When you’ve been using an aged piece of technology for a long time, receiving an upgrade for Christmas is a welcome surprise.

Whether it’s a new smartphone, computer, or Blu-Ray player to replace the old DVD player, the next step will be to figure out what to do with the old devices.

Before you throw the old device away, consider repurposing it, either by using it in another room, or giving it to someone who can use it.

If you got a new phone, you will want to move all of your contacts, photos and other data to the new device before giving it away.

Each device has its own meathod to accomplish this task, so do a quick search on the Internet for a step by step tutorial.

Some devices, like Samsung, require a software download to pair the devices together and download all data to the new device. Other devices have cloud-based features to accomplish this task.

The same goes with a new computer. There are several methods to accomplish a backup of the data on the hard disk, again all based on the brand of computer you received.

In the case of a new disk player, there’s not much to consider here. Since most DVD players don’t store information, you can give it away without worry of your personal information being at risk.

But if you decide to give away a cellphone or computer, there is one important task to take care of, removing your personal data.

On a cellphone, you will be looking for an option to factory reset the device.

Depending on the operating system, the way to accomplish this is different, but pretty straightforward.

As for a computer, it’s best to do a fresh install of the system before giving it away. If you are especially tech savvy, a low level format before reinstalling the operating system will ensure nothing can be recovered from the hard drive.

In either case, you will want to back up all information before erasing the old device.