Options for destroying hard drives, other equipment

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There are prongs made of gold in a circuit board, power supplies the size of car batteries and a hard drive worth plenty to someone who knows just how to get to the information that many may think they have erased. A pile of what looks like useless old hardware can hide valuable information.

Seeing those secrets is easy for an expert; they can get their hands on anyone's hard drive.

If someone's hard drive doesn't look like ground up bits of reusable metal, then it is gold mine for thieves.

Melanie Haga's company, "Back Thru the Future," secures and destroys those electronic records before recycling.

The acid-laden battery in a backup power supply can be as big as one in a car. Too often, these end up in a garbage can and eventually, in a landfill. Old video monitors are just as harmful.

Best Buy also offers free recycling no matter where it's bought. Cameras, GPS units and old mobile phones can be traded in for new technology and may have value.

However, the best value is to comprehend that even a CD can be turned into reusable plastic. Recycling one hard drive saves enough energy to light a 100-watt bulb for 134 hours, or run a television for 102 hours.

What many thought was trash, could create the next new technology.

ONLINE:

http://www.backthruthefuture.com/

http://www.cdrecyclingforfree.com/

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Global-Promotions/Recycling-Electronics/pcmcat149900050025.c?id=pcmcat149900050025

CONNECT WITH NINA PINEDA AND 7 ON YOUR SIDE

Facebook: facebook.com/wabc.7onyourside
Twitter: twitter.com/wabc7onyourside

---
Get Eyewitness News Delivered

Facebook | Twitter | Newsletters | Text Alerts

Get more 7 On Your side »

computer, 7 on your side, nina pineda

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•