Selling a laptop
May 21, 2011, 7:24 pm
#1
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Selling a laptop
There are various companies now that give you a quote for an old computer, send you a box to ship the computer and then issue a check. Any experiences, recommendations or warnings to share?
I have a five-year old VAIO that was once cutting edge, is now a bit outdated but still works. Anything I'd get for it would be a bonus, really.
I have a five-year old VAIO that was once cutting edge, is now a bit outdated but still works. Anything I'd get for it would be a bonus, really.
May 21, 2011, 8:11 pm
#3
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Double check what they are going for on e-bay, sometimes that makes more sense to sell them that way instead of the recyclers.
Though any personal information you had on it would of course be a risk, make sure you restore it to new condition first with your restore disk.
Though any personal information you had on it would of course be a risk, make sure you restore it to new condition first with your restore disk.
May 21, 2011, 10:44 pm
#6
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If you are a lawyer as your nick suggests then incinerate the hard drive before selling. Short of destroying the magnetic platters nothing stops a determined attacker from reclaiming data. Thermite works extremely well 
http://www.youtube.com/v/k-ckechIqW0
Will decrease the value for sure. But eBay is full of HDD-less laptops for this reason.
http://www.youtube.com/v/k-ckechIqW0Will decrease the value for sure. But eBay is full of HDD-less laptops for this reason.
Last edited by chx1975; May 21, 2011 at 10:50 pm
May 21, 2011, 11:38 pm
#7
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That would not wipe sensitive information that free/easily acquired software could not recreate, even if the files look like they are no longer on your computer. This problem is apparently much worse on SSDs too now people are finding out.
May 22, 2011, 2:38 am
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May 22, 2011, 7:45 am
#12
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May 22, 2011, 7:50 pm
#14
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Now, if you're concerned that the FBI is after you, then you should use one of the freely available programs that will do several rounds of erasure. But for us regular people who just want to get rid of a computer, a low level format will do just fine.
May 23, 2011, 12:24 am
#15
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Apparently modern hard drives http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut00...ecure_del.html will indeed be unreadable after an overwrite. Interesting. The followup paper even suggests that although theoretically you could read stuff from semiconductors but with the increasing density this is becoming more and more a problem.
Note that there is no such thing as a low level format for, I can't remember, twenty years now? When did the last of MFM/RLL/ESDI disks die
?
Also. Melting down a HDD with thermite is fun
Note that there is no such thing as a low level format for, I can't remember, twenty years now? When did the last of MFM/RLL/ESDI disks die
?Also. Melting down a HDD with thermite is fun