Your Copier Hard Drive Has Been Taking Notes

Written By:

Chris Regan

 

Yes, a copier can have a hard drive, and one health plan settled with federal regulators for $1,215,780 after returning leased copiers without erasing theirs. A copier is a computer with a paper tray. This post explains what a copier hard drive stores, how to wipe it, and when proper data destruction is the safer choice.

Do Copiers and Printers Have Hard Drives That Store Data?

Many do, according to the Federal Trade Commission’s guide for businesses. The drive stores data about the documents the machine copies, prints, scans, faxes, and emails, and it helps the machine manage its jobs.

Age makes the difference, according to a 2015 NIST report. For example, older, single-function machines may have no internal storage at all. Newer machines can connect to your network and run an operating system, the way a computer does. They also usually store data on a hard drive or a solid state drive. CBS reported in 2010 that nearly every digital copier built since 2002 has a hard drive that keeps an image of each document.

How much stays behind is the uncomfortable part. The NIST report says potentially all of the information a machine ever handled could remain in its storage indefinitely. It also notes that many organizations may not have an accurate inventory of these machines. That is a polite way of saying nobody knows what the copier knows.

Is a Copier Hard Drive a Security Risk?

It can be, and three cases show how, each with its year attached.

2010 and 2013. CBS News bought four used copiers from a New Jersey warehouse for about $300 apiece. It reported pulling tens of thousands of documents off the drives, including 300 pages of medical records from Affinity Health Plan. In 2013 Affinity settled for $1,215,780 after estimating that up to 344,579 people may have been affected. Investigators found it had returned copiers to leasing agents without erasing the drives. They also found the drives were missing from its risk analysis, the security review that HIPAA requires.

2023. Canon warned that Wi-Fi settings stored in its inkjet printers may survive the usual reset. Its instructions are to reset the printer, turn the wireless back on, and reset it again before a repair, a loan, or disposal. That is a printer you have to tell twice. So if a small inkjet can keep its Wi-Fi details, it is fair to ask what a networked copier keeps.

2025. Researchers at Rapid7 found eight flaws affecting 748 printer, scanner, and label maker models. Brother made 689 of them, and the rest came from Fujifilm, Ricoh, Toshiba Tec, and Konica Minolta. The worst flaw lets an attacker work out a machine’s factory administrator password from its serial number. Brother indicated that a software update could not fully fix it and instead published a workaround.

The two recent cases are warnings, and neither is a breach report. All three still show one habit. Office machines get treated like furniture, and furniture does not have an administrator password.

Federal rules can apply to what these machines hold. The FTC guide says its Disposal Rule covers consumer information stored on a digital copier, and that financial institutions may need to follow the Safeguards Rule.

How Do You Wipe a Copier Hard Drive Before Disposal?

You can overwrite it, encrypt it, or have the drive removed, and a skilled technician should handle any of the three. However, the do-it-yourself routes let you down. Deleting files or reformatting the drive does not remove the data, and utility software may recover it. Pulling the drive is risky, since copier drives often hold firmware, the built-in software the machine needs to run. Remove the drive without replacing the firmware and you may return a dead copier to the leasing company. Drives can also be hard to find, and some machines have more than one.

The FTC guide describes the three options this way.

Option	What It Does	The Catch
Overwrite	Replaces existing data with random characters, after each job or on a schedule	Documents saved on the machine for reprinting are not overwritten with the rest
Encrypt	On copiers that offer it, scrambles the data so it cannot be retrieved even if the drive is removed	It may be standard or an add-on kit, so check what your model has
Remove the drive	The manufacturer, dealer, or servicing company takes the drive out and returns it to you	It typically costs extra

Meanwhile, overwrite at least monthly and treat it as hygiene. When the machine leaves, the safer move is to get the drive back, have it destroyed, and keep the certificate of destruction. “I think it was wiped” is a weak thing to tell an auditor.

What Should a Copier Lease Say Before You Sign It?

