FORMAL ANSWER

Permanent and irreversible deletion of personal data is simply the destruction of their storage media in a way that makes recovery impossible. Shredders and special computer programmes that overwrite disks are among the methods used for this purpose.

PRACTICAL ANSWER

Personal data on a paper document can be permanently and irreversibly deleted by destroying the entire document in a shredder of the appropriate security class. As regards methods for deleting personal data stored on electronic media, a distinction is drawn between erasure involving complete wiping of data on the medium by overwriting them, and erasure involving removal of stored data using simple physical processes, e.g. destroying a computer hard drive with a hammer. For magnetic media, erasure may be carried out using a strong magnetic field. It is worth knowing that there are companies on the market that professionally destroy all personal data storage media.

MORE:

• You can find more information in the guide: How to process personal data