[FuXA8nQM]

How to Safely Get Rid of an Old Computer

Unfortunately, you can't just chuck an old computer in the garbage can and move on. Computers, like many electronics, contain heavy metals that pose environmental hazards when disposed of improperly. By doing any one of the following steps, you'll be able to shed that old computer without losing karma points.

Steps

1. Check your local phone book - there are recycling facilities in several cities. Websites such as those listed below may also have valuable information. These organizations donate computers or computer parts to educational institutions. There are similar websites all over the Internet.
2. Attempt to sell your computer on eBay or Craigslist.org. You might be surprised to discover that someone out there will actually pay for your old bucket of bits.
3. Ask around to see if any of your friends are looking for an older computer. Some tech-savvy people use extra computers for print servers or e-mail stations.
4. Give it to your parents or grandparents and teach them how to use email and surf the web. Old, slow computers work well at these basic tasks.
5. Donate it to a local school or charity. A database of charities looking for old computers is available at Share the Technology (link provided below).
6. Consider donating it to the nonprofit Computer Recycling Center (also listed below). They accept all computers, network equipment, and telephones (whether they are working or not). In addition, they will provide you with a receipt of your donation for a tax deduction.
7. Turn your old computer over to the manufacturer when you buy a new one. Companies such as Dell and HP will now recycle your old computer for free when you buy a new one from them.
8. Pay a for profit recycling firm to have your PC taken off your hands and recycled responsibly.
9. Put a sign on your computer saying "Free old computer - good for parts or case," and leave it out front on a dry afternoon, or offer it on Freecycle.org.
10. Keep the old computer around as a backup.


Tips

* Do any of the above steps, but just don't throw that computer into the trash. Computers are not biodegradable, and mother nature won't appreciate your contribution of an unwanted PC.
* An good way to ensure total erasure of private data is to use a secure erase utility; these can be found online for most systems as free utilities. A secure erasure utility not only deletes files (a process that usually leaves almost all of the file intact on your hard drive) but fills your occupied file space with random or zero data. Many erasure utilities perform this data filling several times over to completely eradicate any magnetic ghost data that can be picked up by a data forensics team. If you are looking to erase an entire drive prior to disposal consider a boot-up utility that can clear the entire drive, irrespective of the installed operating system (see Ultimate Boot CD link).
* Another way of totally erasing information from a hard drive is hit it with a hammer repeatedly. The goal of any secure erasure is to make it more expensive to recover the data than the data is worth. While many people can use an undelete tool to recover files, few are willing to spend the tens of thousands to recovered data from a shattered hard drive.
* If you do not wish to consume time doing this, you could always just take out the hard drive manually and reuse it yourself. There's no harm in keeping a backup hard drive around for technological emergencies. Of course, if you are donating your computer for reuse, it would be most helpful if you donate the drive also.


Warnings

* Personal information can be stored on computer components and should not be released to others without properly destroying the information. The computer's hard drive is the main concern, while personal information can also be stored on flash memory cards, floppy discs, tapes, DVDs and CDs. Deleting the data from the hard drive does not destroy the data, but simply flags it (as "deleted"). Various methods of deleting offer different levels of destruction. "Government wipe" involves writing random bit sequences over top of the deleted file several times (as the media has a "memory" of previous writes). Degaussing can be used to safely destroy the contents of an entire drive. Physical destruction is also a good method for protecting your privacy when dealing with these computer components.

http://wiki.ehow.com/Safely-Get-Rid-of-an-Old-Computer

[Goseciwx]

Yeah, but the only problem I have with using multiple computers is the freakin' electric bill.

[sleepergun]

I use old drives to make a RAID storage server.

I was thinking about the other post in this forum about flash drives and wondering when we will see someone say "I use old 300gb flash drives to make a raid storage server."

[RedImmik]

So Forum GEEK squad.....I have a question. I've always heard that it is better on your computer to leave it on all the time and let it go into power saving mode, rather than to shut it down completely and restart it every morning. Is that true?

A true power saving mode (i.e. sleep or hibrinate) will cut down on energy consumption as opposed to simply running a screen saver. Turning just the monitor off will save power, especially if it is a CRT monitor. A daily shutdown, or even a few times per day for that matter, is not going to cause significant wear and tear on your system, nor will it shorten your computer's life by any measurable amount. So, it really boils down to how frequently your computer is in use and how long you are willing to wait for the computer to boot. Do you want to wait 2 minutes for your computer to start up to check your e-mail and find the inbox empty? Or would you rather have it already turned on so you can check from time to time without having the wait?

[JRixlcvF]

nor will it shorten your computer's life by any measurable amount. I'm not so sure that's true.
I was told that the computer cooling down and heating back up will cause physical stress to some of the components, causing them to fail sooner.
So it's a trade off - I turn the system off if it's going to be unused for eight hours or more, as in overnight. I figure by the time the parts fail, they'll be obsolete anyway - and I want a lower electric bill.
I know other people though, who choose to leave it on even when on vacation for a week.

So, Kay, you still don't get a definitive yes or no answer. Sorry.

[CHEAPPoem]

Monitors are definitely a killer. LCDs use a lot less electricity, but still overall they probably consume more than the average cpu.

However, higher wattage power supplies should be taken in to account. I'm sure we've got some enthusiests out there who think, or might actually need a 400+ watt power supply, depending on the hardware it is supporting.

K... I'll stop talking geek speek... oh wait, this is tech talk :lol:.

*I am a self professed "geek"*

Um...guilty. I have a 550 watt. :roll:

[clorkergo]

Very interesting article, which brings me to another question.
Suppose I set the computer to "hibernate" after 30 minutes of inactivity. What counts as inactivity? I often leave the computer compiling a DVD project, which can take up to two hours. The processor is running at full capacity (video encoding is very processor intensive), but will everything shut down after 30 minutes without mouse / keyboard activity? I don't care if the screen saver comes on; but I sure don't want the processor to shut down in the middle of things.

Can you enlighten me on this?