Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Even when an old computer won’t start up anymore, the hard drive ...

Deleting a file on a computer rarely means it is gone. On traditional hard drives and many solid-state drives, what ...

There’s a trick to thoroughly wiping all your data before you junk your old external solid state drive—or even computer.

You can just toss that old hard drive in a drawer, which is the cheapest way to be sure nobody will access it, but if you’d just like to be rid of it, I’d recommend destroying it. Jim Rossman / TNS I ...