A copier lease should say who keeps the copier hard drive. Copiers are often leased, returned, and then leased again or sold, so the contract should settle the question. The FTC guide gives two acceptable answers. Either your company keeps ownership of every hard drive at the end of the machine’s life, or the provider overwrites the drive.

First, put these three questions to your dealer, manufacturer, or servicing company:

• Does this model have one hard drive or more than one?
• Are encryption and overwriting standard, or an add-on kit?
• At lease end, do we keep the drive or do you overwrite it, and what does that cost?

Then get the answers in writing and expect a fee. You may be able to negotiate it when you lease or buy a new machine, so the best moment to ask is before you sign, while everyone at the table still wants the deal. Our guide to IT equipment depreciation and leasing covers the financial side.

What Should You Do Before a Copier Leaves the Office?

Work through this list, and start early if a lease is ending:

• Call your dealer this week and ask the three questions above, before anyone schedules the pickup.
• Add the machine to your equipment audit, with its make, model, and serial number.
• Name one owner for the machine, ideally someone in IT.
• Use the encryption and overwrite features your model offers, and change the default password.
• Clear any documents saved on the machine for reprinting.
• Have a skilled technician wipe or remove the copier hard drive, and keep the screwdriver away from everyone else.
• Reset passwords and restore factory settings, which NIST lists alongside wiping the storage.
• Keep a record of the date, the method, and the serial number.

How Do You Clear Printer and Copier Memory?

How do you clear printer memory before disposal? NIST lists three steps: wipe or destroy the storage, reset the passwords, and restore factory settings. Canon inkjet owners should follow Canon’s reset instructions above.

Do printers store data? Canon’s 2023 warning shows that even an inkjet printer can keep your Wi-Fi settings in memory after a normal reset.

Is a factory reset enough for a copier? A reset is one step and not the whole job. NIST lists it alongside wiping or destroying the storage, so ask for an overwrite or get the drive back.

Where Does CLR Solutions Fit In?

CLR Solutions is based in Randolph, New Jersey, and serves the tri-state area. Two jobs on the checklist above are our line of work: removing equipment and destroying drives. Our equipment removal team disconnects and removes IT devices, and never leaves them unattended in unsecured locations. Our data destruction service can shred, degauss, or erase drives on-site or off-site, with a certificate of destruction and chain-of-custody records. You can also read about a manufacturer that keeps custody of its equipment while we destroy it on-site in our client testimonials and case studies.

CLR is an i-SIGMA member company and a Microsoft Registered Refurbisher. NAID AAA certified partners perform our on-site mobile shredding, and our processes align with NIST 800-88, Department of Defense, and HIPAA guidelines.

If a copier lease is ending, or an old machine is sitting in a hallway, call 877-350-8646 or contact CLR Solutions. Ask us how we would handle the machine and the copier hard drive inside it. Your copier has taken enough notes already.

References

1. Federal Trade Commission. Digital Copier Data Security: A Guide for Businesses. Retrieved October 12, 2026. https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/resources/digital-copier-data-security-guide-businesses
2. Dempsey, K., & Paulsen, C. (2015, February). NIST IR 8023: Risk Management for Replication Devices (full report, PDF). National Institute of Standards and Technology. https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/ir/2015/NIST.IR.8023.pdf
3. Keteyian, A. (2010, April 19). Digital Photocopiers Loaded With Secrets. CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/digital-photocopiers-loaded-with-secrets/
4. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights. (2013, August 14). HHS Settles with Health Plan in Photocopier Breach Case. https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/compliance-enforcement/examples/health-plan-photocopier-breach-case/index.html
5. Canon Inc. (2023, July 31). CP2023-003: Vulnerability Mitigation/Remediation for Inkjet Printers (Home and Office/Large Format). https://psirt.canon/advisory-information/cp2023-003/
6. Fewer, S. (2025, June 25). Multiple Brother Devices: Multiple Vulnerabilities (FIXED). Rapid7. https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/multiple-brother-devices-multiple-vulnerabilities-fixed/