What is the best way to safely and completely erase all data from old laptops? - eviltoast

I have a couple of old laptops lying around and want to throw them away, but have been cautious to do so because of privacy concerns of data still on the hard drives. What is the best way to wipe them? Or should I take them out and physically destroy them?

They are running windows vista and 10 I think.

  • monsieur_jean@kbin.social
    2·
    11 months ago

    Depends on the type of drives and your needs.

    If the drive is big enough to be used as storage/back, get it out and in its own USB enclosure.

    If the drive is either too small or you have too may already then :

    • SSD : smash it to pieces with a hammer
    • HDD : if you’re sure it’s not an hybrid (in which case the SSD process applies) then you can just fill it with garbage or use whatever “erasing” software out there. I would go for an open-source one.