Disposing of XP Netbook
Someone might get some good our of a working netbook, but obviously I want to remove any personal information. It has no CD/DVD drive. Is there a formatting option which will still boot up?
Forum Discussion
TomG2 wrote:
I am going to remove the hard drive and render it useless. I will probably have to pay someone to dispose of what's left of the computer. I am disappointed that the Acer restore method did not work for me.
Destroying the HD and rendering a perfectly useful Netbook, without installing a replacement drive, makes little sense? But, unfortunately, many believe in outdated or inaccurate info posted on the NET that doesn't necessarily apply to current PC systems.
All you need to do is to use a free self booting utility that securely wipes the drive. Basically, just deletes exiting files and wipes the free space. Which is what I tried to explain earlier. Or use the secure erase function built into HD/SSD firmware, which is what I do, but not as straight forward a procedure as using a separate freely available software erase utility.
If you're dead set on discarding your Netbook, you can take it to Goodwill for recycling under Dell Reconnect: Donate any brand of computer to Goodwill.
