You should degauss your hard drive or other devices if you don’t want them to store sensitive data. It takes about 1-4 hours to degauss a device, depending on the size of the hard drive.
This process is done by exposing the magnetic media (magnetic platters) to a strong magnetic field generated by an electromagnet. The magnetic field gradually removes all traces of data from the disk surface, rendering it unreadable. This process is also called “wiping” because it wipes away all traces of information on your hard drive.
Degaussing is the process of removing magnetism from a media. It’s not the only way to demagnetize a disk, but it is the best and most efficient one. The degaussing machine will remove any data stored on your disk, which will make it unusable.
Degaussing a hard drive can take anywhere from 2 hours to 24 hours, depending on how powerful the machine is and how much data needs to be removed.
