topic Re: Electronics disposal-laptop in Electronics

Electronics disposal-laptop

bargainsgirl — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 01:41:08 GMT

Our town is having an electronics disposal this weekend. I have an old laptop (mac) and some old tracfones. How do I "clean them" ready for disposal? I am NOT tech savvy!!

Re: Electronics disposal-laptop

RoughDraft — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 01:59:32 GMT

Remove then shred your hard drive.

Re: Electronics disposal-laptop

simplyfriends — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 02:08:49 GMT

@bargainsgirl I would check out the many videos on YouTube on how to safely clean your laptop for resale. They will show you step by step.

Re: Electronics disposal-laptop

Mz iMac — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 02:40:17 GMT

@bargainsgirl Step by step instructions from Apple.

support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065

Step by step video instrutions can also be found on their YouTube support site.

youtube.com/@applesupport

For cell phones...... take a hammer to it. Take the shredded pieces to the electronic dump.

Re: Electronics disposal-laptop

gardenman — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 12:53:51 GMT

Removing the hard drive on many newer computers is impossible as they can be soldered directly to the motherboard. The directions to wipe the drive is effective for most users. If you're fabulously rich, famous, or store top secret documents on the computer, you want to take extra precautions, but for a "normal" person the directions for wiping the hard drive should prove adequate. Data can still often be retrieved, but the cost/benefit ratio gets bad for the people retrieving the data. It can cost tens of thousands of dollars to retrieve data from a wiped drive.

If you're concerned about the risks, simply find a shelf on a closet and put the laptop there and forget about it. Most of us have a shelf or cupboard that's a pain to get stuff into and out of, so those spaces make a good place to stash an old laptop.