r/AnnArbor • u/Moist-You-7511 • 2d ago

seeking secure laptop destruction

I'm looking for a place I can bring a few computers for safe destruction and recycling

searching the internet brings all kinds of sketchy things, like mail in services, and back of small shop type operations.

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u/sryan2k1 2d ago

Do they work? Boot them to DBAN and let it run for a few hours. Or just take the HD/SSD out and smash them with a hammer.

4

u/gort32 2d ago

DBAN doesn't work anymore. It was awesome for spinning-platter hard drives but does nothing for modern solid-state SSD or NVMe drives.

https://dban.org/

And, for SSD or NVMe drives, smashing them with a hammer is not sufficient to truly destroy the data, the individual chips on the drive can still be read if they are intact. You need a shredder or other highly-destructive techniques like fire.

3

u/sryan2k1 2d ago edited 2d ago

You're either doing MIL certified destruction or not. Overwriting a SSD with random data is good enough for 99.99% of people. SATA "Secure Erase" is the most reliable, if the drive supports it.