Old Computer Disposal

[Ksyrup]

As part of the cleaning/reorganizing I'm sure everyone was forced to do during the shutdown last year (either by their spouse or through sheer boredom), I realized that I had accumulated a significant number of computers over the years. This probably goes back to the late 90s, I'm guessing - 7 laptops and 3 desktops.

I've mainly held onto them because I've been afraid to just throw them away. So what's the best way to dispose of them? Some of them failed and I was forced to replace them, meaning I never properly downloaded everything I probably wanted from them, while others were replaced while still working, just way too slow or outdated. I was thinking about taking them somewhere to have the hard drives removed and downloaded onto a portable hard drive just so I can see what's there and then have the place safely dispose of them.

Is that the best call here? How does everyone dispose of old computers?

[kurtism]

Locally, there is an electronics recycling site that destroys all of that for us. Might be worth checking in your area.

[CrimsonFox]

Yeah, there are places that take things about and uses what they can, etc.

[Ksyrup]

But how do you ensure they can't take the information off of it? That's my biggest worry. I'm not sure I'd trust a recycling center to do that.

[weegeebored]

How paranoid are you? You could use a drive wiper utility at the most secure level. Very difficult but not impossible to recover the data. Depending on drive size this could take a long time. If you are really paranoid, smash the drives with a hammer to crack the platters. Really really paranoid? Set the drive(s) ablaze.

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by weegeebored

How paranoid are you? You could use a drive wiper utility at the most secure level. Very difficult but not impossible to recover the data. Depending on drive size this could take a long time. If you are really paranoid, smash the drives with a hammer to crack the platters. Really really paranoid? Set the drive(s) ablaze.

This

Smashing is fine for just about everyone. To meet hipaa requirements at work we smash them and then send them off to be melted.

[Ksyrup]

In that case, I think I'll hold onto them until college FB season. I've nearly got one for every week of the season so it might be a good stress reliever.

I'm pretty paranoid about bank account information sitting on the hard drive. That's my main concern.

[CrimsonFox]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

But how do you ensure they can't take the information off of it? That's my biggest worry. I'm not sure I'd trust a recycling center to do that.

What information?
your hard drive?

delete everything thien...or reformat it even

[Ksyrup]

Most of the computers died on their own - which is why I replaced them. And some are so old now I couldn't find the power cords if my life depended on it.

I guess I've read too much about what remains on a computer after deletion/reformatting to ever be completely convinced information isn't eventually susceptible to being discovered by people who know what they are doing. Which is why it's been easy to just put them in storage rather than deal with the uncertainty of throwing them away. But now that the pile has been exposed, I need to do something with it.

[sovereignstar v2]

There is a huge difference between deleting/reformatting and doing a 1 or 3-pass secure wipe though. Doing a 3-pass wipe is generally secure enough to meet federal regulations. You can't recover data from a 3-pass secure erase. There is lots of software that can do this; CCleaner Portable is a free easy-to-use option (should be somewhere in the advanced options). You would just need an external usb drive caddy to install the hard drives in. Anything that Windows can't mount anymore would need to be destroyed.

[cartman]

if you have a drill press, a few 1/2 inch holes will ruin the hard drive

[RainMaker]

The city has an electronics recycling program. Guessing most towns or counties do too.

[thesloppy]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

The city has an electronics recycling program. Guessing most towns or counties do too.

Same here, they will even come pick up your old crap.

[RainMaker]

For $10 you can yank out the hard drive and put it in an adapter. Nice, cheap external hard drive to backup stuff you have.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S

[cuervo72]

Funny. After reading this thread I had an ad for a HD docking station come up.

[tarcone]

I take it apart and take a hammer to the hard drive, Then I put it in a garbage bag and throw it in the trash

[weegeebored]

Originally Posted by sovereignstar v2

You can't recover data from a 3-pass secure erase

Not true. You would need to do a 35 pass Guttman wipe to make things almost unrecoverable. And even then, on magnetic platters some data leaks in between the tracks which a forensic expert could retrieve. As I posted, data destruction depends on your paranoia level.

[bhlloy]

What is on your computers that you have serious concern about somebody retrieving them from a recycling dump and pulling data off of it?

I mean given how much data everybody has on me and a rudimentary understanding of how awful cyber security is pretty much everywhere, this feels like it’s about concern #300 for me to be honest. Not trying to be snarky.

[Edward64]

When I dispose of laptops and desktops, I remove the HD and break the circuit board or scratch them really good with a screwdriver. That is good enough for my purposes.

[Bobble]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

As part of the cleaning/reorganizing I'm sure everyone was forced to do during the shutdown last year (either by their spouse or through sheer boredom), I realized that I had accumulated a significant number of computers over the years. This probably goes back to the late 90s, I'm guessing - 7 laptops and 3 desktops.

I've mainly held onto them because I've been afraid to just throw them away. So what's the best way to dispose of them? Some of them failed and I was forced to replace them, meaning I never properly downloaded everything I probably wanted from them, while others were replaced while still working, just way too slow or outdated. I was thinking about taking them somewhere to have the hard drives removed and downloaded onto a portable hard drive just so I can see what's there and then have the place safely dispose of them.

Is that the best call here? How does everyone dispose of old computers?

This is me, too. I have quite a few old computers that I don't really know what to intelligently do with. Subscribed.

[Ksyrup]

So I found that my city does not have an electronics recycling program, but Lexington does. You have to be a resident of the county to drop off at their facility, but apparently they have drop-off sites in surrounding counties (including a local computer repair shop I was going to take mine to see what they suggested doing with them), so I think that's the next step.

And for those who are wondering why this is such a big deal to me, 5 of the 1st 6 FAQs on their site were about destruction of hard drives and data protection, so I don't think I'm being paranoid.