Dismantling my old computer, do I skip it or sell it on?

in #life7 years ago

It is blowing a gale and pouring down here in the UK so its definitley a stay indoors day for me. Poor huuby has to work out in the rain, its the worst weather for a bricklayer.

My plans are to strip down my old computer, we have loads of photographs on there so today will be saving them to a disc then wiping the hard drive ready for the skip,is that enough or have I got to do something else, dont want them trying to open anything not that theres anything on there to hide its my stuff dont want anyone using anything.

There's a tower, monitor, keyboard and mouse to go to the skip or I may try and sell it as its a pretty good computer but doesnt have wifi, they would need a dongle. Still worried in case I havent cleaned it properly. It hasnt been used for months as I use my laptop and mobile phone and its taking up a lot of space in my bedroom.

Its a Compaq tower, I have had it for a few years now and just noticed it has connections for sd cards I really need to open my eyes

I will restore it to factory settings, does anyone know what to do to make sure its safe to pass on. Any advice would be a massive help.


Thank you son-of-satire


Thank you @artedellavita

Sort:  
  1. Backup anything that’s yours.
  2. Create new user
  3. Delete all users and their profiles and files and data except for the newly created user. (It will ask you if you want to keep files)
  4. Securely wipe all unused space on your drive. For example use BleachBit (as famously used in the deleted emails scandal) or CCleaner has an option to do that too.

I would just format the hard drive after backing. up the data.

I think we all do the same thing when these dates arrive, we always want to improve our spaces and we see many things that are occupying a non-existential place.
Thank you very much for sharing your updates and optimizations of your home
I wish you my dear friend @ karenb54 a great day

just take the hard drive out and keep it. That way you can get the stuff off it whenever you want, by using an external drive.

Then there is no chance of someone else getting your data. Hard drives are cheap, so anyone buying it / getting it for free will have no trouble putting in their own drive.

Are they easy to take out, helllpppp :)

Your hard drive is in the tower. Usually found at the top of the tower. Disconnect the wires and unscrew the screws holding it in place. Gently slide out. Bob's your Uncle!

Ill be doing that tomorrow, seems easy enough :)

Let me know how it goes...

I will do :)

I did it lol Learnt something new. Thank you :)

Doing the happy dance here! I am glad that it worked well for you. I try to learn something new each and everyday. It's what keeps us young! lol