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Ok for you tech types - lets keep this simple. My 'old' laptop died a couple weeks ago (ten year old HP 17") - screen went white all of a sudden and no return to an image. Ok so I pulled the HHDs and determined they are 21 pin SATA 2 style so I can get cheap USB cables for them to retrieve data. I assume there is nothing else I need out of the laptop before it goes in the trash correct? Thanks.
 
Ok for you tech types - lets keep this simple. My 'old' laptop died a couple weeks ago (ten year old HP 17") - screen went white all of a sudden and no return to an image. Ok so I pulled the HHDs and determined they are 21 pin SATA 2 style so I can get cheap USB cables for them to retrieve data. I assume there is nothing else I need out of the laptop before it goes in the trash correct? Thanks.

These days with how cheap the parts like RAM have gotten I doubt anything else would be worth salvaging. If you want to "recycle " it someone who tinkers may want it. With the HD gone none of the data from you is in danger. When one of our PC's die I take the drive out and destroy it before giving the rest away to anyone who wants the scrap. Some still love to tinker with the damn things and use the parts that are still good.
 
Off topic a bit, but hard drives are tough cookies. Mine stopped a 45 auto, you can see the bullet in the opening:D
IMG_0184_zpsddideerl.jpg
 
You can buy an external gram to mount either a regular hard drive or a laptop hard drive and it works like an external hard drive and jut need to plug in the USB and power and switch it on and you can access anything on the drive.

I've found them at Best Buy but I'm sure they are cheaper on Amazon.

Best of luck!
 
Either keep the hard drives around or destroy them when you're done with them so you data doesn't get released into the wild. I usually keep my last HD around in case I forgot to get something off of it.


elsie
 
Ok for you tech types - lets keep this simple. My 'old' laptop died a couple weeks ago (ten year old HP 17") - screen went white all of a sudden and no return to an image. Ok so I pulled the HHDs and determined they are 21 pin SATA 2 style so I can get cheap USB cables for them to retrieve data. I assume there is nothing else I need out of the laptop before it goes in the trash correct? Thanks.

That would be my guess. As Joe comments, you will need a way to provide power to it, and connect via USB, or onto another MB to get it recognized. Then you should be good to go
 
Newegg on line will have very inexpensive external HD enclosures that will work with those drives. Just need to go through their filters to find the right ones. I have 6 HD's hooked to my desk top that go all the way back to a 2000 Gateway computer I had running Windows ME (Millennium Edition)
 
Along the same line, I recently archived 10 years of snapshots and personal files (like taxes) on a 2TB solid state external hard drive.

Now I have a few old computers I won't use again. I'd like to think that deleting files and then emptying the recycle bin would completely remove my data. But maybe not?

If I format the hard drives, will that permanently delete my data before I drop the these antiques off at Free Geek in Portland? Or should I just yank the drives and keep/destroy them?
 
there are programs that do a much better drive wipe/data destruction routine than just formatting. its amazing what can be recovered in the right hands.
Privacy at this point in our lives is only based on numbers, if someone wants your data/info all they have to to do is dig a little. The odds of you or me getting hacked is low due to the sheer number of people on the planet and the high percentage of them that are easy targets.
personally i keep/destroy any drives i no longer need/want to use.
 
Last Edited:
Along the same line, I recently archived 10 years of snapshots and personal files (like taxes) on a 2TB solid state external hard drive.

Now I have a few old computers I won't use again. I'd like to think that deleting files and then emptying the recycle bin would completely remove my data. But maybe not?

If I format the hard drives, will that permanently delete my data before I drop the these antiques off at Free Geek in Portland? Or should I just yank the drives and keep/destroy them?
Deleting data and empty the recycle bin only removes the "pointers" to the data. The data is still recoverable with recovery software easily found online. The same is true with format. There are many free programs that will write alternating 1s and 0s across the entire drive thus overwriting the data. Darik's Boot and Nuke is popular.
I still prefer a large hammer...
 

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