Frequently Asked Questions

IT Asset Disposition, or ITAD, is the structured process of securely retiring end-of-life IT equipment. A complete ITAD engagement includes data destruction on every storage device, documented chain of custody from your site to final disposition, recovery and refurbishment of equipment with remaining useful life, and responsible recycling of everything else. ITAD differs from general electronics recycling in its emphasis on data security and audit documentation — every asset is tracked, every drive is accounted for, and you receive records that stand up to a compliance review.

Yes — bulk pickup, standard data wipes, and chain-of-custody documentation are genuinely free, with no invoice. The service is funded by resale revenue-share: a meaningful portion of retired business equipment still has resale value after testing and secure wiping. We refurbish and resell that equipment, and the resale revenue funds the pickup, wiping, and documentation for the entire job. In other words, the working machines in your batch pay for the disposal of the batch. The only standard charge is optional physical drive destruction at $10 per drive for clients who want media shredded or crushed rather than wiped.

Our standard data wipe — a full overwrite with per-drive verification, aligned to NAID AAA / i-SIGMA specifications — is free on every job and is documented in your Certificate of Destruction and Trace Report. Physical drive destruction is available on request at $10 per drive for clients whose policies require that media be destroyed rather than sanitized and reused. Destroyed drives are serialized before destruction so each one is individually accounted for in your documentation. Full details are published on our ITAD services and pricing page — no quote forms, no hidden fees.

Our standard method is a verified overwrite: each drive is wiped using sanitization methods aligned to NAID AAA / i-SIGMA specifications, and every wipe is verified before the drive is cleared for reuse. Drives that fail wiping or verification are physically destroyed at no charge — a failed drive never re-enters circulation. Solid-state drives are sanitized using SSD-specific secure-erase commands rather than conventional overwrite passes, since flash media requires different handling than magnetic disks. Tape and other media that cannot be reliably sanitized are physically destroyed. Clients can also request physical destruction of any drive, regardless of condition, at $10 per drive.

No, and we are careful not to claim otherwise. Our data destruction methods are aligned to NAID AAA / i-SIGMA specifications — meaning our wiping, verification, physical destruction, and documentation practices follow the specifications that i-SIGMA publishes — but Trace does not currently hold NAID AAA certification, and alignment is not the same thing as certification. For most organizations, verified sanitization, serialized per-drive documentation, and a documented chain of custody satisfy internal compliance requirements. Organizations whose policies or contracts require NAID AAA certification at the primary vendor level should use a certified provider, and we are happy to make a referral.

Tracing is per-asset lifecycle tracking — our core differentiator. Every asset we receive is serialized at intake and tracked through each stage: Received, Verified, Wiped, Destroyed or Refurbished, and finally Resold or Recycled. Nothing disappears into a warehouse; every device has a documented path from your dock to its final disposition. At the end of every job you receive three documents: a Certificate of Destruction covering all sanitized and destroyed media, Chain of Custody documentation from pickup through processing, and a Trace Report listing each asset with its serial number and final disposition status. See how per-asset tracing works for a stage-by-stage walkthrough.

We serve clients nationwide through two channels. Free on-site bulk pickup is available within our regional service area — we come to your facility, load the equipment, and take custody on site. For clients outside the pickup area, and for smaller jobs anywhere in the country, we send free prepaid mail-in drive kits: you box up your drives, apply the prepaid label, and every drive is tracked, wiped or destroyed, and documented exactly as it would be with an on-site pickup. If you are unsure which channel fits your location or volume, contact us at info@traceitad.com and we will confirm.

Request a free mail-in drive kit through our contact page and we ship you a prepaid, trackable mailer sized for your drive count — at no cost. You pack your drives, seal the mailer, and hand it to the carrier; the shipping label is already paid. Chain of custody begins the moment the carrier scans the package, and the tracking number is recorded in your job file. When the kit arrives at our facility, each drive is serialized at intake, then wiped with verification or physically destroyed per your instructions. You receive the same Certificate of Destruction, Chain of Custody documentation, and Trace Report as an on-site pickup client. Standard wipes are free; physical destruction is $10 per drive.

Equipment that passes intake testing is securely wiped with verification, refurbished, and resold. This is deliberate: reuse is the best environmental outcome for working hardware, and the resale revenue is what funds our free pickup, free wiping, and documentation. Every refurbished asset is tracked through the same tracing pipeline as destroyed media, so your Trace Report shows exactly which assets were resold and which were recycled. Equipment with no remaining market value — too old, damaged, or unsupported — is responsibly recycled. Clients who require destruction of all equipment regardless of condition can specify that at the time of pickup.

Honestly: for most jobs, the resale value of your equipment is what makes the service free — it covers pickup, labor, wiping, and documentation, and you pay nothing. That is the revenue-share in its most common form. When a batch contains equipment with substantial resale value — newer laptops, dense server gear, current-generation hardware — the value can exceed the cost of servicing the job, and in those cases we share the surplus back to you as a credit or payment. We will tell you up front, based on your equipment list, whether your batch is likely to be free-service-only or a candidate for a revenue-share payout. We would rather set accurate expectations than promise buyback money that older equipment cannot generate.

The Certificate of Destruction is serialized and includes your organization name, the job date, drive serial numbers, the sanitization or destruction method used per device, verification status, processing date, and an authorized signature. The Trace Report goes further: it lists every asset in the job — not just storage media — with manufacturer, model, serial number, and its final lifecycle status (wiped, destroyed, refurbished, resold, or recycled), so your asset register can be closed out line by line. Chain of Custody documentation records who handled the equipment and when, from pickup or mail-in receipt through final disposition. All three are delivered electronically with every job.

Yes, with appropriate documentation. We execute Business Associate Agreements for healthcare clients, subject to a scope review of the engagement. Our sanitization and destruction methods, aligned to NAID AAA / i-SIGMA specifications, meet the media sanitization needs of the HIPAA Security Rule, and our Certificate of Destruction and Trace Report are formatted to serve as compliance documentation. To be clear, we are not NAID AAA certified; healthcare organizations whose policies require NAID AAA certification at the primary vendor level should request a referral to a certified provider.

We retain all chain-of-custody documentation, wipe verification logs, Certificates of Destruction, and Trace Reports for a minimum of seven years. If your organization is ever audited or investigated regarding equipment we handled, we will provide all related records on request at no charge. Because every asset is traced individually, we can produce the disposition history of a single drive years after the job closed.

Contact us with your location and an approximate equipment count and we will respond with scheduling options within one business day. On-site bulk pickups in our regional service area are typically scheduled within the same week, and mail-in kits ship as soon as your request is confirmed. Processing — intake, verification, wiping or destruction — begins when equipment reaches our facility, and your Certificate of Destruction, Chain of Custody documentation, and Trace Report are delivered electronically once processing is complete. Large decommissioning projects are scheduled by mutual coordination based on project requirements.