How Do You Dispose Of Old Worthless Laptops

[Pdoggg]

How do you safely dispose of old worthless laptops, tablets and smartphones (maybe devices that won't even turn on) without risking putting your sensitive info into the wrong hands ?

 

[SiamSam]

I believe the way to destroy the info on a computer is to drill a hole through the hard drive with a power drill. 

[rxpharm]

You can ask Hillary!

Sam is correct, there are also non-destructive ways to do it if your device still works. You can get programs (sometimes freeware), that will overwrite your hard drive multiple times with zeros, after formatting it. This would make data recovery extremely difficult, especially if it is repeated several times.

If the device does not work, Sam is correct.There are some places that will recycle old electronic devices, and I would suggest that, If it still works, you could consider donating to a charity that sends computing devices to developing countries for schools. In that case over writing the drive would be the way to go before donating. 

[TEXASMAC]

Sorry, never have owned one. 

[voidsama]

honestly for laptops. if they work i keep em around for years in a box just in case i want to use one for a project or parts,  the hard drive is the main issue to worry about, and often using the drive as an external for spare storage is the best use for it.(if it still works well).  For other things, once you have backed up your pics and other things, just do a factory reset on them, and leave them as generic devices without email accounts or such on them.  that way you can use them if you want, or gift them or loan or whatever and they are mostly safe.  If you really do alot of sensitive stuff on a tablet or phone, well, software wipes or installing a custom rom on there after a wipe, or such will often remove most possible data recovery methods, but physical destruction may be best.  (personally i see banking or putting really important stuff on a device you can so easily lose to be rather risky and best avoided.)