How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop?: Motoring Computer Related forum

Computer Related > How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop?	Computing Issues
Thread Author: L'escargot	Replies: 14

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Wed 7 Mar 12 09:27

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - L'escargot

I want to scrap my 10 years-old obsolescent desktop computer. I haven't got a clue what's inside a computer, so what parts do I need to destroy to prevent anyone accessing confidential information and how do I recognise those parts?

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Wed 7 Mar 12 10:26

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - Victorbox

Assuming you are recycling the PC at the local council electrical recycling place I'd just take out hard disk - example here: tinyurl.com/7auckro - usually two or four screws and smash it up. The rest is then safe to send for recycling.

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Wed 7 Mar 12 10:29

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - smokie

The hard disk is where the data is, and is the only bit you need worry about. Here's one:

tinyurl.com/7zwh8ks

but they also come in black.

It may be in a tray or otherwise not immediately obvious, should be in on four screws and will have a power cable and a wider (usually grey) data cable going into it.

So you can take it out and do what you want with it.

However, you can effectively destroy the data on it with a free product. There habve been other recommendations in the past but I always go for Killdisk - www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm - but you'll need to install it onto a bootable CD or floppy or (probably easier) USB stick. It will take some time to do it's work, but will overwrite the data in such a way that recovery would be only for super experts, if at all.

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Wed 7 Mar 12 10:41

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - Focusless

If you were happy that you had erased the disk without destroying it, you could put the PC on ebay with a 1p starting price, no reserve and local pick-up only. Then someone might take it away for you, and pay you (a small amount) for the privilege.

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Wed 7 Mar 12 10:58

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - Focusless

>> you could put the PC on ebay

If you are thinking of ebaying it, do you have a Windows disk you can include with the PC?

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Wed 7 Mar 12 10:49

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - John H

>> I haven't got a clue what's inside a computer, >>

Since the computer is obsolete, and you do not care about what happens to it, this is an ideal opportunity for you to open up the case and find out what the innards look like.

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Wed 7 Mar 12 12:53

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - L'escargot

>> >> I haven't got a clue what's inside a computer, >>
>>
>> Since the computer is obsolete, and you do not care about what happens to it,
>> this is an ideal opportunity for you to open up the case and find out
>> what the innards look like.

Thanks everyone. I'll take the route of destroying the hard drive. It'll help to satisfy my latent urge to be destructive! I'll then have a good look at the rest of the innards before taking the remains to the recycling centre.

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Wed 7 Mar 12 12:49

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - Victorbox

www.pcpro.co.uk/features/373351/five-ways-to-destroy-your-data

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Wed 7 Mar 12 14:22

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - Ambo

I ran Crap Cleaner over my laptop at the maximum strength and gave in to a charity shop. This is of course less conclusive that destroying the hard disk and dumping the lot but there has been no comeback after two years.

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Thu 8 Mar 12 15:11

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - L'escargot

>> www.pcpro.co.uk/features/373351/five-ways-to-destroy-your-data
>>

I decided to dismantle the hard drive and destroy the platter(s). www.pcpro.co.uk/features/373351/five-ways-to-destroy-your-data refers to platters (i.e plural), but I've only found one platter in the hard drive ~ a shiny disc about 95 mm o.d. and 25 mm i.d. Should I have found more than one?

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Thu 8 Mar 12 15:57

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - AnotherJohnH

>> (i.e plural), but I've only found one platter in the hard drive ~ a shiny
>> disc about 95 mm o.d. and 25 mm i.d. Should I have found more than
>> one?
>>

Not necessarily.

Depends on total capacity of the drive and the packing density.

Both have gone up in leaps and bounds since the first hard drives...

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Thu 8 Mar 12 17:09

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - L'escargot

>> Not necessarily.
>>
>> Depends on total capacity of the drive and the packing density.

Thanks. In that case I'm going to destroy the disc and the memory cards. Anything else I should attend to?

Last edited by: L'escargot on Thu 8 Mar 12 at 17:10

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Fri 9 Mar 12 01:42

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - AnotherJohnH

>> Anything else I should attend to?

I wouldn't have thought so.

I wouldn't even bother with the memory cards (assuming they are just RAM, and not storage cards)

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Fri 9 Mar 12 02:22

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - rtj70

Destroying RAM memory modules is pointless - they are RAM! They hold no info without power.

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Fri 9 Mar 12 06:46

How do I scrap my obsolescent desktop? - L'escargot

I was only doing what tinyurl.com/75v7m28 suggested, but thanks for the information anyway. With the help of forum members I'm learning all the time.

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