Tech nerds, I need help: How do I scrub and then recycle my old non working PC and laptops?

The standard protocol is to take a sledgehammer and smash the hard drive/SSD/nvme to bits.

Wise One wrote:

The standard protocol is to take a sledgehammer and smash the hard drive/SSD/nvme to bits.

But that's putting a lot of faith in me. That means I have to figure out which component in the back holds the hard drive, find a tiny screw driver, etc.

Anything easier?

Get thermite and burn it

Burn it with thermite or a propane torch.

Funny we have 2 laptops that are 10 yrs old but I keep telling myself that maybe I could sell them for a few bucks.

Looks like it's hammer time.

rojo wrote:

Wise One wrote:

The standard protocol is to take a sledgehammer and smash the hard drive/SSD/nvme to bits.

But that's putting a lot of faith in me. That means I have to figure out which component in the back holds the hard drive, find a tiny screw driver, etc.

Anything easier?

I once actually tried to take hard drive apart and destroy the disc. It was ridiculously hard. If the drive works and you can still mount it, your best bet would be to deep format (zero-fill) the drive.

See:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/254509/free_tools_to_wipe_your_drives_securely.html

Guys, I'm worried about the information on old laptops but don't want to lift a finger to assuage my fears....

Rojo http//dban.org. Burn the image to a CD, then boot the laptops with the cd to wipe the disk. One pass will do just fine.

Once that is done, find an electronic waste recycler near you and drop them off. In my area, I can take them to Best Buy and they hopefully actually keep all the heavy metals out of the dump. Call your local Best buy and see if they do it.

Do not just drop off the laptops without wiping the disks.

The top criminals are known to use bleachbit:

http://www.bleachbit.org

Wow. 10 replies and no Hillary jokes yet?

jamin wrote:

Wow. 10 replies and no Hillary jokes yet?

As always you're late to the party.

Take the drive out. Open the case, it will be obvious...

Take the drive-less PC to any Best Buy. They recycle computers. I dumped a multi function printer there last week.

Have an expert check them out first for usability. If they are not too old you/they should be able to get old licenses off them such as office. What's usable could be put back into circulation after you wipe the drive. Contact the Y, Boys and Girls club, women shelters etc and donate them. I hate to see computers tossed out when they are usable. My abode is a revolving door of computers such as your situation. I've donated some, given them to family members or co workers and on occasion sold them cheap to cover costs reviving them. If all else fails most computer shop will take them to e cycle.

rojo wrote:

So the wife and I just moved and in the process, I realize I've got about 5 old laptops - even one desktop - lying around. I don't have the power chords for all but one of them.

My question to you is. What the hell do I do with them? I know from an enviornmental standpoint we can't just put them in the trash and my wife is fearful that someone will steal our identity if I don't scrub them.

So sow do I scrub the hard drives? Is there a magnet I can buy? Can I put it in the sink and turn on the water? Drill a whole through the hard-drive? What's the protocol for a nonworking computer?

Then where do I take them?

Don't you have spellcheck? Your Ivy education is not doing you justice. Two, check out the thread about the guy that lost all his files when he opened a questionable email. Maybe he can send you a copy and then you won't have to lift a finger or a hammer. Easy as pie. Or, find some Russian who does Ransom coding and have him or her lock your computers up, good and tight.

I am sure you can find some electric "cords" that would work so you can start your computers to do this.

better than a cloth wrote:

The top criminals are known to use bleachbit:

http://www.bleachbit.org

Bleachbitch. Then let windows format the harddrive.

You mean like, with a cloth or something?

I recently just disposed of a desktop and 2 really old laptops. After copying all files to a backup disk, I looked for an innocuous file of decent size (eg an exe file of some program) and stuck it in a new folder. I deleted all the files on the drive that Windows would let me except for the aforementioned folder. I then proceeded to make copies of the folder and moved the copy into the folder itself. Repeat. The folder will get larger and larger. I stop when the drive runs out of space. I will by then have overwritten everything that used to be on the drive with this innocuous exe file. Took the computers to Best Buy. Done

Have worked for the DOD in tech ..

https://dban.org/

You mean like with a cloth?