DawnM Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 DH is paranoid that places like Goodwill will not actually wipe the hard drive clean and that people will get our info somehow. Consequently, we have 4 or 5 non-working computers piled up in our garage. Where do you take yours? I guess I could remove the hard drive and take the rest of it to a dump site. Dawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elegantlion Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 We give them to the boy, who proceeds to take them apart. He helped me salvage the hard drive from my netbook which died earlier this year. He's been eyeing it, but I'm not quite ready to let him take it apart. My parents have given him some random parts and components too. I would remove the hard drive if you're concerned. It's not that hard, then you can destroy it and donate the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean in Newcastle Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Ds wipes the hard drive himself, replaces whatever is not too expensive to replace, tries to get it to work and sells it on E-bay. Ones that he can't get to work he sells on E-bay for parts or keeps them himself for parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nukeswife Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I guess we're not all that worried. My dh wiped the hard drives, then reinstalled the operating system on them and sold them at our last garage sale. That was 2 years ago, we now have a whole new batch of crappy laptops in the closet waiting for him to return from deployment to wipe and then sell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dirty ethel rackham Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 We have several electronics recycling places. My son is working on cleaning the hard drive before we get rid of our old computer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathryn Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 We wipe hard drives, then have fun taking them apart apart with the kid. Then, DH takes the tools to the hard drive, just in case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nmoira Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 DH is paranoid that places like Goodwill will not actually wipe the hard drive clean and that people will get our info somehow. Consequently, we have 4 or 5 non-working computers piled up in our garage. Where do you take yours? I guess I could remove the hard drive and take the rest of it to a dump site. Dawn We drop computers and monitors off with a donation to FreeGeek. They re-use the parts they can and safely dispose of the toxics in the parts they can't. You may have an equivalent organization there. http://www.freegeek.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joules Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I take the hard drives out and then either donate or recycle them (actually there is a place here to recycle electronics and the proceeds go to charity, so it's sort of both.) I have a little Rubbermaid crate full of hard drives, partly because I'm afraid that they will never be wiped enough and partly because I'm afraid that I will forget to backup some important file. I'm pretty sure the latter is pack rat mentality..."but I may NEED it someday!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 Even if you wipe it clean, aren't there ways to get the info to come back up if you have the know how? None of us is overly tech savvy. That is the one skill none of us seems to have. I hope my oldest WILL have it someday, as he is just learning, but it isn't there yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 Now that I think of it, I do have a guy who has worked on our last computer who might be interested in just taking them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twigs Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I take the hard drive out and donat the rest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrissySC Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Did you all ever think about the fact that wiping isn't really wiping, even reloading the OS isn't. I can still get your files. You should use a hard drive wipe utility that writes over every bit of the drive plate. Otherwise, take it a part and destroy the power source and plates. I donate and recyle the rest. :) (While I don't add the hard disk, I do enclose any OEM software if it is a CPU) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Mungo Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Most people take the hard drive out, take out the magnets (fun!), then physically destroy the drive. Best Buy and places like that often have turn-in spots for old electronics. Many of them contain heavy metals and should not be thrown in the dump or trash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KAR120C Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Most people take the hard drive out, take out the magnets (fun!), then physically destroy the drive. Hard drive out... back over it with the car... recycle or donate the rest. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chepyl Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 They sit and take up space while DH intends to fix, sell, or whatever other idea he has....we have a desktop given to us by a friend. It still runs. It is at least 15 years old.....it takes an hour to boot up, and lots of time to load a game....he wants to keep it for the kids to play on. They are.Ised.to speed in a computer. It has nothing Important on it, I want to trash it! So, it sits in my front room, taking up space.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 Why yes, I did think of that, hence, my questions. Did you all ever think about the fact that wiping isn't really wiping, even reloading the OS isn't. I can still get your files. You should use a hard drive wipe utility that writes over every bit of the drive plate. Otherwise, take it a part and destroy the power source and plates. I donate and recyle the rest. :) (While I don't add the hard disk, I do enclose any OEM software if it is a CPU) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foster_sk Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 I would list them on FreeCycle or Craigslist. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 when my boys were younger - they played with them. took them apart, put them back together, etc. We can recycle them here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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