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Materialklasse (DIN 66399)
In brief
The material class under DIN 66399 classifies data carriers for destruction according to their construction, such as paper, optical media, hard drives or electronic storage. It is indicated by a letter and, together with the security level, determines how finely a data carrier must be shredded. This produces a designation such as "H-5" for hard drives or "E-4" for electronic data carriers.
The six material classes
| Grade | Data carrier | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| P | Information representation in original size | Paper, printouts, files |
| F | Reduced-size representation | Microfilm, transparencies |
| O | Optical data carriers | CD, DVD, Blu-ray |
| T | Magnetic data carriers | Floppy disks, magnetic tapes, magnetic stripe cards |
| H | Hard drives with magnetic data carrier | HDD |
| E | Electronic data carriers | SSD, USB stick, memory card, chip card |
There are separate entries for each class: material class H, Material class E, material class O and material class T.
Why the material class matters
The more densely a medium stores data, the smaller the particles must be. A flash chip holds large amounts of data in the smallest area. That is why class E requires considerably smaller particles than class H at the same security level. An SSD that was shredded only to an H level can contain intact memory chips. The standard is also available internationally as ISO/IEC 21964. Which combination of protection class, material class and security level you need is explained in our guide DIN 66399: Which safety level your hard drives need.
Second IT destroys data carriers in-house according to DIN 66399, up to security level H-5 (hard drives) and E-5 (SSDs, USB sticks); level H-5 is certified.
Frequently asked questions about the material class
Which material class does an SSD have?
Class E for electronic data carriers. Classic hard drives belong to class H.
What does the "H" in H-5 stand for?
For material class H, that is, hard drives with a magnetic data carrier. The number behind it is the security level.
Which class do smartphones belong to?
Their flash memory belongs to class E. The requirements for electronic data carriers therefore apply to destruction.
Why does an SSD need smaller particles than a hard drive?
A flash chip holds large amounts of data in the smallest area. That is why class E requires considerably smaller particles than class H at the same security level. An SSD shredded only to an H level can contain intact memory chips.
Which material class do CDs, DVDs and magnetic tapes have?
CD, DVD and Blu-ray belong to class O for optical data carriers. Floppy disks and magnetic tapes belong to class T for magnetic data carriers. Paper and printouts fall into class P.
Festplatten vernichten nach DIN 66399 – im eigenen Haus, mit Zertifikat.
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