Disposing of a computer?

[HawkeyeScott]

I'm getting rid of my old HP laptop that failed over the summer. This is the first computer I've ever had to toss, so I'm not sure exactly what I need to do to be safe about it.

I've removed the battery and will recycle it. I'm more concerned about tax records, etc. that were on the desktop/hard drive when it died. So I took out the hard drive. So...

1. How should I destroy the hard drive?

2. If I just put the laptop in the trash - without the battery and teh hard drive - will there be any way someone could resurrect it and potentially grab stuff off of it?

(The liklihood of that happening is small, I know. I just want to take the time now and remove all possibility.)

Thanks a lot for any advice.

 

[brandini]

Bash the hard drive in until the platters break.

Sell the shell on ebay, someone will want the screen.

 

[defektes]

Destroy the harddrive.

Burn it, shoot it, tear the internal disc apart and throw it away as serperate peices.

Or hey you can keep the drive and buy a laptop to IDE cable and have extra storage.

 

[Scienceman]

To destroy the hardrive,

1. bang the heck out of it with a hammer.
2. run over it with your car
3. burn it
4. throw it away.

 

[Warstud]

Salvation Army will recycle it...

 

[javacontour]

Keep the hard drive. The rest can be recycled. Heck, put it on craigs list, free to good home. Someone may need some of the parts to fix theirs.

If the hard drive is still good, you could likely put it in an external disk enclosure, recover data and then wipe the drive.

 

[HawkeyeScott]

I'm not 100% sure but I think the hard drive is what went wrong. Not positive, so thus the question about killing it.

So once the hard drive is dead, there is no way of getting anything off the computer?

Thanks guys. Good help.

 

[greenaccord02]

Remove HD and hit with a hammer 5-10 times until thoroughly broken.

Sell the rest on ebay...

?????

Profit

 

[EricF]

if the hard drive is decently sized, like 40+gig buy a usb enclosure for $15 and use it as a portable drive.

If you want to really get rid of it, I get 3 self tapping screws and drill through the platters.

Of course.. there's always fire.

 

[Sayjac]

Don't hard drives have some nice magnets in them? I think so. Save them and use them on your oil filters for extra protection.

 

[greenaccord02]

Only desktop HDs have the magnets necessary, I'm afraid.

 

[PandaBear]

Open the cover and sand blast the disk should be good enough.

Or a software HD eraser that wipe all sectors with 0 should be good enough for non military purposes.

Can't you just recycle it?

 

[berniedd]

Laptop hard drives also have magnets like their bigger desktop brothers, but they are not as strong nor as large. Still, I use them on my oil filters. Better than nothing.

 

[JustinH]

just remove the hard drive, and either keep it, or destroy it yourself.

I would put the rest of the shell on ebay as is.

You might be surprised what you get for it, people seem to like broken computer parts on ebay, and they bid it up.

I got 200 dollars for a 4 year old broken laptop that I paid 400 for 4 years ago.

 

[Bottom_Feeder]

Whatever you do, DON'T just throw it away. There are recycling places all over that will take it for free. Electronic equipment should not end up in landfills!

If the hard drive still works, you can use a program like Darik's Boot and Nuke to securely wipe the drive to a Department of Defense spec. If a 7-pass wipe is good enough for the DoD, then it should be good enough for you. Go to www.dban.org to get it. Once wiped, recycle it or sell it cheap on eBay or whatever.

If after the DBAN wipe you're still paranoid about your private info and want to keep the drive, do the next owner a favor and at least include the drive sled, interface adapter (if any) and mounting screws with the laptop.

 

[KrisZ]

A simpler method of destroying the HD is to drill a few holes through it.