Of course I have some personal and financial data on my computers and I've read that the only way to absolutely permanently erase it is to destroy the the hard drive so that's what I do. I open the case, pull out the hard drive, open it up and chisel it out with my trusty 4# hammer, then beat the disk into some weird shape before throwing it into the trash. But, before I throw the remainder away, I remove the two neodymium magnets (super-strong magnets). Those magnets are incredibly useful, I often break them into small bits and attach them to tools to hold screws, nails,etc. If any of my friends want parts from the computer I'll certainly give it to them or drop it off at the recycling center with a note that the hard drive is missing.
I haven't disposed of any old computers. Not because of anything that I've had on file, but because I didn't have a way to dispose of it in a way that was environmentally sound, so they are just sitting off to the side. I should figure something out.
I either keep them around as backup or give them to family members. When I was younger I used not to care of what happens with my old hardware, but once, after I was left with no PC when my graphics card broke, I started considering keeping a backup. Now I have an older computer in storage that I can use in the case of malfunction of the current one. All my work is done online, so having a spare computer is one of the best ideas I ever had
I still have my previous computer in the closet because I still have photos and videos on it that I want to transfer to my current computer. The last time I disposed of a computer, I sent it to a recycling/reselling place that sent me a prepaid label to send them the computer and they sent me a check for the parts, kind of like those places that buy old cell phones.
I plan to donate mine to Goodwill. There are plenty of people out there who like to get old computers and build their own, I figure the best use of it would be if Goodwill could sell it for a few dollars and someone would get a cheap computer to play with and learn about computer building.
I usually sell of what I can, eventually reuse any part that can be reused (I have an older PC at home as well as my main desktop PC, so some stuff can be reused there), and leave the rest outside by the garbage. If people want to, they can scavenge it.
Our household has only ever had two desktop computers, and we have only ever gotten rid of one. Our method for getting rid of this computer was to give it back to my uncle, who was the person who had built the computer for us in the first place. He is a bit of a tech wiz, and always has been. He builds everything from scratch and so he keeps a lot of spare parts just in case he could use them to build something else. So we have our new computer and he has our old one. Only, the old one is dismantled and in parts.
I am not disposing my old computer. It's either I keep it as remembrance of a bygone era (expect rapid innovation to cause our current computers to be obsolete in the next few years) or I sell it to a PC shop that repairs old computers and resell refurbished ones. I'm the sentimental type so I'm more inclined to keeping it. If it still functions well, then I'll use it for basic office tasks.
The 1st pc was sent to my cousin, so that it can be repaired. 2 years have passed and he still did not or wasn't able to repair it, so we bought another pc. If ever I will have a useless pc, I will dispose of it by selling it as defective.
I usually just keep my old computers just in case I need it for parts. They don't take up that much space so I don't mind. I usually take out the hard drives and use them as storage but if I didn't want to keep my computers around I'd most likely just give it to a friend at least. I have a few friends who know a lot more about computers and they surely could use the spare parts more than I can.
I had a 5 year old PC that was of no use o me, so I sold it on a store for only a couple of bucks. It was of no use to me anyway.
I know at some waste sites they allow you to throw away old electronics such as laptops, tablets, cell phones, etc. I need to go through my house, garage and car so I can start throwing out some old electronic gadgets. My house has become a graveyard for computers. I also would like to know how I can refurbish a very old gaming console that is collecting dust and mold in my garage. Does anyone know how to refurbish an Atari?
Speaking of disposing old computers, I have had my old desktop with a dead hard drive here in my home that I was originally going to fix for like 2 years now. However, I've decided some time ago that I wasn't going to fix it because the computer is outdated but still didn't know what to do with it. For some reason I don't want to just put it near the nearest garbage disposal I could because the desktop is still in good shape. I think I'm going to just take it to a computer shop and drop it off. Can't really sell it with no good hard drive can I?
I have not yet disposed of my old computers. All of my computers through my age is still in the house. From my old desktop to my recently dead or dying laptop, I have no plans of disposing them. They are still precious enough for me. I call it sentimental value? Anyway, I plan to have my recent Samsung laptop fixed due to over heating issues. I think it is a blocked fan and if it is fixed, I plan to back up all my data and then give it to my mother. The remaining life of that laptop will be spreadsheet or word only.
I don't remember how we disposed of our old computers in the far past. We still have a couple from when Microsoft XP was pulled out from the market completely. We're looking for ways to dispose of the computer but we are not yet thinking of dismantling them and selling out the parts. I don't even know how to do that. I browsed around for ways to perhaps recycle and get compensated for the old machines. I don't recommend giving to a friend unless the computer is in usable condition. In our case it's a Microsoft XP computer so it's actually pretty good but we can't use them because the software was pulled.
I either take them to a local computer repair shop to sell parts or simply sell them as scrap. However, I always make sure that I remove the hard drives just to verify that any data in them is completly erased. Once I have done that, I then fix the hard drive in any old computer and dispose it off. There is a friend of mine who actually buys old computers and uses different parts and competents to create better computers. It sounds weird but he makes a living out of old computers.
I echo what a few people have said. Unless you have a broken laptop that can't be sold for scrap, you should never just throw away your computer at least not completely. My last desktop crashed so I threw it away thinking it was of no use but I plan to keep them from now on. You can give them away to your friends but personally I plan to keep them now just in case I need the parts.
Unless there are some really good parts in there that I can salvage for myself, I will typically wipe the machine and reformat it and sell it or give it away. Most recently I've been giving mine away since I wiped out my backup copy of Windows during the course of using the machine to free up more space and because I would put a newer version of Windows on there instead. As a result I can't really sell the system without a copy of Windows on it. Although I did recently discover a site that hosts legal downloads of older versions of Windows on it, and as long as you still have the serial number sticker on your machine, you can install whatever version of Windows is licensed on the machine and use your serial and it should work fine. In the past, I could never get standard Windows installation discs to work with my OEM serial number, but nowadays they seem to work just fine. The site is called DigitalRiver, if interested.
I'm pretty sure my family's ancient computer is still sitting in our basement. I mean i moved out of my parent's house but there's a high chance it's there somewhere. Someday when they have the chance to clean out the house they'll probably get rid of the computer.
First, unless I wish to keep my hard-drive, I'll delete all information in it and then destroy it with a magnet. Secondly, I take the rest of my computer apart, separate it all, and then clean every piece with a compressor machine spraying at least two feet away from each part. Afterwards, I ask family and friends who may wish to acquire any parts they need from my old computer. Whatever is left I then place each usable item on a sellers website like Craigslist or Ebay - depending if I wish to ship or not - and hope to make a sale.
