Donating laptop

Hi, I have a nine year old Toshiba laptop which I want to donate or recycle safely. I've already saved all my files on an external drive.

I have reset the system to clear all files and rebooted Win 10. 

Would I have to do anything else to make it completely inaccessible? I only used home edition and there's nothing much on it anyway. It's an i-5 processor with the inbuilt disk drive. The disk is operating well and someone going to college could still use it. I don't have any kids but want to pass it on if anyone could make use of it for school.

Should I download any high level software for peace of mind?

Should I just take out the HDD and offer it?

Thanks in advance to bleeple

Saruman

Edited by hamluis, 23 March 2024 - 07:39 AM.
Moved from W10 Spt to Gen Sec - Hamluis.

Well, the best thing is to use a product like Bleachbit to shred/wipe the entire drive, then reinstall your Windows Home. That should be easy if you have a bootable DVD with your Windows Home system on it (usually came with the computer on purchase if you got it 9 years ago). However, if no DVD disc, you may have to reinstall Windows from the emergency backup partition on your drive. That should be enough if this is going to a kid to do schoolwork, I think it's pretty safe.

Edited by ranchhand_, 23 March 2024 - 08:39 AM.

I've looked at Bleachbit.  Although it looks like a very interesting tool, it doesn't seem to be low level enough to me.  Personally, I would ZERO the partitions used by Window and your data (could be the same partition), and be especially careful not to touch the Windows recovery partition.  Then, do as ranchhand_ mentions, reinstall the OS (Windows in your case).  The reason to ZERO the relevant partition is because there are pretty efficient tools to recover lost file, and if you want to have a peace of mind, it's the only way to go.

I don't know of Windows tools to ZERO partitions, but if you want to experiment with a Linux USB boot key (no Linux installation required), many of us can help with that.

Edited by Dominique1, 23 March 2024 - 05:40 PM.

Thank you so much for really helpful answers. I have just found out that the disk drive actually doesn't work now. And it's pretty old and one of the USB ports has gone. So I am now reconsidering donating it but recycling it instead. Would it be safe if I just took out the HDD and disposed of it myself? But the parts on the HDD are environmentally toxic so I would have to dispose of that also. I think it would be possible to reinset a new disk drive and repair it but it's old and not worth spending money and time.

If your HDD is detected by a computer, zeroing it is still a viable solution.  If your HDD is not detected by a computer, perhaps hooked via a USB-SATA cable/device, then it pretty safe no one will be able to recover too.  If paranoia hunts you, there are companies that can do their best to recover any data for a hefty fee.  A media degausser will do the job of erasing all data in a second.  Another solution, less ecological though, the use of a hammer.

Yes, I used a 5 kilo dumbell on a previous one. But just cleaning the HDD and taking it out is better. I could keep the hard disk until I find a professional. Perhaps an electronics store can advise.

just cleaning the HDD and taking it out is better.

Well, looks like you already have the solution.