How to Securely Prepare Old Computer for Disposal

This tip is about the how to Securely Prepare Old Computer for Disposal. So read this free guide, How to Securely Prepare Old Computer for Disposal step by step. If you have query related to same article you may contact us.

How to Securely Prepare Old Computer for Disposal – Guide

[****]

[****]Whether you’re replacing your laptop, tablet or desktop computer, or simply looking to get rid of a broken one, properly recycling your technology is critical. This tutorial will show you how to properly recycle your computer and where to dispose of it.

How to Safely prepare your old computer for disposal

Data Security: Deleting Your Files Is Not Enough

[****]Do you think that deleting your old files and cleaning the Recycle Bin is enough to remove them from your computer? Think again. When a file is deleted, it is not actually removed from the hard drive. All that is done is that a certain marker is set on the hard drive to indicate that the file is no longer available. The file contents are still present on the hard drive. If someone uses a data recovery program, they can still recover their file or parts of it. The same goes for formatting a hard drive. Modern hard drive formatting utilities don’t wipe the hard drive – they just reset some information on the hard drive. The data is still there. Incidentally, even if you are sure that you never store vital information like credit card numbers in a document on your computer, you should still perform the procedure here.

Program Registry Key Security

[****]Data files aren’t the only files you need to clean. If you purchased a program on the Internet, you probably received a license key or registration number to enter your program and activate it. These programs usually keep a copy of this key somewhere on the hard drive so they can remember that you are a registered user. If you leave your registered programs and keys on your system, someone can retrieve them and distribute them on the Internet. When a key becomes widely available, the software author may blacklist it. As a result, when you try to install the software you paid for on your new computer, you may find that you can no longer register it, even if you paid for it.

[****]This goes beyond the software you install. It applies to the operating system itself (like Windows) as well. If you are running a retail version of Windows purchased separately from a software store, you may want to use it on your new computer. Since you are only licensed to use Windows on only one computer at a time, if you simply leave your old computer with retail Windows installed, you may one day find that your existing Windows computer will no longer work. This could happen if Microsoft discovers your key circulating on the internet and blacklists it so that it is no longer valid. I know the above sounds a little paranoid, especially if you’re not very proficient with computers. However, from the point of view of any experienced computer user, electronic data recovery and the use/abuse of that data is very easy. We are no longer in the 20th century here, where it may take a criminal mind to perpetrate such crimes. Nowadays, even children can do this.

How to Preparing for safe computer disposal and cleaning

[****]Disclaimer: The procedure described here is intended for a home user whose data really doesn’t interest anyone but petty crooks. If your hard drive contains truly valuable data, whether commercial or government, consult your organization’s security policies for proper disposal of your hard drives and computer. Also, this guide does not deal with solid state disks (SSD) that seem to be coming into vogue. I have no idea how to dispose of them safely.

save your data

[****]Make sure you’ve actually backed up all your data on your computer first. Note that this doesn’t just mean that you copy all the files from the “My Documents” folder or the desktop or wherever you put those files. It also means that you save any license keys or registration keys for the programs you purchased and installed on your computer. Get a USB drive or flash drive and copy everything to it before moving on to the next step. After taking the next steps, your data is irrevocably lost to you.

Download Disk Cleanup Software

[****]You need special software to safely clean your hard drive for you. Don’t worry, you don’t have to spend a dime. It’s free. Go to thefreecountry.com’s Free Secure File / Disk Erasing Utilities page and click the link to Darik’s Boot and Nuke (called “DBAN” for short) in the main section of that page. Once on the DBAN website, download the file for “floppy disks and USB flash drive” if your old computer has a floppy drive. If it doesn’t, get the file for “CD and DVD media”.

Create Dban disk

[****]If you downloaded the floppy disk version, place a blank floppy disk in your floppy drive, run the program you downloaded, and follow the instructions. If you downloaded the CD/DVD version, things are a little more complicated. You need to have a CD burner to make a bootable DBAN CD. If your old computer doesn’t have a CD/DVD burner, you will have to download and make the CD on your new computer (which I assume has a CD/DVD burner). To create the bootable CD, start the CD/DVD burning program and look for an option that allows you to burn a disk image.

Roxio breeder

[****]If you use Roxio Creator, get started up Disk Copier under “Applications”. Click on the “Advanced” menu and the button next to “DVD-Video Disc Image or Folder”. Select the DBAN ISO file you downloaded.

imgburn

[****]If you don’t have the above software, you can also use one of the free programs listed on the Free CD and DVD Burners and Copying Software page. As there are so many, I will only describe the procedure for one of them, ImgBurn. In ImgBurn, click the button button “Burn image file to disk” and click the “Browse for a file” button button (The button looks like a folder with a magnifying glass in version 2.4.0.0). Select the DBAN ISO file you downloaded. After selecting the file, proceed with burning to a blank CD. It doesn’t matter if you use blank CD-R or CD-RW media, although you should probably use a CD-RW so you can reuse the CD when you’re done using it. DBAN is not the kind of software you will need to run every day.

Restart with Dban

[****]When you have finished creating the DBAN CD or diskette, place it in the drive of the old computer and restart the computer. You will be greeted with a blue screen titled “Darik’s Boot and Nuke” and a list of options. Press the ENTER key to start DBAN in interactive mode. After a few seconds or so, you will see a new screen. In the main part of the screen, under the heading “Disks and Partitions”, you will find a list with the name of the manufacturer of your hard disks followed by the partitions present on that hard disk. Press the spacebar until each box of square brackets “[]” or contains “[wipe]” or “[****]”. By doing this, you are selecting all of your computer’s hard drives to be erased. The standard method of erasing is to overwrite your existing data on your hard drive 3 times. There are other options to erase your disk multiple times with different types of data. These options should make your data less likely to be recovered, but they will take longer. I let you find out how to enable these options yourself if you wish. (Hint: Type “M” to see the various cleaning methods.)

[****]The default option of wiping the disk just a few times will be enough to defeat casual snoops looking to your hard drive for easy choices. But you should note that such software wipes of your hard drives are not foolproof. There are ways to recover data even after using a wipe, but they require expensive procedures (at the time of writing this) that the average crook is unlikely to use. On the other hand, if your hard drive contains truly secret information, which rivals are willing to pay to recover, the only sure way to ensure the data is gone is to physically destroy the entire hard drive, platters and all. As mentioned earlier, the method I describe is intended for the average person. home computer that contains only things that are of interest to petty crooks. To start cleaning, press the F10 key at the top of the keyboard. Note: after doing this, your data is doomed. Do not press the key unless you are sure. If you decide not to press F10, the only way out of Dban is to shut down your computer.

[****]The entire erasing procedure will take a lot of time, so you shouldn’t sit in front of the screen waiting for it to finish. Depending on the size and speed of your hard drives, the number of hard drives you have, the erasure method you select, it can take many hours or even longer. It may be best to plug your computer into an unused power outlet in the corner of a room and let it work overnight. Once Dban is done (it will tell you), just remove your floppy or CD and shut down your computer. You cannot restart your computer after that as with the hard drive erased there is no more operating system like Windows to boot.

Final note

I hope you like the guide How to Securely Prepare Old Computer for Disposal. In case if you have any query regards this article you may ask us. Also, please share your love by sharing this article with your friends.