How do I erase a laptop hard drive?

[FergieTCat]

I have two old laptops, both dead, that I'd like to recycle. How do I erase their hard drives so any private information can't be retrieved? Both of them can't be turned on, so I can't reformat them.

Thank you in advance!

 

[mickilee]

you might not be able to turn them on.. but a hacker can..
pull hard drive out and take a

big old hammer.. and have fun.. remember safety 1st, wear goggles.

 

[FireDancer]

I have two old laptops, both dead, that I'd like to recycle. How do I erase their hard drives so any private information can't be retrieved? Both of them can't be turned on, so I can't reformat them.

Thank you in advance!

Pull the hard drive and install it as a slave in another computer. Sine it is a laptop hard drive you may need an IDE adapter. Download DBAN which is free and boot to it. Use it to do nuke the disc.

 

[FergieTCat]

Fun! I get to destroy something!

Thank you for the prompt replies!

 

[cteddiesgirl]

you might not be able to turn them on.. but a hacker can..
pull hard drive out and take a

big old hammer.. and have fun.. remember safety 1st, wear goggles.

Yes. From what I've heard, even those erasing programs can't erase everything. So a hacker or expert can still retrieve info from them. Just destroy them.

 

[FireDancer]

Yes. From what I've heard, even those erasing programs can't erase everything. So a hacker or expert can still retrieve info from them. Just destroy them.

It depends on the program you use. If the program just zeros the drive or has a poor pseudo-random number generator it is possible to recover the information. If you use a good program, choose the DoD option, and do at least 3 passes no one is getting anything off of it.

 

[Guy Incognito]

if you're careful enough, you can harvest the magnets from it and make a couple fridge magents from them..... glued some old hard drive magnets to a couple wine corks.... strong little buggers (I can pull on the cork-magnet and open the fridge door )....

laptop hd magnets tend to be a little thinner than pc ones, so they are also easier to break when trying to remove them....

 

[jsmith]

Unishred Pro-or Universal Purge tool-three passes-both approved by the DOD for the destrution of classified data-a hacker could not retrieved data from a drive after one of these.