Is it possible to remove the hard drive from a computer that I want to throw away so our personal information isn't available. The computer is no longer connected and is currentlyuin a box in the garage!
Unless the criminal or government authorities think you are worth their time and cost and effort to see what you ar up to, then there are plenty of free programmes out there that will overwrite your existing data time and again with random garbage making it unreadable by the general public.
Like what whiskery said - open the computer works box (some screws0 pull out the hard drive and siconnect it (a tap-like connectir) wrap it in a duster and whack repeatedly with a hammer, then chuck the duster away.
be careful as the hard drive ia a glassy disk.