Hi

[mrsandman]

Hello.

I have 4 computers that have gone to the great computer in the sky...

I have been told that th e bits and bobs inside may be worth selling ?

But.... will they still have my stuff on them ? and if so, will that detract their worth.

I know things are stored on the hard drives ?

What bits should I be trying to salvage ?

So many questions and I apologise for my ignorance

[kengillam]

You should always wipe drives before selling them to remove your own data for obvious reasons. If you have your bank details on them they could be worth considerably more not less Sound cards, video cards, drives all have some value.

[spiritcat]

My hubby tells me that if the pc's are already dead and you cannot start them, take the hard drives out and destroy them if you have ever entered any passwords, bank details or the like. These details are easily recovered apparently. (even if deleted)

If you can access the hard drives, there are free programs available that overwrite them several times, ensuring deleted info cannot be recovered.

It is well worth installing one of the programs in your working pc and using it now and then to permanently delete sensitive details. Secureclean is one such program.

[mrsandman]

Thank you all very muchx

[heatemyfather]

To properly despose of an old hard drive (anything less than 20GB is fairly useless to most people) you will need a small flat bladed screwdriver or (preferably) a star key to undo the case screws on the top; once these are off (there is often a screw under a sticker in the middle) you should be able to lift the top cover off to see inside. Do what you like with the hard drive from now on, personally I like to keep mine on a shelf as they make good mirrors!

In case you intend to sell the hard drive (anything over 40GB may be worth a few quid to somebody)...
In Windows XP there should be the option to wipe a hard drive and write zeros to every sector, although obviously you cannot do this if you have booted up the machine with the hard drive that you intend to wipe; if you can put it in an external hard drive case or connect it up to a second hard drive cable in another PC then do so (but never connect or disconnect an internal hard drive when the machine is powered on). You can often just unplug the CD or DVD drive and use it's cables temporarily. When finished just shut the machine down, plug the DVD drive back in again and you're good to go.

No other parts of a PC store your personal information, only the hard drive retains data once the machine is switched off. The most saleable parts will probably be the hard drive, memory (RAM), DVD drive (especially if it's a DVD writer), original install discs (the discs that came with the machine, probably containing Windows re-installation and other software - if someone bought a second-hand machine like yours that didn't have these with it then they might just want them), graphics card if it's good for gaming.

Send the rest to be recycled as electrical goods.