How do i safely get rid of an old laptop/desktop?

Sugarhunny1

Evening everyone,

I have a laptop and a desktop pc that is cluttering up my loft but I dont want to just chuck them out as I havent wiped them (nor do i know how to!)

Is there anywhere that I can give it to that will wipe and maybe put it to some sort of use?

TIA!

Sugar xxx

456789

use something like http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/ then donate them to charity/ a school or something

or if your really paranoid take the hard drive out and smash it with a big hammer

[Deleted User]

http://www.dban.org/

Go there, download the program, follow the instructions and just do one pass and then that's it. Simple.

Sugarhunny1

Oops,

Should have mentioned that the PC is broken, not sure what's happemed, something to do with a blue screen so not sure if I can overwrite it.

Laptop should be ok to do though.

Sugar xxx

DCFC79

Sugarhunny1 wrote: »

Oops,

Should have mentioned that the PC is broken, not sure what's happemed, something to do with a blue screen so not sure if I can overwrite it.

Laptop should be ok to do though.

Sugar xxx

take hard drive out of the desktop and smash it and erase the laptops hard drive, check your yellow pages if theres a computer recycling centre near you

456789

Sugarhunny1 wrote: »

Oops,

Should have mentioned that the PC is broken, not sure what's happemed, something to do with a blue screen so not sure if I can overwrite it.

Laptop should be ok to do though.

Sugar xxx

If it is just blue screen indicating probably a hardware failure then a boot disk like dban above should still work - or smash the hd

Little_John

Never give a PC away with the hard drive unless you take steps to destroy the data on there. I usually delete partitions create partitions then fill the drive with files, and repeat. takes a while but no data recovery software I have used can recover the original files of the drive so far.

I also have a pile of old hard drives as I refuse to throw them away just incase someone is better than I am at data recovery whcihc shouldnt be that hard.

gjchester

Little_John wrote: »

I also have a pile of old hard drives as I refuse to throw them away just incase someone is better than I am at data recovery whcihc shouldnt be that hard.

That just excessive.

Use DBAN and use the highest security that overwrites the disk with psudorandom data a few times makeing recovery all but impossible, there is always a slight chance it will be recoverable using newer and greater software but something like a 5 times overwrite will pretty much mean no-one is going to bother.

Give them away on Freecycle then, that way before you know if your old and overwritten data will be filled with someone elses data that will be easier to recover...

cfbc

Like others, remove the hard drive and keep it... If needs be, take it outside in your garden and smash it with a hammer! NEVER ever give that away in a PC or laptop!!!

I just "junked" three very old base units, removed hard drives and they are now stored in a draw downstairs and ALSO remove the PC and laptop memory... SOME NOW are worth quite a bit of extra money back, depends on the age and what memory, but a few quid back is woth it for two minutes work!

The rest, take down to your local tip and they will recycle! Do that with all monitors, base units and electrical equipent not needed.

[Deleted User]

gjchester wrote: »

That just excessive.
something like a 5 times overwrite will pretty much mean no-one is going to bother.

There's no point in multiple writes. The data is irrecoverable unless you know specifically what you are looking for and you have the time to spend recovering 1kb per hour, which I assume that everyone neither has the skill nor patience to do. Multiple overwrites are pointless.

cfbc

anewhope wrote: »

There's no point in multiple writes. The data is irrecoverable unless you know specifically what you are looking for and you have the time to spend recovering 1kb per hour, which I assume that everyone neither has the skill nor patience to do. Multiple overwrites are pointless.

Personally.. It's junk. Get the hammer to it! :T Why waste time overwriting it..