Wiping hard drive off a disused PC

A good way to wipe it is to reformat it. That clears everything and leaves you with a blank drive. Seems there are plenty of instructions online to do this.

Unless you used the computer for really confidential stuff (like online banking) you could just delete the files. You may have an app on the computer which will shred them for security if you don't want to risk anybody getting at old photos etc.

Another way of doing it is remove the hard drive and hit it a few times with a big hammer, or bury it in the heart of your next bonfire so the heat destroys its functionality. When I dealt with old hard drives containing classified material, I am pretty sure a sledgehammer was employed in their destruction.

I will be following this with interest - as I've got an old hard drive I need to dispose of and I realised there are thieves that want them - when there was a "last straw" thing of someone I'd got suspicions about and he asked me for my old one for "whatever excuse it was that he'd dreamed up". He was history 2 minutes after that request - but I still need to deal with that hard drive.

Thank you, Aely, very helpful.

I took a claw hammer to mine 🤔🤔🤔

I remove the hard drive and take a hammer to it . Although our last desktop was an Apple Mac and it was a real bugger to get to the hard drive and remove it .

I put a strong magnet on the top of the casing and left it overnight. That was very effective.

Thank you all
For your very helpful replies.
Much appreciated

Please check out Chat GPT or Co Pilot. I managed to wipe mine by following instructions given on AI.

Thank you. Good idea.

Why can't you just delete the parts of you computer history that you don't want?

Same as Tenko as when I dispose of my laptop it is usually knackered anyway.

If you take any electrical items to our recycle tip, they are all put in a separate container they are not crushed, someone comes along and takes the lot and does what ever to it.