Until recently I had two old phones, one tablet and about 20 hard drives in storage that I was afraid to give up for recycling, or to pass on to someone that could use them. I wanted to dispose of them, but knowing how easy it is to retrieve data–such as personally identifiable information–even from apparently “clean” devices, I was cautious. Having researched the subject for this article I now feel a lot safer about disposing of them, and I hope you will feel a lot safer about disposing of your devices too.
Back in November I found out that it wasn't just me. A survey in the Netherlands showed that 55% of the population keep their old phones in a drawer instead of selling them on or recycling them.
There are two reasons for people to hold on to old devices:
So, what we need to cover for peace of mind when we do get rid of our old devices are backups, so you don’t lose your data when you get rid of your device, andscrubbing, so that usable data isn’t left on the device.
For Windows users there are many software packages and built-in tools available to back up your old PC. The simplest method is to manually back up your files and settings to removable media or a network location. You can specify the files and settings that you want to back up and how often you want to perform a backup. Which tools and software are available to you very much depends on the Windows version you are using.
To backup and wipe the old hard drives that came from my Windows computers, I bought a hard drive docking station that came with the software to do all that, so that was easy. If the number of hard drives is limited you could opt to keep the drives and use such a docking station to retrieve files when the need arises. But I had so many old, and small, hard drives, it was worth copying the data section to a large external drive. You can also choose to copy your data to a cloud account. Even if some of your drives are very old, you wouldn’t want to end up being that person that threw away 150 million in Bitcoin.
There are 2 ways to make a backup of the most important files on your Mac device. Make a backup with Time Machine or make a backup with iCloud.
Time Machine is an Apple program with which you can easily copy the data on your Mac to an external storage device. When you make a backup, always choose a drive with a larger storage capacity than your Mac.
With iCloud, you can store files in the cloud on the Apple server. You have access to iCloud with your Apple ID. As opposed to Time Machine, which makes a complete backup, you can only use iCloud to store the parts that fall within iCloud. That are your Contacts, Calendar, Keychain, Photos, and iCloud Drive, for example.
You can back up content, data and settings from your phone to your Google Account and you can restore your backed up information to the original phone or to some other Android phone. To create a backup:
Because there are lots of variations of Android, the procedure for your device might be slightly different. If these steps don’t match your phone’s settings, try searching your Settings app for “Backup” or get help from your device manufacturer.
There are basically three methods you can use to create backups of the information on your iPhone or iPad, depending on your preferences and what you have available.
To create a backup of your Chromebook:
One thing to remember for all kinds of devices is to disable any Find My Device options, and remove them from any lists of services that associates the device with your account.
Then, uninstall any banking apps manually before wiping the device, because you may be prompted to perform some important steps during the removal process. This depends on your bank and the type of app.
If the drive is still in a working Windows machine, your safest bet is to install and use wiper software, because deleting files only removes the pointer to a file, so it could be possible to use recovery software to make them accessible again. The same is true for formatting, since that does not actually wipe data either. If you are not afraid someone will scrutinize your hard drive with recovery software, Windows 8.1 and later do have a built-in utility you can use:
Apple has a support page that tells you what to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac. But if the machine has File Vault turned on, you can save a few steps. Since all the data is encrypted anyway, a simple erase will work. What we typically do is just:
On the most recent Macs, there’s even an Erase All Content and Settings option that should make it all easier.
But if that option is not there and you do not have File Vault enabled that could turn out to be a problem. If the machine is equipped with a spinning hard drive rather than an SSD, then using Disk Utility’s secure erase option will work. There are several levels of secure erase, with the most secure overwriting all data with random 1s and 0s multiple times.
Unfortunately, if it came with an SSD, the wear leveling technology will prevent secure erase from working properly. Since wear leveling will try to spread writes out evenly, there’s no way to guarantee that you’ve overwritten specific bytes in the SSD. You’d be able to overwrite some bytes, at random, but not all, so any unencrypted data could remain intact and recoverable.
To remove all data from your Android device, you can reset your device to factory settings. Factory resets are also called formatting or hard resets. On most phones, you can reset your phone through the settings app. If you can’t find the option in your phone’s settings app, you can try factory resetting your phone using its power and volume buttons. We recommend checking your manufacturer’s support site for device-specific instructions.
Apple has a support page that tells you what to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your iPhone or iPad. Make sure to unpair any other devices like your AppleWatch and sign out of iTunes, iCoud, and the App Store. Then go to Settings and tap General > Transfer or Reset [device] > Erase All Content and Settings and follow the instructions from there.
A factory reset for a Chromebook is called a Powerwash. A powerwash will erase everything on your device, apps and files included.
Once it’s done, you’ll be prompted to set it up again, just like you did when you first got it.
Once you have created a backup and removed all the data from your device, it is now safe to hand it down, sell it on, or have it recycled.
There are plenty of nonprofit organizations and local communities that offer options to help you recycle old electronics.
If you don't feel like giving them away for free, Amazon offers gift cards for just about any kind of electronics device. Apple’s GiveBack program offers gift cards or in-store credit for qualifying products. And many other companies will give you store credit for your old devices, no matter where you bought them.