When hardware contains storage devices, data sanitisation is the process of permanently destroying all data before the device changes hands. This guide covers every method supported on Bluestar, who it is for, and step-by-step instructions for each one.
The current industry standard
The current industry standard is NIST 800-88 Clear, which means a single verified overwrite pass. This is what the vast majority of enterprise IT departments use today for routine decommissions.
DoD 5220.22-M (3 or 7 pass) is still widely recognised and accepted by auditors, but the US Department of Defense itself stopped using it years ago and moved to NIST 800-88. Many organisations still specify it in legacy policies simply because the name is familiar.
Gutmann (35 pass) was designed in 1996 for drives that no longer exist. No serious IT organisation uses it today. It takes many hours and provides no meaningful security advantage over a single pass on any drive made in the last 20 years.