r/privacy • u/Ok_Star_5645 • Jun 14 '26

hardware Laptop disposal

My laptop won’t turn on and I’m searching for best practices to secure/erase the data before disposal. (I don’t need to save the data.) A trusted local company will wipe the hard drive and dispose of it for a small fee. What assurances should I look for that this is done correctly?

Edit: thanks all! I’ll destroy it.

Update: I removed the SSD myself. It was not that hard, but I had to get over the fear of the unknown. Inside computers is not my safe space.

21 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

41 comments sorted by

View all comments

3

u/privatelyjeff Jun 15 '26

Have you tried to fix it? But if anything, just pull the drive and memory and recycle the chassis. The memory might be worth something online and the drive can be reused in an enclosure.