Donating used PC's

[DeadElephant]

I run an IT consulting shop and seem to collect retired PC's. I have probably a dozen PC's (no monitor or keyboard). That I'll either be sending to the recycler as normal or I've been looking for a good charity.

I normally take an 8lb sledge to the harddrives when I recycle but these machines are good enough for basic Internet/email type of work that I'd consider donating them. It simply takes me a lot more work to make sure the drives are wiped appropriately so I normally don't do it.

If anyone on the board has a need personally or knows of a good cause let me know.

Rex

[cstone]

http://lifebyte.org/

I work with this ministry. They are an outreach of Colorado Community Church in Aurora.

[hip55]

Depending what hardware (P4 or better) you could install PCLinuxOS for free and have operating PCs to donate.

The installation will format the hard drives and solve the security issues.

[DeadElephant]

Mostly Dell OptiPlex 170's. I have vaild XP pro licenses for each so I'll likely just image. At times I just wipe the drive and let the new owner deal with reinstalling whatever they want. OEM license key is on the box. Unfortunately all the original discs were tossed before I could grab them.

[cstone]

We triage the machines for specs that are worth rebuilding. All hard drives are wiped using DBAN, then loaded with either XP or Win7 and a common application suite (currently Libre Office) and anti-virus (AVG). There is an established waiting list of people and organizations who have expressed a desire and need for these refurbed machines. Once there are sufficient rebuilt PCs we do a distribution day where people come in and are shown how to set up the PC once they get it home. Each PC comes with a monitor, keyboard, mouse, mouse pad, and power strip. The recipient is also given a point of contact if they have any problems or questions.

The stuff that isn't rebuilt or reused goes to a recycler who has handled literally tons of electronics for us.

Our OS licenses are through the Microsoft Reseller program for non-profit organizations. Depending on the number of machines you have to donate, I could get you an email address to arrange for the machines to be picked up. PM me if you would like contact information.

[Hoosier]

As cstone mentions, make sure you DBAN the disks in advance. You download the .iso file for free, burn it as a bootable CD, start the machine up with it, and wipe the hard drive to DoD spec.

It's probably safe to use the quick-wipe method. The reason for doing it is to prevent anyone from recovering files and attempting to steal your identity with that information.

H.

[DeadElephant]

DBAN is a good tool. I use it plus several others. I'm generally lazy thats why I use an 8lb sledge most of the time. Its some of the only physical activity that I get plus its a good release of frustrations.
cstone, shoot me a PM and we'll work out something. I have to wipe everything before they leave my shop so it'll take me a little time to get them ready. I know you wipe them also but I can't let them leave my shop with anything on them.
Rex

[Hoosier]

I know you wipe them also but I can't let them leave my shop with anything on them.

And all was right with the netsec gods.

H.