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Tape Buyback Program

Media Recovery knows how to help you maximize your data tape investment. We can show you how to use yesterday's technology to invest in tomorrow's Datacenter. Trust in established, reliable processes perfected over the last 30 years. Maintain your data's security — and recover a substantial portion of your tape investments.

Media Recovery began the Tape Buyback Program in 1974 as an innovative, cost-effective service to help our customers reclaim the value of scratch tape and redeploy tapes for future use.

Download our Tape Buyback Brochure – 900 kB PDF

When you participate in this program, we handle your data with extreme sensitivity at all times. All of our work is done in our secure Operations Center. Our processes are fully SAS 70 and Sarbanes-Oxley compliant and meet or exceed ANSI Standards. Media Recovery's proprietary processes ensure complete data eradication.

100% Secure Data Eradication:
Our Nine-Point Process

Our process ensures that every tape that enters our Tape Buyback Program is 100% drive-tested end-to-end to guarantee complete data eradication. Here's how our nine-point proprietary data eradication process works:

  • 1) Tape Audit

    • Media Recovery staff audits your tapes and provides you with an electronic file that contains the volser numbers for all tapes that are being purchased to crosscheck with your current tapes, ensuring no active tape was mistakenly pulled.

  • 2) Secure Transport

    • Your tapes are safely transported to our secure Operations Center for data eradication under strict controls.

  • 3) Final Destination Audit

    • Your tapes are audited again upon arrival at our Operations Center and you receive another electronic file containing volser numbers for all tapes received. This practice verifies that all of your tapes are accounted for and have been received.

  • 4) Cleaning

    • Tapes are tissue cleaned.

  • 5) Retensioning

    • Tapes are retensioned to OEM standards.

  • 6) Optical Scanning

    • Tapes are optically scanned for physical defects, including edge damage. All damaged tapes are immediately removed from the process, data eradicated, and disposed of.

  • 7) Data Eradication

    • Standard tape cartridges are degaussed; high-density servo track tapes are overwritten with Media Recovery's proprietary code end-to-end, rendering any previous data completely unreadable.

  • 8) Final Inspection and Eradication

    • All tapes go through a Final Quality Control Inspection and Validation to ensure any previously readable data is eradicated. Tapes with any permanent errors, or more than our strict minimum of ECCs, are removed from processing and immediately disposed of.

  • 9) Redeployment

    • The process for creating Media Recovery's 100% Certified Tape is complete. Every tape is backed by our Performance Guarantee

Learn more about our Data Eradication and Tape Disposal Services

SAS 70 Compliance for Secure Data Eradication

SAS 70 stands for "Statement on Auditing Standards" by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and determines the professional standards a service auditor uses in a formal report to measure the internal controls of a service organization. Media Recovery is one of the only Datacenter products and services companies to have SAS 70 compliance, verifying the security and thoroughness of every step of our servo track media certification and data eradication processes.

Learn more about SAS 70 Compliance

Contact Us

Please contact us for more information about our products and services. We look forward to helping you achieve maximum Datacenter optimization.

Media Recovery: Your Partner in Datacenter Optimization

Media Recovery has been designing effective Datacenter solutions for the unique needs of customers for over 30 years. With extensive knowledge, resources, and staff, we’re here to help you maintain your data security and conserve your operational resources. As your ongoing “special projects partner”, Media Recovery stands ready to provide you with effective solutions for all your Datacenter requirements.

Media Recovery provides an extensive array of Raised-Floor Environment Services to optimize your Datacenter, including: Datacenter Cleaning, Relocations and Consolidations, Tape Library Audits, Tape Removal and Re-slotting, Tape Library Reconfiguration, RFID Asset Tracking, and Asset Recovery.

Media Recovery also offers a wide array of Storage Media Services, including: Tape Buyback Program, Data Duplication and Format Conversion, Labeling and Initialization, Data Eradication and Tape Disposal, Tape Cleaning and Certification, and Disaster Recovery Services.