Moving or shutting down equipment, explained

Short version: Moving offices, closing a location, or getting rid of old machines. We do it without losing your data or leaving it on a drive in a dumpster.

Moving

We do it in order: write down what you have and what depends on what before touching anything; pick a window, usually a weekend, so nothing goes down during business hours; shut things down properly, since yanking a power cord out of a server is a good way to lose a database; label every cable so it goes back the same way; pack it properly; and set it back up and test it before you open Monday morning.

Getting rid of old equipment

The hard drive in that old computer still has everything on it — customer records, payroll, card numbers, patient information. Deleting files does not remove them. Neither does reformatting.

Here's what we do, following the federal standard for the job: drives that had nothing sensitive are wiped and verified; drives that had anything sensitive are wiped at the hardware level so the data is unrecoverable; and drives that failed, or held the really sensitive stuff, are physically shredded. You get a certificate with the serial number on it, so you have proof — the paperwork that keeps you out of trouble if you're ever audited.

Getting some money back

Equipment under about four years old often has real resale value. We can sell it through certified channels and put the money back toward your new equipment. Anything that can't be sold goes to a certified recycler instead of a landfill.

What it costs

Quoted per job, billed hourly. Depends on how much equipment and how far it's going.