Tech Talk
By Tak Sato
Reclaim, Simplify, Enjoy
When we moved into our first home, I ferried boxes of nonessentials to the unfinished basement. My intent was to donate, recycle, eBay or toss the contents after we settled in. That never happened and in the last decade, it is where my old electronics or e-waste went to die.
I can almost imagine the e-waste coming to life when I’m not looking, like the plot of “Toy Story,” discussing why Tak doesn’t use them anymore. My answer? Technology’s built-in obsolescence makes them useless after several years. Toys may carry intangible sentimental value for owners or market value for collectors, but only a handful of electronics are worth keeping and no one size fits all when it comes to discarding e-waste.
Don’t Be a Victim
Minimize your chance of PII (personally identifiable information) falling into the hands of criminals when dealing with e-waste. It’s easy to protect PII on paper documents — shred them. If you don’t own a shredder, many office supply stores offer it for a fee and some municipalities hold free shredding day events for residents.
e-Waste, such as an old computer, keeps your data on its storage component. Commonly referred to as an internal hard disk drive or solid-state drive, they need to be “wiped” so the data is unrecoverable when you discard the computer. Social Security numbers (from tax preparation) and other PII remain on the drive unless it’s wiped clean.
Many cities offer e-waste recycling. That’s a good place to start if you want to rid yourself of old phones, laptops, and other tech products.
If altruism is your motivation, many nonprofit organizations with a mission to refurbish older computers to give them to the less fortunate may perform secure wiping as part of their refurbishing process. Check if the organization you want to donate your e-waste offers it.
No matter where you choose to take your broken or outdated tech products, you may want to try the do it yourself approach to wiping your data. I’ve used the free DBAN and SystemRescueCD online downloads successfully over the years. Although not difficult, certain aspects of doing this yourself can be confusing if you are not comfortable around computers. That said, if I didn’t scare you away, there is a lot of help online. You’ll find an abundance of YouTube tutorial videos on how to download and use DBAN with step-by-step instructions. The software I’ve mentioned only works on hard disc drives. If your computer has a solid-state drive for storage, please see the accompanying story.
If your computer doesn’t run at all and you’re unable to download one of the do it yourself options, simply remove the internal storage device and dispose or recycle the computer.
Smartphones and tablets also have internal storage components. You can protect handheld devices with a factory reset. Go online to learn how to do it for your particular device.
Finally, if all the above options seem like too daunting a task, the computer service department at big-box electronics stores may offer these services for a cost.
Remember that information, especially your PII, is a valuable currency in the 21st Century. Protect it.
If You’re an Apple User
Although the “Disk Utilities” application exists in Macs and enabling the “Secure Options” will wipe the storage component clear of your data, users of Apple equipment such as Mac, iPhone, or iPad can benefit from Apple’s Recycling Program from start-to-finish for step-by-step assistance. Go to apple.com to learn more.
If You’ve Got a Hard Disc Drive
dban.org
system-rescue-cd.org
If You’ve got a Solid State Drive
SSD manufacturers typically have their own software applications to manage SSD. Check your manufacturer’s website. If it was already part of the laptop or desktop at the time of purchase, check the computer manufacturer’s web site’s support pages first.
If Your Phone isn’t an Apple
While the iPhone and iPad are Apple exclusives, multiple manufacturers license Google’s Android operating system to build their own smartphones and tablets. Check your handheld device manufacturer’s website for specific instructions to “factory reset your device before disposal.
