Some of you rich guys seem to have no prob upgrading your computers during the recession. So, here's a
few things that I highly recommend you do with your old system.
1. Backup
A. there's nothing worse than crying about lost files because you forgot to transfer them to your new laptop or pc before you tossed the old one. If you have an external hard drive then great. You can copy all your documents very easily using windows explorer. But this is manual way of doing backup.
B. You can backup your documents with software called "handy backup", "genie backup" or similar.
You can also use folder sync softwares. The difference between "Backup" software and "folder sync" software is backup software can archive your backup into one single file, it has incremental and differential backups which is useful if you want to keep track of changes between backups.
"Folder Sync" software however is for exact duplicate copy of one set of files from one location to another and there is no option to keep track of changes. You just basically write over old files in your backup drive with the new changes and what you end up with are 2 exactly same set of files with the very last changes.
C. You CAN keep your old HDD. There are "Harddrive enclosure" that you can buy which allows you to make your own portable USB drives. It is simply a small case that you can insert a regular hard drive into and on the outisde will have usb and or firewire and/or esata ports. So instead of tossing your hard drive, by spending about $20, you got yourself a portable usb drive.
2. Secure Wipe Private Data
A. If you are wiping the entire drive and killing the installed Operating System and everything has been backed up, then goto Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing and download the iso file. Burn a cd and insert into CD slot. Reboot the computer. It will wipe ALL drives connected to the computer with secure random data and 0 out the drive. None of the data will be recoverable for anyone to try to steal.
B. If you need to keep the OS then there are few things to make sure you do.
i. use software like Ccleaner, to clean your temporary files, browser cache, old backup files, and unwanted registry keys. don'tforget that browsers like firefox and IE does keep your website passwords saved unless you ask it to delete them. make sure you do that before you get rid of it.
ii. make sure you have backedup your files and when you are sure, go ahead and delete them from your user folder. easiest way of doing this without going to individual folders and delete them would be to goto control panel, create a new admin user. log out, and log in as that user, and delete your old account and make sure it deletes files also.
iii. don't forget that just because you deleted the files doesn't mean it can't be recovered by a hacker. use a software like Eraser to write random 0s and 1s to the empty spaces on the hard drive and then 0 out. This way your personal data cannot be recovered.
3. Proper Recycling
A. If you live in major cities like Los Angeles, then there will be bunch of recycling centers. There should be at least one place that accepts your junk without charging you. You can call them and ask. They should be honored to take your junk. After all, you are someone special.
B. If you can't take it to a recycling center, places like Salvation Army and Good Will will take things from you. One man's trash is another man's paper weight.
Note: If you own a mac, I pity you.
few things that I highly recommend you do with your old system.
1. Backup
A. there's nothing worse than crying about lost files because you forgot to transfer them to your new laptop or pc before you tossed the old one. If you have an external hard drive then great. You can copy all your documents very easily using windows explorer. But this is manual way of doing backup.
B. You can backup your documents with software called "handy backup", "genie backup" or similar.
You can also use folder sync softwares. The difference between "Backup" software and "folder sync" software is backup software can archive your backup into one single file, it has incremental and differential backups which is useful if you want to keep track of changes between backups.
"Folder Sync" software however is for exact duplicate copy of one set of files from one location to another and there is no option to keep track of changes. You just basically write over old files in your backup drive with the new changes and what you end up with are 2 exactly same set of files with the very last changes.
C. You CAN keep your old HDD. There are "Harddrive enclosure" that you can buy which allows you to make your own portable USB drives. It is simply a small case that you can insert a regular hard drive into and on the outisde will have usb and or firewire and/or esata ports. So instead of tossing your hard drive, by spending about $20, you got yourself a portable usb drive.
2. Secure Wipe Private Data
A. If you are wiping the entire drive and killing the installed Operating System and everything has been backed up, then goto Darik's Boot And Nuke | Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing and download the iso file. Burn a cd and insert into CD slot. Reboot the computer. It will wipe ALL drives connected to the computer with secure random data and 0 out the drive. None of the data will be recoverable for anyone to try to steal.
B. If you need to keep the OS then there are few things to make sure you do.
i. use software like Ccleaner, to clean your temporary files, browser cache, old backup files, and unwanted registry keys. don'tforget that browsers like firefox and IE does keep your website passwords saved unless you ask it to delete them. make sure you do that before you get rid of it.
ii. make sure you have backedup your files and when you are sure, go ahead and delete them from your user folder. easiest way of doing this without going to individual folders and delete them would be to goto control panel, create a new admin user. log out, and log in as that user, and delete your old account and make sure it deletes files also.
iii. don't forget that just because you deleted the files doesn't mean it can't be recovered by a hacker. use a software like Eraser to write random 0s and 1s to the empty spaces on the hard drive and then 0 out. This way your personal data cannot be recovered.
3. Proper Recycling
A. If you live in major cities like Los Angeles, then there will be bunch of recycling centers. There should be at least one place that accepts your junk without charging you. You can call them and ask. They should be honored to take your junk. After all, you are someone special.
B. If you can't take it to a recycling center, places like Salvation Army and Good Will will take things from you. One man's trash is another man's paper weight.
Note: If you own a mac, I pity you.
