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Post by mangetout on Dec 15, 2022 17:10:52 GMT 1
I have a couple of old laptops which sadly died, beyond repair, but still have personal financial files on the drives. I want to destroy them effectively so that no-one can get hold of the documents. Can someone advise me which part of the computer holds the data. Is it the chips?
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suein56
Member
Southern Morbihan 56 Brittany
Posts: 7,488
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Post by suein56 on Dec 15, 2022 17:26:55 GMT 1
The hard drive. Someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon to describe it so you can recognise it. We usually bash it/them soundly with a hammer before taking to the non-recycling part of the déchetterie. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2022 17:46:35 GMT 1
I thought I was the only madman to use a hammer MT might not get through the metal box though.
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Post by robertarthur on Dec 15, 2022 17:52:59 GMT 1
Standard procedures are to let loose an agressive erase tool, software, not a hammer. Many little mean utilities available, also for Windows XP. Dead laptops: if you made a backup of these financial files, go ahead, hammer helps. Or a power drill, you will not appreciate the surprising resistance these dead drives offer, high quality metal. If you don't trust the reliability of your backups - usb sticks have a tendency to disappear or suffer from memory loss - install these drives (IDE or SATA?) in an external enclosure. A simple usb cable is enough to access your old files. If readable by the software of today. Yesterday I recovered a picture in the almost prehistoric WPS format using LibereOffice to convert it into pdf format. Little Microsoft special tools not longer available. |
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Post by ajm on Dec 15, 2022 17:54:26 GMT 1
Put it in a buckect of water and leave for while
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2022 17:57:04 GMT 1
Put it in a buckect of water and leave for while Health and safety alert. Make sure it is un plugged if going down theis route  |
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Post by mangetout on Dec 15, 2022 17:59:33 GMT 1
Standard procedures are to let loose an agressive erase tool, software, not a hammer. Many little mean utilities available, also for Windows XP. Dead laptops: if you made a backup of these financial files, go ahead, hammer helps. Or a power drill, you will not appreciate the surprising resistance these dead drives offer, high quality metal. If you don't trust the reliability of your backups - usb sticks have a tendency to disappear or suffer from memory loss - install these drives (IDE or SATA?) in an external enclosure. A simple usb cable is enough to access your old files. If readable by the software of today. Yesterday I recovered a picture in the almost prehistoric WPS format using LibereOffice to convert it into pdf format. Little Microsoft special tools not longer available. They won't even fire up let alone let me erase files, I need a very old fashioned method, brute force. |
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Post by robertarthur on Dec 15, 2022 18:17:07 GMT 1
@ Mysty2, about unplugging: it might be a good idea to keep the power supplies as spares. Their output voltages are around 19 V DC and 3, 4 or 5 amps, almost universal. Still under the limits of the Health & Safety guys. A pity that nobody seems to use the same type of connector plugs and sockets. These old memory modules: a Christmas present for a DIY or repairshop?
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Post by robertarthur on Dec 15, 2022 18:21:24 GMT 1
@ Mangetout, remove the electronics, the printed circuit board, hammer it, same procedure for the rest, bin them separately.
edit: don't fire up? Problem caused by a defective power supply, by the laptop electronics, no 12 V (motor) or 5 V (logic), no spinning sound of rotating hard disk, screen mentions: "Operating System not found" or everything as dead as a doornail?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2022 18:55:35 GMT 1
[tr][td class="content"][article] They won't even fire up let alone let me erase files, I need a very old fashioned method, brute force. [/article] Assuming they're disk drives, it's not difficult, but you may need special screwdrivers (some have hex screws). One possibility would be to take out the drives themselves (loads of info on YouTube telling you how: usually you just need to unscrew them and pull out the ribbon cable). Then buy an appropriate hard drive enclosure (if you fancy trying to read or resurrect one or both) and connect it up to your current machine. Otherwise, open the hard drive up, take out the platter and smash it up. |
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Le-Dolly
Member
La Souterraine (23) depuis '05.
Posts: 566
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Post by Le-Dolly on Dec 15, 2022 19:29:35 GMT 1
If you can open the laptop, which can be a challenge finding the odd hidden screw, look for the obvious big rectangular thing, that is the hard drive. There will be a few, 4?, screws to remove and possibly a lead to disengage then remove the hard drive to the bench. There are generally 6 screws around the perimiter of the hard drive and a hidden one under the label, remove the cover. You will see the silver disc inside with generally a torx screw in it's centre, remove the screw and it will loose the platters, chuck them in the wood burner, data deleted.
Edit: just seen stvincent's post, same as same as.
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Nifty
Member
Posts: 4,975
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Post by Nifty on Dec 15, 2022 20:44:10 GMT 1
Put it in a buckect of water and leave for while Add salt for good measure then boil for 20 min.. |
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Post by mangetout on Dec 15, 2022 21:55:42 GMT 1
Thank you everyone. I'll set to it tomorrow.
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Aardvark
Non-gamer
Living in soggy 22 and still wondering what's going on.
Posts: 2,172
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Post by Aardvark on Dec 16, 2022 11:53:58 GMT 1
@ Mysty2, about unplugging: it might be a good idea to keep the power supplies as spares. Their output voltages are around 19 V DC and 3, 4 or 5 amps, almost universal. Still under the limits of the Health & Safety guys. A pity that nobody seems to use the same type of connector plugs and sockets. These old memory modules: a Christmas present for a DIY or repairshop? A redundant power supply can be a handy resource. I used one to power an electrolysis de-rusting tank. Slow acting but does a decent job if left to fizz overnight. |
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