what do I do with my old computer?

[carrotsnapper]

I cleaned out my shed yesterday and dragged out two old computers. They are sitting on my back porch now. I want to dump them, but I hear bad things about hackers and that kind of thing. Stealing personal information. I don't know what to do with them for sure. I guess I can take them apart and bust up the hard drive. Might make good target practice. Any ideas?

 

[Xcusme]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

Yup, yank the hard drives and go to the range....

 

[Xcusme]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

Yup, yank the hard drives and go to the range....a 16lb. sledge hammer does a good job of it too.

 

[mscher]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

If you are really lazy like me, just run a drill bit through them and off to the scrap yard.

 

[bjcsc]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

Yup, yank the hard drives and go to the range....a 16lb. sledge hammer does a good job of it too.

That's what I do. Take the hard drive out and beat it to death with an 8lb hammer...

 

[arboldt]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

I hate to add to the landfill if I can avoid it.

Norton Utilities (Symantec) has a wipedisk program that will apply Department-of-Defense-level security by over writing every bit of hard drive with a specified character x number of times. Or go to PCWorld.com download center and download a free program that does the same thing. Then I install a current copy of Ubuntu linux and give the computer away.

Go to Freecycle.org, find and join a group near you, then post it and give it to someone that can use it.

Yeah, it takes a while to wipe a disk, but that's even a little bit less toxicity in a landfill. I just get the program started and let it do its thing overnight or while I do something else.

A former coworker did the target practice thing, but there's still mess to clean up.

 

[i386]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

I've been wondering lately if I can remove the platters and then recycle the aluminum chassis. You can dismantle most of them with a torx driver.

 

[The_Kid]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

I've been wondering lately if I can remove the platters and then recycle the aluminum chassis. You can dismantle most of them with a torx driver.

There are some steel pins in the case that are pretty hard to remove so recycling may not be an option. Nice thing about old hard drives is the magnet in them. If your looking for a real strong magnet tear apart an old hard drive.

They work great to retrieve tools dropped in the water next to the dock. Don't ask me how I know.

 

[SpinnerBait_Nut]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

I hate to add to the landfill if I can avoid it.
Go to Freecycle.org, find and join a group near you, then post it and give it to someone that can use it.

That's right. I own a freecycle group here at home and it's the next best thing to peanut butter.
Just take the hard drive out and offer it on a local freecycle and they will come get what's left.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

I've been wondering lately if I can remove the platters and then recycle the aluminum chassis. You can dismantle most of them with a torx driver.

If you're into wifi stuff, you can make antennas 'outta the platters too!

 

[i386]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

If you're into wifi stuff, you can make antennas 'outta the platters too!

Omni? Hmm...

 

[xxxflhrci]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

Anything with personal info on it goes in my backyard incinerator...

 

[Xcusme]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

i386...Yup exactly..omni
BTW, that's from an old Bigfoot drive

 

[ThumbPkr]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

Sure is purty...........I am still using a couple of Bigfoot drives.One died and SpinRite brought it back for me several years ago.........still running)
I just gave a friend an old penetrator antenna and he is using parts of it for the vertical elements and uses PVC with wire in it for horizontal elements and builds low power broadcast stations for fun.Ron G

 

[i386]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

i386...Yup exactly..omni
BTW, that's from an old Bigfoot drive

I'm glad someone found something a Bigfoot was good for. I bet it runs a lot quieter now!

 

[zaroba]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

why not just disassemble the computers for parts and sell what you don't need? only times any of my pc stuff goes to the trash is if its completely useless due to old age AND can't be sold or givin away, or if its broken.

plenty of the stuff can be reused.

whole pc:
-give it to a child or relatives kid to use for small games
-sell it (i've seen 15 year old PCs sell on ebay)
-keep it to use as a backup pc in case your current one dies

hard drives:
-save them to use if your current computers hard drive breaks
-put them into external usb drive cases to use as external drives for backing up your data
-put them into your current pc to increase storage space

monitors:
-save them in case your current monitor breaks (unless your using lcd and they are crt)
-sell them (if they are lcd) or give them away for free (if they are crt)

cd or dvd drives:
-save them in case a drive breaks in your current pc
-put them into your current pc in case you need a 2nd drive
-sell em or give them away for free

ram:
-if its too old for your current pc, sell it
-put it in your current pc to use
-save it in case the ram in your current pc breaks

cpu and motherboard:
-keep them together and sell them

case:
-sell it
-save it for a future pc that you might build

keyboards/mice:
-save them in case the ones for your current pc break

 

[Coors]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

Pull the drive, and ram; destroy that, and give it away.
My SIL gave my wife an old windows 98 machine that 'was broke'
I'm self-taught computer guy; in 15 minutes, I had his social security #

 

[bjcsc]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

I'm self-taught computer guy; in 15 minutes, I had his social security #

Exactly why destroying it is the best option. There are certainly people out there that can read hard drives that have been erased. There's software available for it, and who knows how many identity thieves buy all those 15yo computers for $10 from eBay for exactly that purpose. It's a lot of risk to save essentially useless parts...

From 2003!

 

[Nandy]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

Pull the drive, and ram; destroy that, and give it away.
My SIL gave my wife an old windows 98 machine that 'was broke'
I'm self-taught computer guy; in 15 minutes, I had his social security #

The ram does not contains any information once the power from the pc is removed.

 

[Coors]

Re: what do I do with my old computer?

The ram does not contains any information once the power from the pc is removed.

I'm paranoid; so many programs out there...Besides, newer is bigger and cheaper