What to do with redundant computers

One 2000 desktop .... megga slow, not used since goodness knows when. No use to man or beast but full of old pictures and The Child's school work etc.

One laptop ... slow, about 13(?) yrs old - neither use nor ornament but again full of stuff from The Child's early days and school work

Two laptops .... both black screened but still contain The Child's Uni stuff and personal details.

One laptop .... working but so slow, takes about a week to boot up and slow, so slow when used


Apart from smashing the useless ones with a hammer, anything I can do with them that doesn't involve money or techie stuff? What do you do with yours?

Re: What to do with redundant computers

By coincidence, we have three old laptops which we never use. I keep saying to myself that I'd use one of them to experiment with Ubuntu or a similar OS. I'll do it when I get a round tuit.

I also had two old hard discs. They would have had lots of old files on them, but I hadn't the time or inclination to try to wipe them, so I smashed them up with a hammer. No-one will ever read them now!

As for yours, if you definitely don't want them I'd advise you to remove the hard discs and either smash them up or maybe drop them into the bottom of a deep lake or at sea. The rest of the computers you can just dispose of in any way you want.

Re: What to do with redundant computers

Now, that's techie to me... just where is the hard disc JB? Do you mean the 'insides' ?

Re: What to do with redundant computers

Agree with JBR. I have two internal hard drives, removed from cases (disposed of at recycling depot) and keep telling myself I'll get an adapter to try and read the contents.

My Dell W Vista is quite quickly making itself redundant, but as yet it contains most of my tv video, photos and documents collection, which I try to transfer to external drives. Very time consuming.

The reason I hang on to it is the Windows Media Centre, which they abandoned by W8. My new all in one has a tv tuner, but it doesn't have the same capability as the Dell and as yet doesn't have Microsoft Word, neither is it connected to the printer. In the meantime, I have a W7 laptop.......

(Yes, I love my computers! But by heck, it's hard keeping up with advanced technology, and M stopping support.)

Re: What to do with redundant computers

Smash them to pieces......the Hard Drive will be the bit that survives.

Re: What to do with redundant computers

Yes Pesta. Just undo the case (don't forget to touch something with earth!) and the hard drive would be easily identifiable, located in one of the bays. Need to remove some tiny screws, and sometimes they make it hard to remove. I've had some putting up a fight before now.

Re: What to do with redundant computers

haha

Re: What to do with redundant computers

Thanks Jazzi.... I'll have a google to see what I'm looking for.
Sounds like I need some strength too

Why would I need to 'earth' if it's not plugged in to a leccy socket

Re: What to do with redundant computers

If you're not keeping anything - memory cards, etc - don't worry about earthing. Any capacitors, and there won't be any large ones in a laptop, will have discharged after a few days anyway.

If you're not sure which the hard drive is, get a computer man/woman to remove it. It's a five minute job and they shouldn't charge much to do it. In fact, they might even take the redundant laptop off you in payment!

However, you must destroy the hard disc. You never know what might be on it: bank details, etc.

Re: What to do with redundant computers

I wouldn't pay anyone JB ... I'd be determined to do it myself and succeed hopefully

What about the 'blackscreen' ones.... are they mendable (if that's a word) or just trash material?