Old Computer

Well, after all of these suggestions, I decided to unpack the tower (I still had the original box it was shipped in because I knew I was going to be moving at some point,) to remove the hard drive and notice the shipping date on the shipping label... 2004:eek:. Yes not ten, but 14 yrs old. I can't believe any one would want a 14 year old computer.
So, being a firearms enthusiast, I'm thinking a bullet to the "brain" is in order, and then see if the rest can be recycled.
I'm not much of a tree hugger, but somethings do matter.
 
No one posted this yet? Really?

tenor.gif


:D
 
Last edited:
The last time I needed to clear out a bunch, I found a 357 Mag Keith load(168gr true Keith-type SWC over 12gr 2400) to give a nice combination of hole punching and leaving destruction in its wake.

I found pretty much everything up to 9mm lack in penetration, while centerfire rifles just drilled clean holes all the way through(almost like what I get on a drill press).

I shot some with a 44 mag, but I was probably using my less-than-max range loads. A Keith load in 44 Mag would probably be more effective than the comparable 357 Mag load.


The most interesting result was with 45 Colt. I tend to load mine somewhat above "Cowboy" strength but within safe SAA pressures. The round nose bullets I used consistently penetrated the sheet metal cover but then would turn and get wedged between the platters and cover without penetrating much.

Also, unsurprisingly, 32 S&W Long just dimpled the sheet metal. 32-20 didn't "cut her half in two" :) but did at least penetrate a few platters in the older multi-platter drives.
 
It doesn't take but a couple of rounds of Federal Premium Tactical Rifled slugs. wear gloves. some of those scrap metal shards are sharp.
 
Absolutely destroy it!
Drill it or hammer it.
I come from hammer background, so I would hammer it!
Or - my previous computer died from power supply failure.
So I removed the hard drive and installed it in my present computer.
It’s a Hitachi and noisy.
Thats what happens when you buy a harddrive from a tool company!
 
Last edited:
hoc9sw said:
Banking and Bill pay are the biggest risk. You would be amazed at the tracks left by your browsers.

But yes, remove and destroy the drive regardless of what you do with the chassis.

This sort of thing was my business for some years. I've seen it all. But thieves invent something new every day.
Click to expand...

I use the public computer at my WF branch and change my password every time. I don't trust my computer or any security software.

All the mentioned physical damage is fine, 44 mag, drill press, pick axe. Wear your safety glasses.
 
H30 said:
I have a 10 yr old computer I need to get rid of, but first I'd like to clean the hard drive. Who here has done it and what did you use?
Click to expand...

Another option you should consider is pulling the hard drive and putting it inside a enclosure and using it as auxiliary or external/portable hard drive. If the hard drive still works, why destroy it when you can still use it to store extra files/photos/music library etc? I done this to my old HP hard drive when the CPU died and transferred my entire music collection on it.

Another option is if you already have a desktop PC tower, you can check to see if you can add a 2nd hard drive to it. Same concept, you use the 2nd drive for additional storage/backup.

Rosewill RX307-PU3-35B - 3.5" Hard Drive Enclosure - SATA III, USB 3.0, Energy Saving, UASP, Black Aluminum & ABS Plastic - Newegg.com
 
Last edited:
The unfortunate boating accident that resulted in the loss of all of my firearms also claimed several old computer hard drives and a lap top or two.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
 
I just had to do this when my 8 year old desktop died.

Having put people in prison for what they thought was no longer on their computer, here's what I did.

I pulled the hard drive and put it into a container of salt water for a couple of days. Then I took it out back and hit it with a hammer for a while. Then I put it into an empty Modelo Especial box, put that into a bag, and put it in the trash on trash day morning.

Nothing nasty on there, but I like to be thorough.
 
DON'T DESTROY THE WHOLE DRIVE!

If you have some small torx bits, take it apart, then smash the platter and the data is gone.

There should be a couple rare earth magnets you can salvage. They are usually mounted to a stainless steel backing plate with a hole at each end. A small nut/bolt will attach a spare key for your car or truck that you can stick up under somewhere. It will not fall off like those crappy hide-a-key boxes; in fact you will likely need to rotate the key to act as a lever to pry it off.

If there is no backing plate they work great for other purposes. I have a few stuck to the inside lid of my toolbox to hold scissors, metal ruler, etc.

Strong magnets have dozens of uses; why waste them?
 
My son just took out a harddrive and removed the disk and burnt it with a tourch.

Sent from my LGL52VL using Tapatalk
 
One thing that seems to slip by is copy machines. Today's models are really high speed scanners that store the images on their hard drives. When you get rid of the copier someone who knows what they are doing can get copies of all kinds of stuff you ran through the machine. HUGE problem for businesses like law offices accounting firms, doctors offices and in fact just about any office that processes any kind of personal information. A lot of these places lease their machines and really don't give a second thought about the old machine when it gets hauled off .Electrical storage gives rise to it's own set of problems.
Say what you want about Hillary but she knew how to destroy hard drives :D
 
Last edited:
CAJUNLAWYER said:
One thing that seems to slip by is copy machines. Today's models are really high speed scanners that store the images on their hard drives. When you get rid of the copier someone who knows what they are doing can get copies of all kinds of stuff you ran through the machine. HUGE problem for businesses like law offices accounting firms, doctors offices and in fact just about any office that processes any kind of personal information. A lot of these places lease their machines and really don't give a second thought about the old machine when it gets hauled off .Electrical storage gives rise to it's own set of problems.
Say what you want about Hillary but she knew how to destroy hard drives :D
Click to expand...

I work for a university, and our department copier gets a lot of use copying things that are sensitive both from a paranoia perspective(exams) and legal perspective(student grades and other student information).

We get a new one about every 5 years, and as part of our Xerox contract the HDD comes out and goes to the shredder at surplus before they haul the old one off.

With that said, surplus is extra careful and even though they shred hard drives, they still want them DBANed before they get shredded. I don't think the Xerox drives get that treatment.
 
16thVACav said:
I always remove the hard drive and beat it thoroughly with a sledge hammer. I then throw the pieces in the garbage.
Click to expand...

My 86 year old father called me today and said that he had 2 laptops and 2 desk top computers that he was going to take to the dump. I told him that I didn't think that was a good idea. I thought the above idea would be the best for him.

The only problem is he is really, really not computer savvy. I am just really not computer savvy.:D How do I identify and remove the hard drives from each computer? Thanks for any help.
Larry
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top