How To Securely Dispose Of Your Old Laptop – Are you thinking of upgrading to a new laptop? Well, don’t just throw the old one in the trash. Recycle them. But before you do, follow these simple steps to secure your data and prepare your old laptop for its new home.
You probably already do this on a regular basis. But one final backup of the data and files stored on your laptop’s hard drive is in order before you get rid of your laptop.
How To Securely Dispose Of Your Old Laptop
You can back up your laptop hard drive to an external hard drive or a cloud drive like DropBox or Google Drive. Excessive backup is a good idea; so, consider backing up to a physical hard drive and an online service.
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Often, your registered program specifies how many devices you can use with one license. So, you may want to disable or deactivate the licensed programs before recycling your old laptop.
Disabling is usually relatively easy for most programs. But if you’re not sure how to disable any program, search online for how to do it right.
Your internet browser and other programs can store sensitive information about you, so you should clear your browser history and delete all programs that have personal data stored on them.
One of the last steps before your laptop is ready for recycling is to delete all sensitive files like photos, banking, and tax information from the hard drive. The best way to do this is to wipe the hard drive with software designed to remove all traces of data from the disk completely.
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It might be useful to find another method of destroying the hard drive if you need more assurance that the data has been removed from the drive.
Finally, you can restore your laptop to its original state by doing a factory reset. A factory reset will restore your laptop to its original factory settings.
By following the “Step-by-Step: Laptop Recycling” guide, you will adequately prepare your laptop for the next stage in its life cycle. You can now drop off your laptop at an approved laptop recycling facility. This article was written by Spike Baron and by staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA. Spike Baron is the Owner of Spike Computer Repair based in Los Angeles, California. With over 25 years of experience working in the technology industry, Spike specializes in PC and Mac computer repair, used computer sales, virus removal, data recovery, and hardware and software upgrades. He holds the CompTIA A+ certification for computer service technicians and is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert.
There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page.
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This article has been fact-checked, confirming the accuracy of all facts cited and confirming the authority of the source.
Whether you need an upgrade, your laptop is broken, or you have an old laptop gathering dust in the closet, you need to get rid of your laptop at the same time. If you’ve been using a laptop for a long time, you likely have valuable files on your hard drive that you want to save, or prevent other people from using. By wiping your hard drive and knowing some safe ways to get rid of it, you can dispose of your laptop without worry.
This article was written by Spike Baron and by staff writer, Darlene Antonelli, MA. Spike Baron is the Owner of Spike Computer Repair based in Los Angeles, California. With over 25 years of experience working in the technology industry, Spike specializes in PC and Mac computer repair, used computer sales, virus removal, data recovery, and hardware and software upgrades. He holds the CompTIA A+ certification for computer service technicians and is a Microsoft Certified Solutions Expert. This article has been viewed 260, 141 times. You just got a new laptop and are excited to set it up. But, before you do, you’ll want to get rid of your old ones so they don’t take up space.
When your laptop is disposed of improperly, it can have many negative environmental and personal effects. For example, if you just throw it in the trash, your old laptop could end up in the wrong hands, leaving behind your data.
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Even worse, it can end up in landfills, leak rare earth elements, and cause damage to the environment and our health.
When disposed of improperly, electronic waste, or e-waste, can cause pollution in our water, soil, and air. This can cause negative health effects which we will touch on next.
On the other hand, recycling your e-waste conserves energy. This is because the recycling process uses much less energy than mining for new materials. Another benefit of recycling is reducing the amount of carbon emissions produced.
In addition, it also saves our natural resources because we can reuse unwanted materials instead of having to mine them again. This also protects our environment because we don’t have to dig the ground to access raw materials.
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For example, the plastic in your electronic device does not break down like other materials. They break down and turn into microplastic particles. These particles are very harmful to plants, animals, and humans that may ingest them.
Furthermore, the metal in your device also comes with its own dangers. As they sit in landfills, they oxidize and ionize the surrounding soil and eventually produce and our drinking water. Many of these metals contain toxic chemicals that can cause negative effects on our health. For example, it can lead to:
Finally, burning these devices is equally dangerous because these chemicals are then released into the air and can cause respiratory problems.
Not only does improper disposal affect your health, it can also damage the health of your business.
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According to a report on cybersecurity issues, of the 200 hard drives that researchers looked at, 11% still had data on them. As technology advances, hackers become better at recovering information from devices.
This results in your business’s personal data being exposed and potentially reaching your competitors. When something like this happens, stakeholders get nervous and stock values can drop.
Additionally, when you have a data breach, not only is your business information at risk of being exposed, but so is your clients’ personal information. This can lead to lawsuits which brings us to the next point, financial issues. Not good!
Data breach lawsuits are very expensive. Not only will you have to pay legal fees, but if you lose or settle, your company will have to spend a lot of money to reimburse affected customers.
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Additionally, tons of money is lost when you dispose of your electronic waste improperly. There are many valuable materials that can be extracted from these tools and reused. When you recycle your electronic device you can get a refund.
So, how can you avoid this danger? Keep reading to learn how to properly dispose of your laptop.
Your business is responsible for protecting your customer data and any damage you do to the environment.
Pro Tip: Backup your information to two places in case something happens to your primary storage. This is especially important if you decide to use cloud-based storage.
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Many people think that if they delete files from their laptop, then it will be safe and secure from hackers. But this is not true.
The internal hard drive protects your information even if you remove it from your laptop. There are 2 ways you can delete data on your hard drive.
The first option to destroy your data is to physically destroy the hard drive on your laptop. There are a few steps to make sure you do it right and make sure your information is gone.
Caution: If you are not comfortable with computers, we recommend leaving this to a professional as you may accidentally destroy important parts that can be reused.
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You can download software to help wipe your hard drive, completely destroying your information. There are software you have to pay for and others you can get for free, so do your research.
You will also want to do a factory reset. If your laptop is a Mac, you’ll want to delete and reinstall macOS.
However, if you are trying to destroy sensitive data we recommend using a professional data sanitizer. This way you can make sure none of your data can be retrieved.
When you use browsers like Google, they often save your history and, sometimes, even your logins for different sites. Be sure to log into your laptop and manually clear your browsing history and delete saved passwords.
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This step is often overlooked but is as important as any other. Many tools like Adobe or iTunes only let you have a certain number of devices per user.
Open all applications that have limits and turn off the laptop. Then uninstall programs that may store your passwords or information.
According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, recycling one million laptops saves the same amount of energy as the power they use.
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