Stupid question inbound...

I have an old PC that won't turn on. Got a new one, but I still have a lot of pictures on the old one that I would like to keep. So I removed the hard drive from the old one and have an enclosure on the way, so I can connect it to my new PC to transfer the pictures.

I will most likely use the hard drive enclosure as an external hard drive for my PS4 after doing the picture transfer, which is why I went with the enclosure instead of just a cable adapter.

My stupid question is this; Now that my old PC tower no longer has the hard drive in it, is it safe to throw out? In other words, with no hard drive, someone can't pull the tower out of my trash and get any useful info off of it, correct? Such as website sign ins, etc. I have the usernames/passwords saved on a lot of sites, like to pay bills.

I think the only thing stored in the computer itself is the BIOS.  Which is basically only the instruction set that gets the boot up cycle started, system clock, what drives exist, and where to go to boot up.  There is no personal information in there.

Take the tower, sans HDD, to Best Buy so they can recycle it.

You're asking for a friend correct?    

some places take electrical stuff and recycle it,  here in the land of what used to be green boxes they have a place for electrical stuff

not sure if that helps you?

All the data is on the hard drives that you removed.

(Check by visual inspection that there aren't more, sometimes they get tucked away in a corner.)

You can throw out the carcass any way you wish without worrying data will fall into the wrong hands, recycle it if it's easy.

Thanks, fellas.  I figured I was good with the hard drive being removed. Just wanted to make sure.

I'll see what places around here take them for disposal.


Nope. For me.

I don't want someone signing into my account here and ruining my classy reputation.  

Don't listen to them. They are lying to you and are trying to steal your identity. The only safe way to cleanse a computer is to pack it full of thermite and melt it. Trust me. I'm a professional.

Smash it with a damn hammer and throw it away in pieces...geeze

Most personal data is on the mass storage like sdd and hdd. Of course do a once over because I've left media in DVD and CD before. If you have a password set for bios, clear it or just reset the cmos.

For hard drives and sdd, I try to reuse them in my collection of computers. By the time they're cycled out, they are so obsolete that nobody would want them. I take a hammer and chisel and destroy the memory chips or platters. Stress relief.

Download DBAN https://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/files/dban/dban-2.3.0/dban-2.3.0_i586.iso/download

Put it on a flash drive or CD and let it wipe your system. By default it nukes every disk connected.

I hear you can wipe it with a cloth, and it wont be any problem for you again.

In this scenario, the HD gets pulled.
The computer gets donated or tossed to the curb.
The HD gets to go to the range with me.....but he doesn't come home.

Not true, but a hell of a lot more fun!  

Vulcan94

The last time I had to dispose of a hard drive, I drilled a half-dozen holes through the drive platters with a metal bit.

All your data is on the HD. Sell, donate or detonate the tower as you see fit.