I am planning on recycling an old iMac and Powerbook. However, the display on the iMac is so messed up I can't read anything and the Powerbook is unusable (no power) so what do I do about erasing the hardrives for security?

Question

I've been reading up on how to clean your hard drive so personal information can't be accessed, but if you can't get to your hard drive to clean it up, what are you supposed to do?  My town is offering an electronics recycling and I was hoping to drop off my old iMac and Powerbook.   I can turn the iMac on, but the display is really bad and almost unreadable.  The Powerbook is completely dead.   Any suggestions?  Thanks.

Answer 1

Since both computers have operational problems, I'd suggest removing the hard drives from them.  That way, you'll have possession of the drives and their data.  Considering their age, I doubt that the recycling program will attempt to repair these computers for donation to needy parties, but if you thought so, you could buy a $15 adapter that would let you connect the bare drive to a USB port on your functioning computer.  Once connected, you could erase the drives and reinstall them.  You didn't indicate which iMac you have, but if it's a G3 model, this Macworld article has illustrated directions for hardware upgrades, which would show you how to remove the hard drive.  If your iMac is a G3 (400 MHz or faster) with the additional VGA port concealed under the plastic door on the rear of its underside, you could connect a VGA display and attempt setting up video mirroring.  Once done, you could wipe the drive, while using the connected display to navigate through the procedure.  This would eliminate the need to open the bottom of the housing, to access the hard drive for removal.  As for the PowerBook, you could post a topic in its specific Forum (depending on the model) and request directions for hard drive removal.  Post back as to your preferred option, if you have any questions regarding it.