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Getting Rid of old PC

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  • 15-03-2011 4:56pm
    #1
    Stabler008
    Closed Accounts Posts: 30 ✭


    Hi,

    I have a dell pc that I want to get rid of.
    Does anyone know of places that take old pcs to recycle them or something?
    Don't want to pay money to get rid of it in a dump.

    Thank you.


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    #2
    Diziet
    Registered Users Posts: 831 ✭✭✭Diziet


    Stabler008 wrote: »
    Hi,

    I have a dell pc that I want to get rid of.
    Does anyone know of places that take old pcs to recycle them or something?
    Don't want to pay money to get rid of it in a dump.

    Thank you.

    If it works, clean out your data from it and offer it on Freecycle. If it does not then you can dispose of it for free at the Kinsale Road recycling facility. There is a specific place for electrical equipment.


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    #3
    mlumley
    Registered Users Posts: 489 ✭✭mlumley


    Dont forget to take out the hard drive and smash it with a hammer, so that no personal info can be got from it. Wiping clean wont do, forensic programs can recover wiped info.


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    #4
    Daegerty
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,864 ✭✭✭Daegerty


    mlumley wrote: »
    Dont forget to take out the hard drive and smash it with a hammer, so that no personal info can be got from it. Wiping clean wont do, forensic programs can recover wiped info.

    A simple dose of 'write zeros to disk' (dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hdX in *nix) will do unless your name is Bin Laden and someone with a lot of money is really determined to recover whatever few scraps of data they can. If you are really paranoid fill the disk up with other stuff like MP3's to the brim and leave them on it after zeroing but don't smash a perfectly good hard drive over some far fetched paranoia


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    #5
    dave1982
    Registered Users Posts: 4,604 ✭✭✭dave1982


    If it still works i'd like to take it for the kids room:D

    If you don't mind:)


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    #6
    Owen
    Registered Users Posts: 12,683 ✭✭✭✭Owen


    Smash the hard drive, lol. Yeah. Or alternatively, get Hiram's Boot Disc, and use one of the many hard drive wiping utilities.

    If it's working, and not particularly old, you might get a few quid for it on adverts.ie!


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    #7
    tommy21
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,419 ✭✭✭tommy21


    The only real way to ensure the data is unrecoverable is to put it through a wood chipper! But unless you have something serious to hide (should we the reader be worried?!), a whole host of free utilities are available to run anything from one run at over writing the data (with 0s) to 7 (apparently the US DOD standard) to something called the Gutmann Method (overwrites 35 times). I can recommend ace utilities or ccleaner, or even if you boot up you computer with your restore discs, you can usually access a utility there too. But for selling it to the average punter, I'd go with the 1 or 3 passes and leave it at that.

    If its still working, why not make someone's day, like that chap with kids who needs a pc?


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    #8
    Daegerty
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,864 ✭✭✭Daegerty


    tommy21 wrote: »
    The only real way to ensure the data is unrecoverable is to put it through a wood chipper!

    Except a wood chipper wasn't designed for chipping metal and that might damage it

    You'd be better off taking out the platters and putting an angle grinder on them till there is nothing left but dust


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    #9
    tommy21
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,419 ✭✭✭tommy21


    Daegerty wrote: »
    Except a wood chipper wasn't designed for chipping metal and that might damage it

    You'd be better off taking out the platters and putting an angle grinder on them till there is nothing left but dust

    Fine the metal equivalent you get the picture either way :rolleyes:


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    #10
    mawk
    Registered Users Posts: 2,738 ✭✭✭mawk


    Paranoia ftl..

    Raffeen dump near monkstown take them too


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    #11
    CorkMan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,005 ✭✭✭CorkMan


    When in your car on Paddys bridge eff it out the window and drive away nonchalantly.


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    #12
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Urban Myths aside. Once data is overwritten I don't think anything can recover it.

    http://www.anti-forensics.com/disk-wiping-one-pass-is-enough


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    #13
    tech
    Registered Users Posts: 2,828 ✭✭✭tech


    boot & Nuke :D


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    #14
    Sonics2k
    Registered Users Posts: 8,248 ✭✭✭Sonics2k


    I'm in your trash heap, stealing your hard drives.

    Oh and a much easier way of wiping a hard drive is just run a magnet around it a few times.
    Man I must of cost my old school a fortune :D


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    #15
    BostonB
    Closed Accounts Posts: 18,056 ✭✭✭✭BostonB


    Maybe if they were really old drives, from like 10yrs ago, it might mess it up. But a magnet doesn't wipe the data from a modern hard drive. Theres actually powerful magnets already in a harddrive.

    http://www.computer-hardware-explained.com/hard-drive-magnets.html

    You need a laboratory degaussers or some massive industrial magnet to wipe a modern hard drive.

    http://www.cobolhacker.com/?p=488


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