Question If I remove my laptop hard drive, am I safe?

[joe23]

I have an old laptop that isn't working anymore. I want to sell it for parts.
But I have quite a bit of naughty stuff on my laptop that I wouldn't want anyone
to see or find out about cuz it's embarrassing. So as long as I remove my hard drive
and any memory cards, and then sell the laptop as is, there is no way for the next owner
to find any records or data about my naughty files? Hehe. I'm like 99.9% sure I'm correct
but I just wanted to make sure. Who knows if the laptop has some built-in internal memory
that stores some thumbnails or files that I am not aware about lol.

 

[JeffreyP55]

I have an old laptop that isn't working anymore. I want to sell it for parts.
But I have quite a bit of naughty stuff on my laptop that I wouldn't want anyone
to see or find out about cuz it's embarrassing. So as long as I remove my hard drive
and any memory cards, and then sell the laptop as is, there is no way for the next owner
to find any records or data about my naughty files? Hehe. I'm like 99.9% sure I'm correct
but I just wanted to make sure. Who knows if the laptop has some built-in internal memory
that stores some thumbnails or files that I am not aware about lol.

Drill a hole or reasonable facsimile, kill the drive. Not much left in the laptop to worry about. Just kill the HDD, then your good to go.
Okay whips & Jingles?

 

[BFG-9000]

That would depend on whether your laptop has any internal modules for Intel Turbo Memory, Smart Response Technology or Optane Memory, ExpressCache or ReadyCache, or even Microsoft ReadyBoost--which at least encrypts the cached data using AES-128 because it's normally used with removable cards.

AES-128 should be pretty secure until quantum computers are widespread, as it is considered to be vulnerable to quantum attacks from only having 64-bits of strength against it. Hey maybe you'll be dead by then and beyond embarrassment from future digital archaeologists looking at your browsing history.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Maybe drill holes in the the drive then burn the laptop. Should be pretty safe by then.

 

[joe23]

Maybe drill holes in the the drive then burn the laptop. Should be pretty safe by then.

But I really want my $25 for selling as is

 

[joe23]

That would depend on whether your laptop has any internal modules for Intel Turbo Memory, Smart Response Technology or Optane Memory, ExpressCache or ReadyCache, or even Microsoft ReadyBoost--which at least encrypts the cached data using AES-128 because it's normally used with removable cards.

AES-128 should be pretty secure until quantum computers are widespread, as it is considered to be vulnerable to quantum attacks from only having 64-bits of strength against it. Hey maybe you'll be dead by then and beyond embarrassment from future digital archaeologists looking at your browsing history.

It's a 2017 laptop so it probably doesn't have any of that technology you mentioned?
But none of those modules have enough memory to store a 700mb video file backed up right? hehe.

Yes, I don't mind if future digital archaeologists find some jaw dropping stuff of mine when I'm gone, just focused more on the next 2 days after I sell this laptop without the hard drive in it.

 

[punkncat]

Since that drive has OS on it now and is presumably working it would be a good idea to gather together the damning information and either save it somewhere secure or delete it altogether. Afterwards you could run something like DBAN on the drive and either keep it for additional external storage, or destroy it as you see fit.
Pulling data from an old OS drive can be difficult as times goes on, we forget what it was, falls into the wrong PC wiz grandkids hands....

But, to the point, when you remove that HDD the laptop itself won't hold anything to be concerned about unless there is optical media left in there with something.

 

[JeffreyP55]

Maybe drill holes in the the drive then burn the laptop. Should be pretty safe by then.N

meant drilling the hole after the drive has been removed

Maybe drill holes in the the drive then burn the laptop. Should be pretty safe by then.

Nobody in their right mind would drill a hole in an installed drive anywhere. Is the drive embedded?
No? Remove the drive first, then drill a hole.

 

[ohio_buckeye]

Well you could do the other haha. But it stands to reason the drive would have been removed. Could also use dban and do a dod style wipe on the drive. But physically destroying the drive/laptop is the surer way.

 

[Misgar]

If you decide to keep the hard disk as a spare and don't want to run DBAN, install Privazer whilst the drive is still in the laptop and erase all your unwanted files. You can then run Recuva (deep scan) and see if any images or videos remain. Dban's probably the best idea if you want to "nuke" the disk before mounting it in a USB caddy andthen use it as an external drive.

https://privazer.com/en/
https://www.ccleaner.com/recuva
https://dban.org/

When I was destroying old hard disks with a hammer, I discovered the platters were made from glass. I think they were "Deathstar" (IBM Deskstar) drives.

 

[stonecarver]

If your going to keep or kill the drive I would do a full format I use DOD wipe but a full format will do.

If you keep the drive to set yourself at ease just run a recovery program AFTER the full format.

It will show nothing is there to recover/find. Drive clean.

If your going to still destroy maybe it's being overly cautious on my side but even if some Wizkid found the drive and by some unknown to me method have a way of getting information off the fragmented platter there still would be nothing to recover.