The OP said that he wants to dispose of the laptop. There is no need to remove the hard drive. Just smash the laptop a few times with a hammer, making sure the hard drive is bent and can no longer be used. Then, throw it in the trash. To me, that is a lot safer than turning the computer over to a stranger who could steal the data, or installing a software program that may not work.

I only have a few "critical" files which I routinely back up to an external drive.

The first one I opened had a solid-state drive which was easy to disable. I used to build desktops a few decades ago and remember that the drives back then were physically strong.

I would not want the toxic fumes in my oven. Use a grill maybe? Better yet, drill several holes through it.

OR ... Take the drive apart and remove the platter. Makes a great mirror. Boy Scouts are taught how to use it to signal for help when lost.

The magnets in it are also very strong. Nice to have on hand.

I convert old laptops to Linux. I can remove your old drive and put in an old drive with Linux. I'll show you how it works and show you how it works, that way you can keep your old laptop. Then I'll erase everything on your drive (and show that everything is gone) so I can use your drive on someone else's laptop. JoelJohnson530@gmail.com

My advice would be physically destroy the drive.

In my former life I managed data centers for a big insurance company, part of that work was to see that the old servers were destroyed and recycled. There was a pretty robust process to ensure we didn't destroy a drive accidentally, well one got through and made it's way into the press that bends the disc so it couldn't be read. The systems department realized their error in sending it to us and and asked for it back. I took it myself to their head, it was very bent up from the press. They took that drive to a magician and he retreaved the data. I would have bet anything that was impossible but they did it.

From that point on our presses were outfitted with a spike that went all the way through the drive so it have a big hole poked through it in addition to being bent up. A couple of years later I bought a big grinder and we sent them out as little pieces.

Obviously most places don't have those kind of resources but never say never.

cook
 

put drive in charcoal grill

After removing the drive and destroying it drop the laptop off at a recycling center. Look up on google the centers or stores in your area. Laptops contain dangerous materials - lead, mercury, etc.

I actually take my old hard drives apart and recover the battery that's in it. They'll pick up lots of stuff!! Then just take apart the housing and trash it. Of course, take the parts to the proper drop offs.

I have a very strong magnet that I move over the hard drive after I take it out.

This is incorrect. I was in IT for 40 years. As long as the wipe process OVERWRITES all date, there is no way to pull that data back.

Neither formatting or deleting a partition remove data so yes, in this case, data could be retrieved. If you wipe with full overwrite, it's impossible as the original data is no longer there.

One of my booger eater buddies told me a 'delete' or 'erase' just changed the first character of a packet with a wild card, if you go put the correct character back the data could be recovered. Is that accurate, or at least directionally correct?

Destroy the hard drive then put the laptop on the curb. Someone will pick it up. No longer your problem.

I remove the hard drive and then take laptop to recycle center like Best Buy. I purchase a SATA to USB case and use the hard drive as an external usb drive. About $12 on Amazon.

Once set up as usb drive you can easily wipe the drive completely clean.

Best answer IMHO. Take it apart. Remove the disc. Destroy the disc

Take the hard drive out. Take it to the shooting range as a target.

Theres gold in that laptop. I'll take it if you don't want it, minus the hard drive.