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Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:30 pm
by DrDonkeyLove
I have a place I can take it for disposal but it's so old that even if I could get it fired up I don't know the password to clean the HD.

Any IT guru ideas for killing the HD to protect my Swiss bank accounts and Charlize Theron's cell phone number?
Microwave for a few seconds?
Drop it in a bucket of water?

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:34 pm
by WildGorillaMan
Remove the hard drive from the laptop. Take the drive to your tool bench. Remove all the screws from the exterior cabinet of the drive. Remove the disc, use bolt cutters to chop the disk in little tiny pieces. Toss them in the trash.

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:55 pm
by milosz
Shooting range, multiple rounds of .45 ACP

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sat Feb 01, 2014 11:56 pm
by Dunn
Lighter fluid and a barrel. That will be $50 dollars, please.

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:10 am
by nafod
Take the drive apart ala gorilla man. Save the super strong magnets to use and play with.

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:52 am
by Fuzzy Dunlop
Dunn wrote:Lighter fluid and a barrel. That will be $50 dollars, please.
KILLET WITH TEH FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!! :supz:

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:04 pm
by ccrow
Be careful with the discs in a laptop drive. The discs in a full size hard drive are incredibly nice metal, super strong stuff. The discs in the smaller drives used in laptops look the same but they are brittle as glass!

I used to use software to wipe the drives, but since drives have gotten so large, it takes too long. So I started dismantling them and destroying the discs. You usually have to have a torx t9 to actually disassemble them. The magnets are incredibly strong!

Now I just mangle them with a sledgehammer or pickaxe. Once the thing is mangled enough that the discs are bent and the spindle is shot, short of the NSA sifting through your trash, nobody is getting the stuff on there.

One of my customers has a cutting torch in their shop, there, we use the torch.

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 12:46 pm
by DikTracy6000
Cover it with honey and hide it in your wall.

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:07 pm
by Dan Martin
I drive over it with my truck, repeatedly.

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:14 pm
by Protobuilder
Send it to the NSA to see that they have everything.

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 3:22 pm
by nafod
Mail it to Erik Estrada's career

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 4:29 pm
by Dan Martin
nafod wrote:Mail it to Erik Estrada's career
That's uncalled for.

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 9:44 pm
by Batboy2/75
WildGorillaMan wrote:Remove the hard drive from the laptop. Take the drive to your tool bench. Remove all the screws from the exterior cabinet of the drive. Remove the disc, use bolt cutters to chop the disk in little tiny pieces. Toss them in the trash.

A drill press or hand held drill is easier. I turn all of my old HDD into Swiss cheese and then fold them in half using a 20 ton shop press. Overkill Yes, but my son is more than willing to do the work. My son likes to see how many times he can get one to fold over.

Re: Disposing of a Laptop

Posted: Sun Feb 02, 2014 10:37 pm
by DrDonkeyLove
Many great ideas. Thank you.

I'm going to cover it in honey and hide it in a wall per DikTracy6000, then I'll shoot the wall w/ .45 ACP per milosz.