How much does hard drive shredding cost?
The honest answer is a range, and it depends on five things. Here they are, with numbers, so you can size a job before you call.
The short answer
On-site: a stop charge plus a per-item rate that falls with volume. Across the market, published rates run about $7 to $20 per hard drive: $15 to $20 in small batches, $10 to $15 for a few dozen, $7 to $12 past fifty, plus a trip or stop charge that ranges from a couple hundred dollars up depending on distance and the standard required. We quote every on-site job individually, and the quote is the price.
By mail: per item, with the prices published. Hard drives $8, 2.5-inch SSDs $8 or $12 at 2 mm, M.2 cards $12, phones $4 or $8 at 2 mm, tablets $15, tapes 50 cents, $59 minimum, and the UPS label is included when the box is under 10 lb. Price a box.
What a breach costs
IBM’s 2025 Cost of a Data Breach report put the average U.S. breach at $10.22 million, the highest of any country, and the average healthcare breach at $7.42 million. Public-sector breach costs rose faster than any other industry. A single drive that leaves your building intact is a breach waiting to be discovered, and destruction is the cheapest line on that ledger.
The five things that move the number
- How many itemsPer-item rates step down at 250, 500, 1,000, and 2,000 items. A data closet and a data center are different jobs, and the second one is cheaper per drive.
- What kind of mediaHard drives and tapes are the least expensive to destroy. Solid-state media to the NSA 2 mm standard costs more because the disintegrator is slower. Tablets, motherboards, and whole laptops sit between. Tell us the mix and we can tell you the shape of the quote.
- Which standard you are held toNIST 800-88 Destroy is one machine per item. NSA/CSS 9-12 for magnetic media is two: degausser, then shredder. Special Access Program material adds two-person handling and an itemized certificate. Each step is labor, and each is on the quote.
- Where you areOur next-day metros carry no minimum. The extended range carries a higher minimum because of the travel, and sharing a date with a neighboring organization brings everyone’s cost down. See the metros.
- What you addSerial-number logging, video of the destruction, electronics recycling by the pound, and chassis removal are all available and all priced separately, so you pay for what you use.
What the price includes
- Destruction at your site, witnessed by your staff
- A Certificate of Destruction naming the method, the machine, the date, and each item
- Recycling through R2-certified partners, with downstream documentation
- Serial-number log at twenty items or more on mail-in orders, and on request on-site
- A quote that does not change on the day
Two mail-in examples
Twenty laptop drives. Twenty 2.5-inch hard drives at $8 is $160. The box weighs about 6 lb, so the label is included. Total: $160.
Five desktop drives and three SATA SSDs. Five at $8 plus three at $8 is $64, or $76 if the SSDs must go to 2 mm. About 10 lb, label included.
When does the truck beat the mail? Past about fifty items, when your standard requires witnessed destruction, or whenever the media is classified. Classified media never ships.
Why we do not publish the on-site rate sheet
Because two jobs with the same drive count can be a hundred miles and two standards apart, and a sheet that ignores that would be wrong for most people who read it. What we do instead: tell us what you have and where you are, and you get one number, in writing, before we come. That number is what you pay.
Questions about cost
Is there a minimum?
For on-site work in our next-day metros, no: a single server is a job. In the extended range, yes, because of the travel, and we say what it is before you commit. By mail the minimum order is $59, and it includes the shipping label when the box is under 10 lb.
Do you charge for travel?
Travel is part of the number we quote before we come. It is not a line item that appears afterward, and the quote does not change on the day.
Why does an SSD cost more than a hard drive?
A hard drive goes through the degausser and the shredder in seconds. An SSD destroyed to the NSA 2 mm standard goes through the disintegrator, which is slower and harder on the machine. A 2.5-inch SSD can take the standard shred rate when your standard does not require 2 mm; M.2 and NVMe cards always go to 2 mm.
Isn’t free recycling cheaper?
It is free because your hardware is the product. Free recyclers resell what you hand over, whole, and the wipe is the step they can least afford. Why free is not free.
Do you offer government pricing?
We are a certified service-disabled veteran-owned small business, which matters for set-asides. Ask us about purchase orders, invoicing, and cooperative contracts.
Can I get a quote without a site visit?
Yes. Counts, media types, the standard you need, and your address are usually enough. Photos of the pile help.