Advice on recycling old phones/laptops, won't turn on but want to ensure that data can't be restored

TC77

Hi, 
I've a no of old phones (mine and family) which are broken so can't do a factory reset and wary of recycling and potentially someone being able to restore sensitive data. Is there anything I can do about this or ideas on what to do?  I know some parts can be recycled/reused.

The same applies to old laptops?

I also have a couple of wireless keyboards (almost unused) but don't have the dongle thing so can't be uses - can these be recycled by anyone?

Hoping these aren't daft questions, but unsure what to do . Many thanks,

wongataa

In regards to the old laptops just remove the hard drives.  All the data is on those.

powerspowers

I’ve previously used http://www.weeecharity.com/ they were very efficient and provided certification that data had been wiped. 

MouldyOldDough

I have always physically destroyed my old phones - using a lump hammer - to ensure that any data cannot be recovered

PC's and Laptops - you can format the Hard Disk but that "can" be recovered - so to be totally sure - remove the hard disk and "disassemble" it

GDB2222

You can also disable hard disks with the lump hammer.

There's a chance that a well-resourced intelligence agency could salvage chips from a smashed up phone and read some or all of the data. However, for ordinary folk, that's not a concern. 

bob2302

MouldyOldDough said:

PC's and Laptops - you can format the Hard Disk but that "can" be recovered - so to be totally sure - remove the hard disk and "disassemble" it

There are tools to overwrite drives - one pass with random data will do. Or reformat it and use it for something else.

If the data is encrypted, it doesn't really matter what you do - this has been the norm for a long time for phones.

RAS

Do you have a local Repair Cafe? There's often techies involved with them who can overwrite stuff before it's recycled.

GDB2222

bob2302 said:

MouldyOldDough said:

PC's and Laptops - you can format the Hard Disk but that "can" be recovered - so to be totally sure - remove the hard disk and "disassemble" it

There are tools to overwrite drives - one pass with random data will do. Or reformat it and use it for something else.

If the data is encrypted, it doesn't really matter what you do - this has been the norm for a long time for phones.

In practice, hard disks have grown so rapidly in size that old ones are completely valueless - at least they are by the time I am ready to throw them out. So, wiping them has seemed a pointless exercise. 

bob2302

RAS said:

Do you have a local Repair Cafe? There's often techies involved with them who can overwrite stuff before it's recycled.

Bear in mind that overwriting hard drives can take hours. If you let them get on with it in their own time, they will probably have a good look through your data.

bob2302

GDB2222 said:

In practice, hard disks have grown so rapidly in size that old ones are completely valueless - at least they are by the time I am ready to throw them out. So, wiping them has seemed a pointless exercise. 

You wipe them so you know for sure that they wont be read after you get rid of them - it not specific to selling.

FWIW the pace of development for magnetic hard drives is very slow and has been for a long time. Cex are still selling second-hand drive in sizes I haven't used in twenty years.

TC77

Thank you everyone, I'll contact the charity but am I right that if I can't turn on the laptop I can't wipe it?  I assume I can take it out and destroy as people suggest and pass on the rest of it.