I’m not too tech saavy and need to get rid of a couple printers,laptops, monitor and even a cpu tower from a really old computer. I think that Best Buy will take these old items. I don’t know how to remove any memory in any of these since most are broken and the reason we don’t use anymore. Do they have information stored on them? I really don’t know if printers retain memory but when they broke, I kept trying to print and if it has memory, there could be personal information like bank information/tax information. Is it safe to take to Best Buy to recycle and not worry about it? Any better options? Thanks in advance.
Thank you in advance
Some printers indeed are equipped with hard drives.
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I would not worry about monitors. Are you or your spouse handy with a screwdriver? Take the cover off the laptop or tower and just yank the hard drive out. A hammer is a great disc eraser tool. 
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Just take out hard drive if I can figure out what it is and hammer it, then screw back together without hat drive and dispose at Best Buy?
That’s what we did! Except my husband took the junk to a local electronics recycler, not Best Buy.
Check their policies if they require a fully intact device or not.
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Google “recycling near me” or “disposal electronics near me”. Hopefully your community has this. We do in NorCal.
Totally agree with @BunsenBurner: make sure that you wipe/destroy your data from any device. I have two inkjet printers that I want to trash, and I will check to see if either of them stored my own data before disposing of them. Same with phones, computers, tablets, and really anything these days that’s electronic, given IoT etc.
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So copiers tend to have hard drives.
In Chicago we have a place that takes your old computers, wipes them and fixes and resells them to people in need for cheap. Look for places like this. They have a store there and you will be amazed that some kid /family just needs to get on to do homework or etc. You don’t need a fast computer for that. They also teach how to fix the computers and coding classes. Well Free Geek in Chicago closed. So sad but you may have something like this near you.
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@Knowsstuff we have places that will refurbish older computers but only ones that will take a current operating system. The other issue is…software like office….although the freebie one works well.
Our landfill has an area for older commuter equipment including printers and computers.
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I had 12 old work computers with medical information from patients. This company company had a hipaa certified crushing method and I got a certificate of proof. They ended up selling all the computers. They put in new donated hard drives. I just felt good seeing some families buying computers there. But now their closed and need to find another place.
Taking a hammer is fun but your information can still be gotten if the crook really wants to take out the tape and rereel it. It happens. Drilling it first then crushing works then cutting up the tape inside.
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This is kinda fun and easy to do…
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Great post. Only concerning thing is we’ve gone from “This Old House” to “This Old IT Equipment”.
Happy to ride with Bob Vila through the transition!
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We do have a recycling center in our county but they charge per item and I think Best Buy is free, but not sure.
What would I google to find a service like this. I’d happily donate if I could trust a place to wipe any personal info/memory.
Many paper/document shredding companies offer hard-drive destruction as a service. Perhaps there are some in your area?
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We have an electronics recycling day, sponsored by a local TV station and AAA, this Saturday. It is $5 per carload, but there is an extra charge for certain things like TVs and some computers. Not sure how secure it is if someone really wanted to steal a computer, figure out how to power it up and take info. I have 5 or so laptops that haven’t worked in a long time and I’m sure there is PPI on them.
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Selling or disposing old computers I am finding many things.
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We always clean before donating.
Also, in the past, any place we donated to that was going to reuse, we wanted a place that gave for no cost these older machines to those who would benefit from having them. In other words…not for sale…for free.
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I prefer the Office Space method:
Empty field, angry humans, baseball bat.
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We are near a major city, so can look into this, but looking for lowest cost option-although I guess worth it to save the headache of a stolen identity.