What is Computer recycling?
[[File:DesireComputerPile.jpg|thumb|Recycling is an alternative to situations like this.]] '''Computer recycling''' means taking things from old [[computer]]s and using them in new computer things. The phrase is also used to mean that computers need to be thrown away in a special way, as they often have things that are bad for the [[environment]] or [[dangerous]] inside them that can cause problems if they are thrown away like usual [[waste]] (garbage). == Secure Recycling == Sometimes people are worried that the [[information]] inside a computer will be stolen when the computer is thrown away. For example, if you have a product design on an old [[computer]], somebody might copy your design. Big companies have a lot of computers, with a lot of private information on them. They will often pay other [[companies]] to remove all the [[information]] from a computer before it is thrown away. This usually involves physically destroying the drive. It is possible to non-destructively erase the data on a hard drive by overwriting the entire drive with [[random]] numbers. With this method, only the data is destroyed, not the drive itself. This allows the drive to be reused. {{Tech-stub}} [[Category:Computers]] [[Category:Electronics]] [[Category:Recycling]]