95 or $199.95 | $34.90 per-job fees, appointment required |
| Paper, witnessed | $1.99 per pound, $100 job minimum | $34.90 per-job fees, appointment required |
The full paper price list is on our shredding rates page. For media, call (978) 636-0301 with a count by type and you will have a number before you load the car.
Get the count right before you call. “About a box of stuff” is hard to quote. “Eleven laptop drives, two server drives, four phones and a spindle of DVDs” is easy, and the quote will match what you pay.
Who brings us drives and devices
The customers change, but the reasons repeat. These are the jobs we see most from southern New Hampshire.
Medical and dental offices
Old workstations, imaging discs and x-ray film all carry patient information. HIPAA’s Security Rule requires a disposal policy for electronic PHI and the media it sits on. Paper charts go through our medical shredding service. The drives come along as media.
Accountants and tax preparers
IRS Publication 4557 tells preparers to physically destroy hard drives, tapes, USBs, CDs and phones before throwing them away. Firms usually retire a few old machines after tax season and bring the drives in with the post-season paper purge.
Law firms and agencies
Retired laptops from departed staff, external backup drives, and boxes of burned discs from old matters. These are the files a client would least expect to find on a resale site.
Households
The family desktop from 2012, three dead phones in a kitchen drawer, the external drive with a decade of scanned tax returns. One bag, one count, one trip to Tewksbury.
Offices doing a bigger cleanout often have both: rooms of paper and a closet of retired equipment. Our guide to office cleanout shredding covers the paper side, and the media goes in its own bag on the same plan.
If you are writing a policy rather than clearing a closet, our post on what certified data destruction should mean covers the paperwork side, and the post on getting rid of old computers in NH covers the household side.
The rules that apply to old drives
No New Hampshire statute tells you how to destroy a hard drive. The duties come from federal rules for particular kinds of data, and from New Hampshire’s breach notice law if things go wrong. Here are the ones our customers ask about.
HIPAA Security Rule
45 CFR 164.310(d)(2)(i) requires covered entities and business associates to have policies for the final disposition of electronic PHI and the hardware or media it is stored on. Section 164.310(d)(2)(ii) requires removing ePHI before media is reused. HHS lists clearing, purging and destroying as examples of proper methods.
IRS Publication 4557
The IRS guide for tax professionals, Safeguarding Taxpayer Data (Rev. 6-2024), tells preparers to delete information from devices before disposal and to physically destroy hard drives, tapes, USBs, CDs, tablets and phones. It ties this to the FTC Safeguards Rule.
New Hampshire breach notice
RSA 359-C:19 to 359-C:21 set out when a business must give notice of a security breach involving personal information. A drive that leaves your office readable is how many of these stories start. Our page on the NH data breach law explains the notice rules.
Covered entities can ask for a Business Associate Agreement before the job. It is available on request, and the HIPAA side of paper disposal is covered in our guide to HIPAA shredding requirements.
We do not hold a NAID certification and we do not claim one. What we offer is plain: physical destruction at our own office, a per-item quote up front, a Certificate of Destruction, and a BAA on request. If your contract demands a specific certification, check that before you book.
Frequently asked questions
How much does hard drive destruction cost?
Hard drives and other media are quoted per item, because a laptop drive, a server drive and a backup tape take different handling. We do not publish a single per-drive price. Call (978) 636-0301 with a count by type, such as eight laptop drives and two phones, and you will have the price before you drive to our Tewksbury office.
Do I need to take the drive out of the laptop?
Pull the drive if you can. It takes a few minutes with a small screwdriver on most laptops and desktops, and it lets you record the drive’s own serial number. If a machine is sealed or you cannot get the drive out, call before you come and we will tell you how to handle it. Do not bring whole towers without asking first.
Is wiping a drive enough?
Sometimes. NIST SP 800-88 treats Clear and Purge as valid methods when they are done properly and checked. Wiping makes sense when you will reuse a working machine. It falls short when the drive is failing, when the tool does not suit the media, as with an overwrite on some SSDs, or when nobody confirmed it finished. For devices leaving your hands for good, destroy them.
Will the certificate list my serial numbers?
Every job comes with a Certificate of Destruction that records the customer, the date and the items by type and count. If you need serial numbers on it, ask for serial numbers to be listed when you book, and bring a printed list taped to the bag. We check the list against the items at the counter before anything is destroyed.
Do you come to my office to destroy drives?
No. We do not bring a truck to your address and we do not destroy anything at your site. All media is destroyed at our office at 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA. Most New Hampshire customers bring drives in on a weekday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Offices booking a paper pickup can ask about media when they book.
Do you degauss drives?
We physically destroy media. We do not offer degaussing. It is also worth knowing that NIST says degaussing should not be used on flash storage such as SSDs, because they are not magnetic. A degausser can finish its cycle on an SSD and leave the data exactly where it was.
Can I bring media with my paper shredding?
Yes. Put the media in its own bag or box, separate from the paper, and write the count on the outside. Paper is weighed and priced by the pound or box. Media is counted and quoted per item on its own line. Both go on the same visit, and you leave with a Certificate of Destruction.
Do you take phones and tablets?
We take phones, and they are physically destroyed like drives. Power them off and remove the SIM card and any memory card you plan to keep. For tablets and other devices not on our usual list, call (978) 636-0301 first so we can confirm and quote before you make the trip.
Sources
- NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2, Guidelines for Media Sanitization (September 2025) (checked November 2026)
- NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 1, withdrawn September 26, 2025 (checked November 2026)
- 45 CFR 164.310, HIPAA Security Rule physical safeguards (eCFR) (checked November 2026)
- HHS, What HIPAA requires when covered entities dispose of PHI (checked November 2026)
- IRS Publication 4557, Safeguarding Taxpayer Data (Rev. 6-2024) (checked November 2026)
Get a quote for your drives and devices
Count what you have by type, call or book, and bring it to Tewksbury on a weekday. Every item is quoted before we start and every job ends with a Certificate of Destruction.
New Hampshire Document Shredding
1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876. Route 38 near I-495, about 15 minutes from the Salem and Pelham line. Free parking out front.
Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pickups and witnessed sessions outside these hours by appointment.
- Drop-off: walk in on weekdays, 99¢ per pound for paper
- Pickup: paper collected by zone and shredded at our office
- Witnessed: watch your paper shredded, $1.99 per pound
New Hampshire Document Shredding · 1215 Main Street, Unit 115, Tewksbury, MA 01876 · (978) 636-0301 · Monday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.