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MisterBigDude t1_j9q3j7x wrote

How can I prepare laptops to be recycled, especially if I don't have the passwords to use them?

My family has several old laptops that we want to dispose of through the state's official electronics recycling program. But we can no longer log in to those laptops, and I'm concerned that they may contain sensitive info (passwords, finances, etc.) that a savvy person could access.

Is it safe to recycle them as is? Should I try to take out the hard drives? (If so, would I smash them with a hammer or run a powerful magnet over them or something like that before disposing of them?) Thanks.

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veritanuda OP t1_j9r5lz5 wrote

Time to DBAN them

Edit: Just realised does not do SSD's so check this thread instead if you have SSDs

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MisterBigDude t1_j9r7dqp wrote

Thanks, but wouldn’t I need to be able to log into the laptops to use that method? Or are you implying that I would remove each drive and connect it to another computer to run that software?

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veritanuda OP t1_j9r8c5b wrote

No.. you can boot the ISO off a USB and it should erase it. Assuming it is not SSD if it is then you need a live recovery/rescue image you can use to wipe the disks with secure erase.

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MisterBigDude t1_j9ra4bu wrote

> you can boot the ISO off a USB

I am not familiar with ISO, will need to figure out what you are suggesting. (Sorry, I have decades of PC experience but not that type of technical expertise.)

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veritanuda OP t1_j9uhuiq wrote

ISO is short for ISO 9660 which is the CD image spec. It just means burning a CD image to a USB device to boot off.

Essentially, you can boot PCs off removable media, and typically that is some sort of USB device with an alternative OS on it. You might have in your time booted off a physical CD as a recovery option. Because physical media has ceases to become popular, USB sticks have replaced them, but the mechanism is the same,

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