My oldest son works with the cyber crimes law enforcement folks. He claims the FBI can still get good stuff from a disk that has been hammered.
From: Bruce Robertson Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 12:24 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] old laptops My technique for destroying old disks is to take them out of the laptop and then pound them a few times with a sledgehammer. Seems to do the trick. On 07/12/2016 10:45 AM, Ken Hohhof wrote: 486 with WinME ... face it, they’re e-waste. Find an electronics recycler that will guarantee they’ll wipe or destroy the disks and won’t charge to take them off your hands. If they work and have an Ethernet port and maybe a serial port, keep at least one of them around for when you need to program equipment. And if they have a diskette drive and CD/DVD drive, maybe keep one around in case you need to read one of those. New “ultrabooks” tend to assume everything is WiFi and stored in the cloud. From: Simon Westlake Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 11:57 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] old laptops If they are that old, I doubt they have too much value for charities. You'd probably be lucky to give them away, I have a few that aren't even as old as that, and I haven't been able to find anyone that wants them. I would just take them to Goodwill if you don't want them to go to waste, putting the OS back on them would probably help most people. On 7/12/2016 11:49 AM, Chuck McCown wrote: Some of them have Windows ME on them.... 486 machines. From: Bruce Robertson Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 10:48 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] old laptops Chuck has 'em, not me! On 07/12/2016 09:44 AM, Tim Reichhart wrote: Bruce what kind of laptops you got? I am always looking for laptops for my wisp. Tim ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -----Original Message----- From: "Glen Waldrop" <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Date: 07/12/16 12:40 PM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] old laptops If you did I'd wipe and reload. Anyone going to a thrift store for a computer is either poor and likely can't do anything with it if there is a problem or possibly a techie, they'll wipe and reload regardless. ----- Original Message ----- From: Chuck McCown To: [email protected] Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 11:38 AM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] old laptops I am wondering if they have much value for charities. I suppose thrift stores sell them. Should I leave the OS on them? From: Bruce Robertson Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2016 10:36 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] old laptops Wipe the disks and donate them to a charity. On 07/12/2016 09:34 AM, Chuck McCown wrote: What should I do with a tower of old laptops stacking up at my house.� I hate to toss them.� I am sure most of them can be made to work, perhaps with a new battery.� -- Simon Westlake Skype: Simon_Sonar Email: [email protected] Phone: (702) 447-1247 --------------------------- Sonar Software Inc The next generation of ISP billing and OSS https://sonar.software!DSPAM:2,57852cb2178511881538290!
