So I have an old HP desktop computer. Bought new around ten years ago. Was my primary home computer for about five years. Has a lot of personal info on hard drive. I no longer use or need it. What should I do with it? Does it have any value? Donate to charity? How do I wipe all my info out? XP operating system.
Google helps. I Googled how to do it on a Toshiba laptop when I sold it and it was some combination of a ctrl and a function key when you start up. You should be able to search and try the different combinations they give.
Wait a month or so.. The Rockets should be holding there Green/ Recycle event thing they have every year again... they usually give you tickets for electronics you wanna recycle.
Whatever you do don't make the mistake I made and throw it into a lake from a moving boat. Bad for environment and 500 USD fine.
Hard drives are real cheap and your old one will not be useful at all. I would really suggest taking it out and physically destroying it. I would not take the chance. If you don't want to do that, then at the very least get a DoD or NSA Wipe program and erase it that way.
Most dump sites allow you to turn in your computer and other electronic products for a nominal fee. Bring all the things you want to get rid off as it will only cost u that one fee.
Buy a cheap trash can(nothing too fancy) at home depot and 2 bags of concrete. Put old pc in the middle of the can. Fill it with 1/3 water and 2/3 concrete. Be sure to mix it while pouring the water/concrete. Dig 12 ft hole in back yard. Call utility companies to flag all utility line for safety. Make sure whole pc is increased in concrete. Bury it in the hole. If God permits, future people may be able to learn from your pc. Leave p*rn for them, hopefully the future people will still have a use for it.........
You can delete the entire drive by using a USB sata adapter plugging it in to another computer and formatting. I would take a hammer or a drill to it just in case. You may want to donate the computer with no hard drive. But at that point it may be best to just recycle it.
Format hard drive. Donate to charity. How do you know it's SATA and not IDE? Bought ten years ago, man.
