Data Center Disposal Services & Tips for Easy Shutdown Process
What is data center disposal?
Data centers disposal typically refers to preparing an inventory of DC equipment that no longer offers desired performance, needs replacement and is no longer used. Such equipment includes servers, network gears, routers, and SANs. The critical part is the destruction of data present in these assets before final disposal. As per the listed category and the overall condition, opt for repair, refurbish, resell, or recycle. Every asset once has to say farewell as it is at its end of life and fails to deliver expected performance. That is the right time to carry out data center disposal. Datacenter disposal is a bit complicated and entangled process, but with the preparation of a checklist, you can avoid errors upto a certain extent.
Why is it important to be careful while disposing of Data Center?
While carrying out the disposal procedure of Data Center, errors are non-negotiable. So, you need to be highly careful while preparing the inventory list, specifications, the AMCs, licenses, and the data present within the Data Center equipment. You cannot afford data breaches while disposing of outdated hard drives. Additionally, you need to ensure that you have backed the essential data before disposing of the equipment. Thus, precisely going through each minute detail is vital. As per the assets condition, categorize it, whether you want it to be fixed, resell the equipment, or all you can do is recycle it.
Tips for easy shutdown:
After understanding the basics of data center disposal and being careful while carrying out the disposal procedure, let’s look forward to some tips for an easy shutdown.
Perform audit for developing a disposal list
For proper disposal projects, site audit is a crucial and brief affair. Generally, the dedicated team is concerned only about data security and destruction, so there is no need for accounting things like software dependencies. However, a disposal project consisting of live workloads requires extensive preparation.
Evaluate location, organizational assets, in addition to complexities that might occur during the disposal program. After evaluation, the team prepares an inventory list that comprises assets that have to be disposed of. The dedicated persons may use discovery tools for easing the task of auditing to prepare a disposal list.
The team will also need to determine any considerations with security clearance. For example, data center facilities frequently have ocular, fingerprint, or keycard security checkpoints.
Backup your data and hardware before removal
Always remember your assets comprise abundant crucial data, and the loss of this data is non-negotiable. Thus, before carrying forward the disposal procedure, backup your data. Even if you have opted for weekly or monthly backups, recheck the files. It is quite possible some of the files might not have backed up and can create a mess when required. Create a backup of your address books, images, videos, emails, spreadsheets, along with a financial database. Never skip to backup the data present on your hard drives. To store backup files, you can choose any removal media, external hard drives, cloud storage, or backup services as per your convenience. It is recommended a 3-2-1 backup approach. The key is you must create at least three copies of data at two storage solutions, in which one must be remote storage.
Disable racks, cabinet, and mining cables
After the backup procedure, the following essential task is removing legacy cables from sites for facilitating the processing of left technology assets. Some of the data center equipment has to be removed before carrying out any disposal efforts. With the removal, you can quickly move through the overall recovery process. In this phase, all the racks are removed, and the cabinets are no longer in use. Move this equipment to a staging zone and prepare them for the shipping phase.
Data wiping using enterprise-level erasure software
Data wiping is considered one of the essential phases in a shutdown process. We offer guaranteed and secured digital data wiping for each remaining asset. Consider this phase significant, especially for later refurbishing processes. We use enterprise-level erasure software for assured data wiping. Get our on-site or off-site data wiping service and be tension-free from data breaches and third-party access to organizational data. All data-bearing equipment is carefully processed, and data is destructed considering strict chains of sensitive data removal.
Return leased equipment and ship all assets
Apart from unused Data Center equipment and cables, select all leased equipment to return them to the vendor. We cater to you in the preparation of these returns and for the easy return procedure. Each end-of-lease asset are prepared as per the agreed standards for smooth as well as accurate exchange. Next to this, put together all the equipment for shipping. Before this, the equipment is packed within the staging area.
Process, repair, refurbish, resell, or recycle the IT equipment
Above mentioned steps aid in the value maximization of asset recovery. Followed by, the refurbish, resell and recycle processes are carried out. Until this phase, unused and leased equipment has been removed, data wiping is already done, and the Data Center equipment is set for shipment. Now, it is time to turn these retired assets into returns. We perform shipping procedures with prompt safety to the dedicated service location. As per the categorization, these assets undergo refurbishment, reselling, and recycling.
Conclusion:
For the foremost disposal procedure and to gain maximum credit choose a better Data Center disposal partner. Data Center equipment disposal can be hectic, and having experts perform every minute task on your behalf eases everything. We perform every phase from audits to final shipment to offer hassle-free shutdown to our customers.
