Scrap value in old computers?

poppellerant

Roz81 said:

Is there a way of wiping an old laptop of all personal data before disposing it?

I have a couple of old laptops that have stopped working, can't even fire them up.

But feel reluctant to dispose of them incase they contain sensitive info.

Your best bet is to remove the hard drive or SSD drive from the laptop and secure erase them in a USB enclosure or a computer with a spare SATA port.

SSD drives can be securely erased very quickly if you use Parted Magic or the manufacturer's software.

Hard drives can be securely erased, but they take a lot longer.  I prefer to do several passes of random data, then zero erase the drive if you intend to sell it on.

Failing the above, grab a hammer and take out some frustration on the drives.

There's no need to smash the laptops themselves up, though.  You can sell them without drives installed, or sell them with the erased drives installed.  Just make it clear that there is either no drive in the laptop, or the drive has been erased and contains no operating system.

GDB2222

If you don't know how to remove the drives, a sledge hammer will make a right mess of the laptop and the drive.