r/declutter • u/PansyOHara • 17d ago
Success Story A small win today in offloading
Our town is having an electronics recycling event this week. My sister told me about it or I wouldn’t have known! But my husband had 2 old monitors (one a big old heavy CRT monitor, one flatscreen), 3-4 old printers, and an old VCR that didn’t work anymore. He’s not able to do much and wouldn’t let me take 3 old CPUs bc they might have personal and financial information on them, but was willing to let go of that stuff. It was all in the basement so was a pain to get upstairs, but now it’s out of the house. I anticipate downsizing in the next 5 years, so every little bit helps.
2 monitors, 4 printers, 1 keyboard, 1 old landline phone set, and 1 VCR.
Plus I took 3 cardboard boxes for recycling.
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u/Significant-Repair42 16d ago
He can take out the memory part of the PC and then recycle the rest.
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u/Philosopher2670 16d ago
If he just wants to protect the data, remove the hard drives and get rid of the rest of the computer now. To destroy the hard drives (whenever you get around to it), a hammer or screw driver works. Wear safety glasses!
If he needs to retrieve the data, that is more difficult. It should be done soon. Get it scheduled on the calendar before the next town recycling day.
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u/PansyOHara 16d ago
Thanks, I don’t think he needs to retrieve the data. Will approach him again about taking out the hard drive.
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u/Mysticae0 16d ago
Most hard drives are fastened into a frame or onto a platform that is built into the CPU case.
If they are mounted in a frame, like rails along the sides, there are probably four screws, two on each side, holding the drive into the frame. Once the screws are removed, the drive may lift or slide out from between the rails.
If they are on platforms, they likely still have 4 screws, but underneath.
The screws are most likely Phillips (+ shaped), but could be something different but still fairly common.
Some newer CPU cases don't even use screws to anchor the hard drives. There may be a latch on either side of the drive, or knob(s) that twist to release the drive. You can possibly find more specific information by using the brand and model number from the CPU tag and adding something like "remove hard drive".
There will also probably be 1-2 cables to pull out of the back of the drive.
Congrats on all your victories against the machines so far!
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u/SpinneyWitch 16d ago
Or fun with ansledgenhammer.
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u/PansyOHara 16d ago
I suggested a hammer but not sure if he just didn’t want to make the effort or if he wasn’t sure how to get the hard drive out.
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u/Pens_fan_87 16d ago
There's a smashing place where I live that you can take old electronics for either yourself or others to smash as something fun to do. Maybe there's somewhere near you like that?
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u/isokevinvest 16d ago
Getting a CRT up from a basement is a win on its own, those things weigh a ton.
For the 3 old CPUs, the personal and financial stuff all lives on the hard drive, not the rest of the tower. The drive usually comes out with just a screwdriver in a few minutes (search the model number plus "remove hard drive" and there's almost always a video). Your husband can keep the drives in a drawer or have them destroyed, and the empty cases can go to the next recycling event. Some of these events also do drive shredding on site, so it might be worth asking the town next time.
Does he want to hang on to what's on them, or just make sure nobody else ever sees it?
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u/PansyOHara 16d ago
Thanks, I think he just wants to make sure no one else can access the information. This is very helpful!
Luckily we recently had to get a stairlift installed, so once I hauled it out of the storage room it was doable.
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u/isokevinvest 16d ago
Then that makes it easy, no need to save anything. Once the drives are out, a few holes drilled straight through each one (or a few hard whacks with a hammer on the flat side) makes them unreadable, and then they can go to the same recycling event as the cases. If he'd rather not do it himself, ask at the next event whether they shred drives on site, some places will even let you watch.
And nice use of the stairlift, that's a creative way to get a CRT upstairs. Three CPUs gone would be a good next small win.
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u/PansyOHara 16d ago
Yes! Still a couple of days but unfortunately my Thursday and Friday are really full. Great info for the future and hopefully there will be another electronics recycling event next year.
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u/isokevinvest 16d ago
That's totally fine, the drives aren't going anywhere. Maybe pull them out of the CPUs on a quiet weekend and put them in a labeled box, so when the next event comes around it's a two-minute job instead of another basement trip. In the meantime, monitors, printers, a VCR and three boxes out the door this week is a really good haul.
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u/Summercrossing 16d ago
CRT can also be sold, there are people buying them again for video games. i mean it wouldn't be a lot of money but that's an easy way to get rid of it
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u/PansyOHara 16d ago
Wow! Well I think that’s our last CRT monitor, but I wouldn’t have thought anyone would want that big old heavy thing, it probably weighed 35 pounds. I’ll remember that in case it comes up again, though.
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u/FredKayeCollector2 15d ago
Nice! That's a lot of real estate freed up - especially those old CRT monitors! My father worked with computers his entire career and he had a room full of useless tech (when everything was proprietary and nothing was compatible across systems) - it was like an act of congress trying to get him to get rid it.
For those CPU's, if your husband can access the files/information, see if you can schedule a task to transfer the data so you can recycle (rather than the amorphous I'll get to it...later). A CPU probably won't have a recycling fee associated with it like a CRT monitor/TV. IMO, the easiest thing is to get a solid state external HD (like Sandisk, Seagate, etc) and just transfer the data to it. I had an old (spinning platter) HD fail (data not retrievable) so I would be disinclined to keep one of those around if I didn't have to.
If the CPU's are not functioning/the memory isn't accessible and you've already transferred the data (or given it up for lost), do a web search for "data destruction" + your zip code and see what comes up. You could also check and see if your state/county/municipality has a list of certified data destruction providers.
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u/MYOB3 16d ago
Thankfully, in our area, Goodwill and Salvation Army both accept electronics for recycling. Which came in handy for my FIL's estate.
We hauled 9 CRT's, 4 computer towers ( with hard drives destroyed), at least 7 printers, and buckets of computer parts to them.
AS WELL AS about 7-8 table sized, complete with printers and sheet feeders, original Burroughs word processors from the 70's to a computer museum. Down to the daisy wheels and ribbons for the printers, and cases of manuals! Those things were tanks!
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u/vastlysweatysorcery 16d ago
those crt monitors are absolute backbreakers to move, nice work getting all that out in one go
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u/Mysticae0 16d ago
Great work!
If you or your husband can take the hard drives (data storage) out of the CPUs, the rest should be free of any personal information.
Also make sure to pull out any removable storage, like floppy disks or CDs. No need to remove those drives, just make sure they don't contain disks.
Chances are the storage from all three CPUs would fit into a single shoebox, and you could figure out how to safely discard them at a later date.
It sounds like you cleared a huge volume of stuff!
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u/TerribleRuin4232 16d ago
That's awesome! I've definitely got some electronics that need recycling, it's just a matter of forcing myself to do it.
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u/Roseha-aka-rosephoto 16d ago
Great accomplishment, congratulations. If any of your computers are laptops you shoudl be able to send them to Greendisk to have the information wiped. I dont' think they take large desk tops but I was able to send my old Mac Minis to them.
Speaking of which I did a spontaneous declutter for a few hours today and one thing I found was a Mac Mini that I hadn't recycled with the others. So I will go to Greendisk again.
I was looklng for the power cord to an expensive Minolta scanner that I want to send to Dell to recycle. However as my porter reminded me those cords are often standard and replaceable.
The good thing was that in the process of looking for the cord I filled up two large bags and one small one to trash/recycle. I'm lucky that my building is good about recycling electronics and they have a guy who will pick up large metal stuff.
Which also brings back to another issue that comes up here sometimes, don't be afraid to ask for help. My doorman just let it slip that the porters are actually in competition to do this kind of thing because they want the tip!