Posted: 12/12/2025 2:18:25 PM EDT
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Like the title says. I have 2 really old laptops I want to get rid of. What's the best way to safeguard any information in them while being able to get rid of them? I don't want to throw them in the trash after pulling the hard drive. Thanks. Cliffhanger |
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They charge me by the pound for electronic recycling. .80/lb. Sorry. Attached File I’m not smart enough to know if pulling the drive is enough, but you probably have a similar electronics recycling system nearby if that is what you want. |
If life was easy nobody would quit.
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Originally Posted By Cliffhanger: Like the title says. I have 2 really old laptops I want to get rid of. What's the best way to safeguard any information in them while being able to get rid of them? I don't want to throw them in the trash after pulling the hard drive. Thanks. Cliffhanger You could go to best buy and get a $30 store credit for recycling, it's a Michigan thing. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/services/recycling/pcmcat149900050025.c?id=pcmcat149900050025 If not then you can wait for one of the local recycling events that have here in Michgan. They do them a couple times a year at a given location, you drop off the electronics for secure recycling. Not knowing what part of Michigan you are in I'm gonna talk in terms of southeast michigan, your mileage may vary if you're somewhere else. Aslo for reference https://planetdetroit.org/2025/10/recycle-electronics-metro-detroit/ Regards |
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If it works, drop it off at Goodwill. Drive wiper if you don't want to bother with removing/wasting the drive: https://dban.org/ Could just install LInux on it and have a spare laptop... https://linuxmint.com/download.php |
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I'm not adequately aluminumized for this thread. - gonzo_beyondo
CO, MI, OR - Please lobby your legislators to end discrimination against non-resident CCW permit holders
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Originally Posted By Cliffhanger: Like the title says. I have 2 really old laptops I want to get rid of. What's the best way to safeguard any information in them while being able to get rid of them? I don't want to throw them in the trash after pulling the hard drive. Thanks. Cliffhanger Without those a laptop is a few pounds of metal, plastic, and milligrams of previous metals. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
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Pull your hard drive(s) and make nice 5.56 or 9mm holes in them with your favorite hole-puncher(s). If you'll sleep better at night, hold onto it until your town/county does a hazardous waste day - most include electronics nowadays. Otherwise, just toss the carcass in your regular trash. |
Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.---John Adams
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Originally Posted By intheburbs: Pull your hard drive(s) and make nice 5.56 or 9mm holes in them with your favorite hole-puncher(s). If you'll sleep better at night, hold onto it until your town/county does a hazardous waste day - most include electronics nowadays. Otherwise, just toss the carcass in your regular trash. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
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Local e-recycler has a hard drive shredder. I remove the drives from the laptops, then give the laptop and drives to the recycler. In the past I used a program called DBAN to run several passes of 1's and 0's. Now I can watch the drives being shredded. A place I used to work at had a tape degausser. It would trash a hard drive as well. The place i go to is in SWMI link |
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If they're still usable, I just reformat the HD and reinstall Winblows, then fill the HD with video files to overwrite the blank space then delete the videos. Anybody who wants to undelete the files can get RickRolled for all I care. No rick rolls in a tech forum (even hidden inside spoiler tags) - MarkNH |
I think the hardest thing for good LE working for good agencies to really absorb is that there are whole departments full of exactly the complete fuckheads we rail against here. - vectorsc
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Originally Posted By PepePewPew: If they're still usable, I just reformat the HD and reinstall Winblows, then fill the HD with video files to overwrite the blank space then delete the videos. Anybody who wants to undelete the files can get RickRolled for all I care. Quoted rick roll removed - MarkNH I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
| Pull the hard drive and toss |
ProTip: Never pick a fight with a tree planter. He swings a hoedad for 9 hours a day, carries 30-40 pounds of seedlings on his back, and has 12-14 friends just like him hiding out on the other side of the junk butt pile. They will fuck your shit up.
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If it's a modern Mac you could boot to recovery and "erase all contents and settings" just like a phone. More times then not I will set up a "test" or "admin" user with the same for a password. Then delete my user from the system and call it a day. |
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