What to do with...

[walkin jack]

...old laptop computers??. Now that I have this cool new lap top I'm just putting another old junker on the pile. we have several old ones going back 15 years or so.

Can you just put them in the trash like everything else or do they require some special type of disposal.

There was a day when I'd have taken them out to the country and had me some target practice but I don't have much ammo and besides I'm not all that mad at 'em anymore.

 

[Kanewpadle]

...old laptop computers??. Now that I have this cool new lap top I'm just putting another old junker on the pile. we have several old ones going back 15 years or so.

Can you just put them in the trash like everything else or do they require some special type of disposal.

There was a day when I'd have taken them out to the country and had me some target practice but I don't have much ammo and besides I'm not all that mad at 'em anymore.

Some recycling places will dispose of them for free and destroy the hard drive in the process.

 

[Rustyt1953]

Jack, Goodwill has a computer donation program that partners with Dell to bring new life to them and offer them to the less fortunate.

 

[timjake]

Best Buy takes laptops and other electronics for recycling. You have to remove the hard drive first though.

Not sure how you destroy a solid state hard drive, other than taking the chips out and smashing them in a vise or with a hammer. The old drive with discs can be "erased" with sandpaper or twisted to where the disc can't be straightened. The old standard at NSA was sandblasting or burning, not sure what the current standard is.

 

[M29since14]

My son takes the hard disk out for me and I send the rest off for recycling. Three or four .44 Magnums will wreck a hard disk nicely. Even the old ones. That’s my “standard.” I’d think the pieces that remain can’t be of much use to anyone.

 

[Onomea]

Before I got into music streaming services like Spotify, I used old laptops to store my CD collection and then play music through my audio system.

I guess not much point to that anymore when for $10/month or so you can stream any music, anytime, anywhere...

 

[NYlakesider]

In my area they have special days that you can turn in electronic junk. Normally once a year. If you know how to destroy the hard drive that is were all your secrets are.

Being this is a gun forum I will note that I did a Special destruction of a hard drive a few years ago. I had a bunch of old 12G buck and slugs and a bunch of .45s that needed shooting up. I have my own shooting range on my property!

Put about 25 shot gun rounds into it at the area the hard drive was located then the .45. All the NCIS type TV shows in the world would not be able to get info out of that old tower. Put what was left of the tower into a plastic bag and put it in the trash.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Destroy the hard drive and wait for electronic junk recycling day. They also make good targets.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Unscrew the top plate, destroy the discs. Then keep the magnets.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[zeke]

Am currently using an old computer that was discarded in my direction. It is the latest evolution in anti hacking, anti gooberment intrusion available. On theory no one really knows how to hack vista operating system anymore. Have this same theory to reason my dial operated phone, although have had to get spare push button for modern answering systems.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I take the HD & memory out of mine and take them to the dump.

 

[tops]

We junked one a few months ago. I used Oak and Hickory and built a good fire in a barrel and threw that sucker in. I sifted through the ashes and what little was left was cut up in small pieces and a few pieces put in the trash for 3 or 4 weeks. If all the Kings horses and all the Kings men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together there's no way to get any info from that computer. Larry

 

[Wrangler Rich]

Wipe it clean, like with a cloth???

 

[M29since14]

Secure document destruction companies melt down the hard drive, and give the owner a certification that their hard drive has been destroyed by melting.

A certificate? That’s a good one! That wouldn’t carry much weight with me. Sounds about as surefire as a restraining order.

 

[NYlakesider]

A certificate? That’s a good one! That wouldn’t carry much weight with me. Sounds about as surefire as a restraining order.

You want it done right do it yourself!

Note also be careful of what is in some printers. From what my DIL tells me some printers have some sort of a storage chip that may have some good stuff on it!

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

What happened to buying strong magnets at the hardware store and
placing them on the laptop for a few hours/days?