What to do before selling computer?

[ArcticApe]

I was unsure which category to put this in.

I recently aquired some Dell desktops from work (they were thrown out due to being shit), I dont need them and I want to sell them. What should I do before selling to ensure that I dont leak any information from work?

The machines only have CPU and mobo, the harddisks and RAM were taken out. It still has the disk drive.

[Fasauceome]

5 minutes ago, ArcticApe said:

What should I do before selling to ensure that I dont leak any information from work?

If this is something with legal considerations like government documents, download a data destroying application like Eraser, or just shred the hard drives to bits and replace them. 

 

If it's just some personal info you want to delete, reformat windows using its built in reset feature, which enables you to restore windows 10 to factory settings. It's pretty convenient.

 

But since you said the hard disks were removed on most of all of them, there is no data left it seems. You should be fine. (Unless those disk drives have disks in them, handle that as you see fit)

Edited July 15, 2022 by Fasauceome

[Electronics Wizardy]

20 minutes ago, ArcticApe said:

he harddisks and RAM were taken out. It still has the disk drive.

by disk drive do you mean dvd drive? 

 

Since the hdd was taken out, there is no data on it, so you can't leak any data here. Id get a ssd on it for the customer.

[Needfuldoer]

Before expending any effort on this, make absolutely sure you're allowed to have those machines in the first place, and sell them for personal profit. Get that permission in writing.

 

Remove the persistent storage: hard drives and/or SSDs. Remove any asset tags they might have applied. 

 

Check the Sold listings on eBay for that model to see if it's even worth your time. If they're crossing the block for basically cost of shipping, just put them back on the trash pile. Don't throw away work's trash for them.

[PDifolco]

25 minutes ago, ArcticApe said:

I was unsure which category to put this in.

I recently aquired some Dell desktops from work (they were thrown out due to being shit), I dont need them and I want to sell them. What should I do before selling to ensure that I dont leak any information from work?

The machines only have CPU and mobo, the harddisks and RAM were taken out. It still has the disk drive.

You're a bad man, wanting to sell shit ?

[Kanna]

Just a heads up I don't know if you will sell it that easy without ram or HDD, you could try listing it a little lower than similar computers and mention it's missing. There is no data left on it as the HDD was removed but do check the disc drive for disc before since it might have something in there

[Jarsky]

Remove any asset tags that may still be on it and reset the BIOS to default (clear CMOS) . Then just format the drives and install a fresh copy of WIndows.

If you have the CD key on the case then try that version to see if the OEM key works, then upgrade it. An activated Windows PC will always sell for a bit more than an unactivated one. 

 

I assume since they've already been given to you, that either the drives have already been pre-cleared, or you dont have a strict data security policy so formatting is enough.  

This assumes you were authorized to have them, and didnt just take them from some pallet destined for an e-Waste facility.

 

Because partitions are recoverable, companies with strict data protection policies (such as government) will send their systems there where the drives are removed and are physically destroyed. Either degaussed, punched or shredded or a combination of the three. But these kind of companies, typically general staff will not have any physical access to just go and take a bunch of systems.