How to Safely Wipe Data and Check SSD Health Before Selling Your Old Laptop

Before selling or passing on an old laptop, tech professionals recommend going beyond basic physical checks to ensure personal data and storage health are properly addressed. Sensitive files such as SSH keys, API tokens, environment variables, browser-saved passwords, and company documents can remain on a device without the owner realising. Users should sign out of all linked accounts — including Microsoft, Google, GitHub, and cloud services — before performing a factory reset, as some platforms use device binding or MDM policies. Developers are advised to inspect hidden directories like ~/.ssh, ~/.aws, and ~/.docker, and to clear Git credentials from Windows Credential Manager. On Windows, PowerShell commands such as Get-PhysicalDisk and Get-StorageReliabilityCounter can be used to assess SSD health metrics including wear level, temperature, and error counts before handing the device over.