recycling old computer...erasing files on hard drive?

We gave our old Gateway computer to our daughter several years ago, (mainly to play games). She is now almost 13, and no longer uses nor wants the computer. I did find someone who recycles old computers (trust me, this one is old...probably from the mid-90's). However, I think I still have some personal files on the hard drive of this computer.....how can I be sure I've totally deleted any personal information? One of my friends bought a "refurbished" computer a few years back...and somehow inadvertently accessed the previous owners files.
I hate to throw it out....especially if it can be recycled...even if for parts. Any ideas?

DEB

It should be recycled. If you have a good recycler in your area they will certify that the hard drive files will be properly deleted or the drive destroyed. If you aren't sure recycle everything but remove the drive and take a sledge hammer to it. Give them the parts that remain. Nothing except the drive can store old data.

great question.

I have been wondering this myself. We've moved on to a household full of laptops (which we are keeping), but want to get rid of the old desktop computer. Just put the computer desk out for the charity truck and wishing I could delete all the old files and give the computer as well. It's a shame for it to go dust in the attic - when someone could use it.

You may be able to give away an old computer to a friend or a friend's child, but most charities and schools won't take them, because the time and effort it takes to get them up to speed just isn't worth it. Our school district got a donation of a large number of supposedly good computers from a major corporate entity and by the time everything was repaired, loaded with software, checked for viruses, etc., it would have been cheaper to buy brand new computers.

I would take out the hard drive and smash it with a sledge hammer and make sure the whole think goes to a recycler that specific accepts computers. You don't want it to go into the local dump.

I would pull the hard drive and hit it with a sledgehammer or drive a stake through its heart--no, I mean drive a nail through it. Then give the rest of the computer to a recycler. Our county has recycling days for old computers and things like that.

Unfortunately, even respectable recyclers can't recycle what no one wants. Any computer that runs an operating system older than XP, or has a processor earlier than about Pentium 700Mhz will end up as one of a container load that will end up in India where children of 'Untouchable' low class people will stand in toxic smoke prodding burning insulation from the wires and circuit boards and farm the remains for the few rupees worth of gold, silver, and other valuable metals used in the components.

I don't have an answer, but as it is now, we are just exporting our toxic waste to 3rd world countries instead of our own.

For what it's worth, it isn't just computers, huge ships that are no longer viable are run aground and broken apart for scrap in much the same way regardless of asbestos and many other toxins. Life expectancy for these people is in the 30's.

Sorry. I recycle, too, but behind the scenes, much of it ain't pretty.

Jim Ricks

Passepartout said:

will end up as one of a container load that will end up in India where children of 'Untouchable' low class people will stand in toxic smoke prodding burning insulation from the wires and circuit boards and farm the remains for the few rupees worth of gold, silver, and other valuable metals used in the components.

I don't have an answer, but as it is now, we are just exporting our toxic waste to 3rd world countries instead of our own.

For what it's worth, it isn't just computers, huge ships that are no longer viable are run aground and broken apart for scrap in much the same way regardless of asbestos and many other toxins. Life expectancy for these people is in the 30's.

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National Geographic did an article on this:
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/01/high-tech-trash/carroll-text

If you don't want to take it apart to smash the hard drive, there are programs you can download that will do a secure erase. Basically they overwrite all your info, erase, and repeat multiple times.

Removing and smashing the hard drive is more secure, though,

this is the very question we have been having. I thought when you did a 'clean install' by formating the drive that the hard drive is empty until you put the new installation in.
mary

mlbyron said:

this is the very question we have been having. I thought when you did a 'clean install' by formating the drive that the hard drive is empty until you put the new installation in.
mary

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That is absolutely and totally untrue.

One time I accidentally formatted a backup drive when I was doing a system reinstall on the main drive. (During the reinstall I inadvertently reformatted both drives instead of the just the master.)

Upon realizing what I had done, I ran file recovery software and recovered the entire contents of the formatted drive, without any errors.

there's formatting and then there's formatting. Some "formatting" deletes the directory - i.e. the list of all the file names and their locations - without deleting the info itself. An "unerase" or file recovery program will have no problem getting back the info.l

Short of physically destroying the drive, the next-best way to get rid of the old information is to overwrite it - and then do it again and again and again just to be sure.l

I have used "Darik's Boot and Nuke" http://dban.sourceforge.net/ to wipe hard drives. A word of warning, this program creates either a bootable disk or a bootable CD (and looking at the site now it looks like you can also create bootable USB devices or floppies as well). When you boot with it, it will search for any and ALL disks and obliterates all data on ALL disks that it finds in the computer. It will even give you a choice of how thorough you want to be in over-writing the disks, up to and including Defense Department specs! Be sure to read all the info on the site before you use it, you don't want to make a mistake with this.

Use at your own risk, no warranty offered or implied. I would suggest you don't leave this bootable disk (or USB key) lying around!