What to do with old pc's

wik

Hi there... A quick question..

I have 3 old computers - 2 of which got zapped during a sudden thunderstorm

And one that wont connect to internet, and has hardly any memory (16 whatever its called) So not even any good for games

My question is....

What can I do to declutter them? The 2 that got zapped had an awful of of personal information on them, and the other one has some.

I worry about freecycling them incase anyone gets my personal info.

wik x

Im_just_careful

The local tip electrical goods recycling seems a suitable place for all 3 of them but without their hard disks.

You could take the disks out and put them in a USB disk caddy, I've got the "Dynamode 3.5 inch SATA and IDE Slim Line Storage Disk Caddie" but there are lots about.

Others will advise about their favorite way of deleting personal information but I would use a disk overwriting programme of some kind and dispose of them or alternatively just use the disks for backups.

googler

Take the hard disks out and keep them.

The only place your personal data can be stored is on the HDDs, so if you keep them, your data is safe.

Put what remains of each unit on eBay, as 'spares or repair'

zurpher

Definitely keep hold of any OEM Windows license that came with it. You might be able to get sell them on or get discounted upgrades. Operating systems and other software may still hold value.

wik

Thank you...

I used to live next to the sea, and when my last lappy died I smashed it up with an axe and put it in a bucket of seawater...lol

but maybe the taking hard disks out and selling the bits will be a good idea...

another silly question!! is it easy to do that, and what do they look like?
wik x

googler

wik wrote: »

is it easy to do that, and what do they look like?
wik x

Yes. All you need is a cross-head screwdriver.

You can find pictures of HDDs on any website that sells them; Amazon, eBay, etc.

You can find guides and tips on how to do it all over the internut, and video guides all over YouTube.

Garetha

Cables pull out quite easily
2 screws on each edge - sometimes difficult to get to one side.

Pinkypants

zurpher wrote: »

Definitely keep hold of any OEM Windows license that came with it. You might be able to get sell them on or get discounted upgrades. Operating systems and other software may still hold value.

Didn;t think you could sell OEM's on?

Thought that they'd be "tied" as such to the computer.

Stooby2

A lot of drives use Torx screws now - that picture must be from the ark!

googler

Stooby2 wrote: »

A lot of drives use Torx screws now - that picture must be from the ark!

There's no mounting screws shown in the picture.

poppellerant

Stooby2 wrote: »

A lot of drives use Torx screws now - that picture must be from the ark!

The only screws I see in the picture are actually torx screws - those screws are part of the harddrive itself.

The remaining 6 screwholes (3 of 6 are visible in the picture) are mounting holes to attach the harddrive to the PC case. Strictly speaking, there could well be another 6 mounting screwholes underneath the drive itself. I have only ever seen Phillips screws used to mount harddrives, sometimes with hex heads.