When a computer is to be surplussed, extra precautions must be taken to ensure that any sensitive data on the computer cannot be recovered, such as personal or patient information. There are two ways to accomplish this goal.

Wiping Your Hard Drive

Wiping your hard drive prevents the recovery of information from the disk (which can be accomplished even if the computer is damaged or off). The following programs are free and recommended by the University to safely and completely wipe hard drives:

Windows: Use a program like Eraser (https://www.tolvanen.com/eraser/) or KillDisk for Windows (http://www.killdisk.com/).

Mac: Follow this (http://www.macworld.com/article/2906499/mac-911-how-to-erase-your-macs-hard-drive-the-right-way.html) guide.

Linux: Use the version of KillDisk (http://www.killdisk.com/) for Linux.

Once the hard drive has been wiped, label the computer in a way that indicates that this procedure has been completed. The computer is now ready to be surplussed like any other equipment:

  1. Follow this link to the Biochemistry Department’s Intranet. (If the link is broken, navigate to the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics’ website, and click the Surplus, Facilities or Equipment link at the bottom of the main page.) Enter your Onyen and password.
  2. In the Requested Service field, select the Surplus checkbox. Please leave information in the comments box at the end of the form specifying what equipment you want to discard.
  3. Write “Surplus” and your lab’s name on a strip of tape, and specify that the hard drive has been wiped. Place the tape in a conspicuous location on the computer.
  4. Take the surplus computer to the table in the hallway by Chemical Storage Room 3087, near the northwest corner of the third floor of the Genetic Medicine Building (GMB).

Upon completing all these steps, your computer will include a label that indicates the name of its lab of origin, that the hard drive has been wiped, and that it is to be surplussed.

Thanks to Lisa Phillippie (ldh@med.unc.edu) in the departmental office who arranges for the surplussed equipment to be carted away.

Destroying the Hard Drive

If you are unable to wipe your drive because it is damaged or broken, then you must destroy the drive by physically altering it in such a manner that no data can be recovered from it. The recommended way to do this is via a hard drive shredder. If you wish for this to be done, fill out the same surplus form that you would for a wiped hard drive:

  1. Follow this link to the Biochemistry Department’s Intranet. (If the link is broken, navigate to the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics’ website, and click the Surplus, Facilities or Equipment link at the bottom of the main page.) Enter your Onyen and password.
  2. In the Requested Service field, select the Surplus checkbox. Please leave information in the comments box at the end of the form specifying what equipment you want to discard. Also, specify in the comments box that you need the hard drive destroyed.

Often in this case Lisa Phillippie may have you drop the computer off at her office, GMB, Room 3024, and she will handle the destruction of the hard drive from that point forward.

If you wish to, or are required to, visually verify that the hard drive is destroyed, the UNC Surplus Property Warehouse will perform this service for only $3.00. The fee for destroying the hard drive may be charged using a chartfield string of numbers obtained from the lab manager (for an explanation of chartfield string numbers see Question 30 on this website).  Contact the Surplus Property Warehouse at 919-962-2134 for an appointment.