Electronics

[twinsister]

Thanks everyone for your tips and solutions.  I appreciate it.

[Venezia]

@twinsister - As someone else mentioned, Staples will recyle these for free.  They have a very long list of everything they recycle.

And, if you're a member of their free Rewards program, you get points for each thing recycled.  Right now we have nearly $60 in rewards.  It's a good program, if you have a nearby Staples.

[FranandZoe]

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@Tinkrbl44 wrote:

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@FranandZoe wrote:

Do it yourself.

I recently removed the hard drive from an old computer tower and smashed it with a hammer.  Then took the. tower to an electronics recylcing place.

Google your brand/model of laptop for how to remove the hard drive.

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Is it recommended .. or common ... to smash a laptop with a hammer?   I doubt it removes what's in the memory.

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@Tinkrbl44  You smash the hard drive not the laptop.

[FranandZoe]

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@twinsister wrote:

Thanks everyone for your tips and solutions.  I appreciate it.

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@twinsister  By the way if you do want to smash the hard drive yourself place it in a plastic bag first.  It really shatters and pieces can fly.

[icezeus]

In my area, they have places where, every few months, you can have electronic items recycled. Since it's a computer, I would make sure to wipe the hard drive before taking it to one of these locations.

Look up the manufacturer's name for how to carry out this task, or YouTube would be an excellent source as well. 

[SilleeMee]

Look for 'hard drive shredder services' in your area. That way you don't have to smash it yourself and they will dispose of the pieces for you. Cost can run upwards of about $20 per drive but some places it might be closer to $10 depending on where you are located. I've seen some places offer free hard drive shredding so look around.

[beach-mom]

@twinsister - Best Buy will take them and wipe them clean. We have done this, but we never have sensitive info on our home laptops. 

[gadgetgal613]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@I am still oxox. Experts say wiping the memory is not sufficient as information can still be retrieved from the hard drive.  That's why people remove and physically destroy it. 

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That's not true.  You need a program which can overwrite the drive multiple times to make it unreadable.  I did that when I donated my old computers to charity and I never had any problems with identity theft.  But from what I've read over the years, people prefer to smash a hard drive with a hammer.  

[gardenman]

Bear in mind that a lot of modern computers don't even have a hard drive, but instead use an SSD or m.2 drives. Apple often solder their m.2 drives into place on the motherboard. Unless you have a hot air station and know how to remove it, it's there for good. Smashing hard drives doesn't work on those. I've never smashed a hard drive. I either put it in a new computer or stash it on a high shelf in a seldom-used closet where it'll sit and wait for an eternity. I never want to risk having forgotten something important on the hard drive that I'll need later.

If you use a competent drive cleaner, you're pretty safe. Could someone with unlimited resources still extract data? Yeah, but there aren't that many people out there with unlimited resources. If you're a billionaire, or a scofflaw with lots of incriminating whatever on your hard drive, keeping it better protected is wise. In general, just using a drive cleaning piece of software should make you safe from all but the most dedicated data thieves. And there aren't that many dedicated data thieves out there. There are easier ways to steal information.

[monicakm]

My eyes told my brain that you were asking about disposable laptops. 😳