Disposing of a desk top computer

B

Bodd

What's the best way of disposing of a desk top. In relation to sensitive information that might be stored on it.
 
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Do you mean a desktop computer?

There are software programs that can forensically clean the hard drive (HDD), I wouldn't trust them.

Remove the HDD & physically destroy it, it's very easy to do. If you want to sell the desktop then either sell it with no HDD or buy a new one, fit it & re-install the OS.
 
scrubbing a drive isn’t rocket science. delete the data and then write some large files until the drive is full delete and repeat.

The other option is to install mint on it and use it as a media server.
 
Remove the HDD & physically destroy it,

Best and most secure method. Crunch the discs into pieces.

Files on discs are not "deleted", only the index to the file is removed.

Washing the disc does over write the files by writing random data along the centre of every track on the disc. But washing the disc can still leave the original file data at the edges of the tracks There is software that puts the read head on an edge of the track instead of the centre of the track. Reading track edges can recover much of the original file.
 
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scrubbing a drive isn’t rocket science. delete the data and then write some large files until the drive is full delete and repeat.

Then send the disk to me.

Watch while I re-build & retrieve your precious data.
 
Thank fo that everyone. I'm going to start by leaving it in the garden. Step 1 let the elements at it, then by September step 2 I'll smash it up on a nice fall day.
 
Thank fo that everyone. I'm going to start by leaving it in the garden. Step 1 let the elements at it, then by September step 2 I'll smash it up on a nice fall day.
You only need to take out the hard drive for extra attention. The rest can go on freegle or to the recycling tip.

If you have a small screwdriver you can open the hard drive and cut or drill the disk, if you want
 
If you run DBAN on it then that should clean it well enough but it does take several hours to do.
Although physical methods are of course the best way of hiding your porn collection from anyone else.

Once you have sorted out the hard drive then sites like Freegle can be used in order to get the desktop reused, there are often plenty on there that will come collect an old PC and get it going again so someone else can benefit from it.
 
Take the HDD out, remove the disk platters and put them in drain cleaner. Then burn them.
 
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