{"id":7826,"date":"2010-07-07T15:33:39","date_gmt":"2010-07-07T20:33:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.sustainablog.org\/?p=7826"},"modified":"2010-07-07T15:33:39","modified_gmt":"2010-07-07T20:33:39","slug":"recycle-computer-protect-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/recycle-computer-protect-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Ready to Recycle Your Computer? Protect Your Data First&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_7829\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7829\" style=\"width: 450px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7829\" src=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/files\/2010\/07\/computers-for-recycling.jpg\" alt=\"Computers ready for recycling... but what about the data?\" width=\"450\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/computers-for-recycling.jpg 450w, https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/computers-for-recycling-300x201.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7829\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Computers ready for recycling&#8230; but what about the data?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Many of you had great suggestions when we published a post on <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/computer-recycling-earth-911\/\">computer recycling<\/a> in February. I&#8217;m dealing with this issue myself now&#8230; my wife wants the old equipment out of the basement! I dutifully went and found out where I could take the old systems, but was still concerned: what about the data still on the hard drives? Can&#8217;t wipe them with a program &#8212; they don&#8217;t run anymore. Can I count on the recycler to take care of that for me? Do I want to risk it?<\/p>\n<p>A little digging around brought up this incredibly useful video from the folks at Geek Squad on how to destroy your hard drive:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Geek Squad How-To: Disposing of Your Hard Drive\" width=\"1170\" height=\"878\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O9dZYMOsnVE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I haven&#8217;t tried it yet, but have my hammer and drill ready to go. Any further suggestions here?<\/p>\n<p><em>Ready to replace that old computer? <a href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/10-step-guide-to-buying-a-used-laptop-that-works\/\">Used laptops<\/a> are always an inexpensive (and green) option.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Image credit:<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/booleansplit\/3202360630\/in\/photostream\/\">Robert S. Donovan at Flickr<\/a> under a <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0\/deed.en\">Creative Commons license<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Many of you had great suggestions when we published a post on computer recycling in February. I&#8217;m dealing with this issue myself now&#8230; my wife wants the old equipment out&nbsp;[ &hellip; ]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":16765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,79],"tags":[4451,4181,5,4452,39],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Recycle Your Computer... and Protect Your Data<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Make sure you&#039;re not opening yourself to identity theft by recycling your computer... learn how to destroy your hard drive before disposing of it responsibly.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/recycle-computer-protect-data\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Recycle Your Computer... and Protect Your Data\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Make sure you&#039;re not opening yourself to identity theft by recycling your computer... learn how to destroy your hard drive before disposing of it responsibly.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/recycle-computer-protect-data\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sustainablog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-07-07T20:33:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/ready-to-recycle-your-computer-p.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/recycle-computer-protect-data\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/recycle-computer-protect-data\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeff McIntire-Strasburg\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/9b578e764fdaeb0c31f2d565d3f02b30\"},\"headline\":\"Ready to Recycle Your Computer? 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