How do I dispose of my old laptop?

[Freedom]

My 5 year old laptop died.

The "r" and the "e" don't work, haven't for over a year. Then in April, one hinge broke; in August, the second went. So I had 2 pieces connected by 2 very fine wires.

Bought a new laptop, which I've been using almost 60 days. LOVE IT!

I've moved all the photos, Word and Excel documents off the old laptop, sent them to the recycle bin and emptied that. There is still a Quickbooks file on there.

My city collects old computers, I can take it and deliver it. I think there is a fee but that's fine.

My question is: what do I need to do before I ditch it? Reformat the hard drive?

[Karen]

Absolutely reformat the hard drive. Don't just throw everything in the trash and assume it is gone, you need to reformat it.

[RICHARD]

I just stand up and LO!


No more lap top.......


(Ed hates it tho.....)

[mrspunkysmom]

The guys at CDO helped me destroy a hard drive. Several drops, drilling through the drive, and hitting it with a sledge hammer destroyed it. The drive had already been scrambled by a power surge.

If you know how to deconstruct your computer you could apply a STRONG magnet to it. Probably shouldn't bring the magnet in the house though. It might screw up your other electronics.

[Alysser]

The guys at CDO helped me destroy a hard drive. Several drops, drilling through the drive, and hitting it with a sledge hammer destroyed it.

My info tech professor told us to do this, says there are programs that can revert a reformat. Not sure how true that is though.

[Karen]

It depends on the nature of the reformat.

If you just want to destroy the hard drive, that's easy enough, open up the computer, use a hammer if ya want, and just take the hard drive apart. All the data is on a little platter - scratch it up and it's toast.

[Catty1]

There are programs that can recover "deleted" files from a reformatted drive. I have one and have had to use it for clients. It works great - but not every person on the street is going to have it!

(My most recent successful use of it resulted in the hard drive, computer tower and my 1 terrabyte backup drive being taken by the RCMP due to illegal photos that were recovered. I called the police...they said I would get my backup drive back...I hope so!)

[Freedom]

I just stand up and LO!


No more lap top.......


(Ed hates it tho.....)

LOL thanks, Richard!!!

Thank you all for the guidance. I appreciate it.

I also know where Dad keeps the sledge hammer!

[smokey the elder]

If you can get near a high field NMR or MRI that'll cook the hard drive good! Or you can do a full format, if there isn't a superconducting magnet handy.