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The article explains how to Prepare a computer for disposal. Data is stored on PCs, laptops, and mobile devices. Our passwords, account numbers, license keys, addresses, phone numbers, tax returns and other personal documents may be included in this personal and financial information. Disassembling and separating a computer’s parts and raw materials constitutes disposal or recycling of the computer. In addition, proper disposal labels include recycling, donating and repairing obsolete computers and other equipment. Follow the steps are given below.
Recycling your technology correctly is crucial, whether you are trying to replace a broken computer or simply want to upgrade your laptop, tablet or desktop computer. This advice will help you properly dispose of your computer and recycle it. Computers are challenging enough to get rid of them without worrying that someone will take them out of the trash and have access to all your saved private information. Here is the article to clean a computer.
5 ways to prepare old technology for recycling
Before your technology is out the door, there are a number of things you can do to ensure your privacy is protected, your device is safe for recycling, and even prevent your old technology from becoming junk. Not all these technology recycling tips will be applied to your specific device, so choose the ones you need from the list below.
Backup and clean your data
Before doing anything else, you should clean your clean device, remove any personal data, files, photos or other data from the machine. However, before you hit the nuke button make sure to go back up all data on the device as you never know when you might need it again and you definitely don’t want to lose precious data. We’ve covered backing up data on almost every operating system you can think of, so here are some helpful links to Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, plus a bonus link to our data backup section where you will find much more data backup guides for devices, email accounts, cloud accounts and more.
After copying your data, you can factory reset the device, ready for the next life. The data backup and wipe process applies to laptops, tablets, smartphones, desktops, and really anything else you use for personal data. You might even consider wiping the data in a smart tv before selling it or sending it to the thrift store, in case you used it to pay for something or are holding your Amazon or Netflix credentials.
Remove hard drives and other useful hardware
Of course, you don’t need to clean your drive. You can remove the hard drive and use it in your next computer. Alternatively, you can use it as a desktop backup solution or install it on a Network Attached Storage (IN THE) to increase your storage there. It’s not just hard drives that you can recover from an old device. If you have a good PC case, you can use it for your next build or retrofit it for a NAS
the motherboard, RAM and CPU everyone could join this project too. Power supply units (PSUs) are the same; unless you are drastically increasing your energy requirements (some of the The latest GPUs from Nvidia and AMD has tremendous power consumption) or your PSU is broken, you can probably reuse it for your new machine or a fun side project. Likewise, the cables connected to your computer can be worth it. Who knows when you might need that 9th HDMI cable tucked into the back of your cable box?
Find out if you can reuse technology
A bit following the previous section, but you may not need to remove hardware from your old device if you have another purpose for it. There are many creative projects that allow you to reuse old technology, saving it from e-waste or land.
Some of the top options include a home media center, a home server, your own hardware test rig, a digital picture frame, and much, much more. Which project you opt for obviously depends on the hardware you’re thinking of getting rid of, but it’s guaranteed that there will be an online project that you can find. It doesn’t have to be a server (although they are popular!). There are all kinds of projects that turn old gadgets into future technology!
Sell, gift or give away old technology
You don’t need me to say that you can go to Facebook Marketplace or eBay and list your old tech for sale. If it’s in good condition (or often, even if it isn’t), you can still list it for sale and earn a few bucks for your next tech upgrade. Selling old technology isn’t always easy, and for many, the time it takes for the monetary reward is often not worth the effort. However, if you’re serious about keeping old technology out of the landfill, it’s worth considering.
Find a place to responsibly recycle your technology
We’ve already mentioned junk e-mail a few times in this article. Unfortunately, e-waste is a plague that will only get worse until we discover better and more efficient methods to recycle the vast amounts of technology that reach the end of their useful life each year. Part of this is requiring manufacturers to build more robust hardware without the threat of planned obsolescence and adopt the right to repair. Sometimes your technology just dies and there’s not much you can do about it. When this happens, you should look for a proper e-waste recycling scheme instead of going to your local dump.
For example, in USA, Canada and Mexico, you can take your old hardware to Best Buy, where most items are recycled for free. Staples runs a similar solution, while many companies like Apple, Amazon and Samsung run swap programs for old devices. You can also check Earth911, a site that tracks and lists places for you to recycle not just your technology, but all kinds of materials. Go to Earth911 and enter what you want to recycle and your Zip codeand will advise you on the best way to dispose of your possessions.
Conclusion
Here they are final from our article how to Erase personal devices before disposal. Even after employing a disk cleanup application, an experienced hacker will still be able to recover some data. However, rather than a tech genius, our goal is to deter the casual or opportunistic criminal. The article is finished now and you know how to safely prepare the old computer for disposal.