Dispose of the hard drive correctly - you need to know that

Regardless of the fact that you should always dispose of electronic waste separately, your personal data is of paramount importance for old hard drives. You should destroy them before throwing away the hard drive.

Dispose of hard drive: Completely delete private data

Before you dispose of the hard drive, destroy all personal information on the data carrier. There are various tools for this:

• A very effective program, which you can also get for free, is the "Eraser".
• Install the tool and use it to delete all data on the hard drive. Select the "Gutmann" method under "Erase Method" so that your data is overwritten several times and made illegible.
• Alternatively, you can also safely delete your hard drive with the CCleaner.

How to dispose of the hard drive properly

If the hard drive is defective or you want to make sure that all the data is illegible, you still have to use a little force:

• Open the hard drive casing and then drill a few holes in the discs.
• In the event that the hard drive splinters, you should definitely wear safety glasses.
• The remaining hard drive remains do not belong in the household waste, but in the electrical waste. It is picked up separately in many municipalities twice a year.
• Alternatively, hand in the hard drive to the recycling center. You can find out the exact opening times on the Internet or at your local authority.

It is also helpful to encrypt the hard disk. This means that your data is well protected right from the start.