Donating Computer To Charity

[rsvp]

Have a good quality but broken HP laptop - any idea if it would be of use to a charity? I've googled a bit and there's a organisation called WEEE (I think) which takes items but I have absolutely no idea how to wipe any data even if the thing worked - any ideas please - thank you and stay well.

[bookbinder]

Don't be too confident about finding a charity that will accept your broken laptop. They usually want items that they can use immediately, so they won't want to have to go the trouble of getting your laptop fixed.

[barry1010]

Are you handy with a screwdriver and able to follow basic instructions?

As it is non-working I would strongly recommend you remove the hard drive. You will find a tutorial for your make and model on YouTube, I am sure. I would spend less than £10 on a caddy for the hard drive - this allows you to connect it to your working pc (or laptop) as an external hard drive and access the files. You can download the files to your working pc and format the hard drive. Or you could keep it as a fully working external hard drive (very good for backing up your devices).

You can then safely donate the laptop to any charity you like or take it to the tip.

[barry1010]

WEEE accept non-working laptops. So does this company which has 4 collection points - London, Bristol, Birmingham and Nottingham
https://ecogreenitrecycling.co.uk/our-offices/

[bhg481]

Simply formatting the hard drive does not securely remove the data from it; there are programs about which will securely clean your disc.

[barry1010]

That is true, I physically destroy my old hard drives. There are free programs that will totally erase a hard drive.

[bhg481]

There's some really strong magnets inside a hard drive - so strong you have great difficulty separating them without using a tool as a lever.

[rsvp]

These answers are so helpful - thank you all so much - have given me a lot of food for thought - I'm definitely not up to doing any hard drive cleaning myself but do have a trusted friend who may do it when the lockdown eases a bit more - thank you once again and stay well everyone.