Community weekly poll: What do you do with your old hard drive?
- 6/8/05 2:00 PM
Disposing of Old HDD
by HAL 9000 - 6/10/05 6:41 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
What is required here is first to know how big the drive is, if it still is in working condition and lastly and far more importantly what data it contained.
Now if there was even the slightest hint of any financial transactions being stored on the drive and remember the e-mail as well you can use it as a slave drive if you have the room or should destroy the drive and completely remove any magnetic material off the platters inside the drive as that data can be recovered!
There have been several cases of major breaches in corporate security in the old days where now obsolete computers which had been devalued to nothing of value through tax write downs being disposed of and the drives not being replaced so the data was recovered. and used against the company or Government department where the computer came from.
Today however it is a different story Data Recovery procedures while still time consuming are a lot cheaper to do and buy the software to do it and many more people around the world are using computers and buying products on line or doing their banking on line. Now this data if it was to get out of the control of the persons responsible has been known to cripple them financially just through Philis hing but giving a HDD to someone makes the job so much easier. There was one case recently here where a house was sold out from under the owner with a forged document gained by accessing the banking records of a person who sold their old computer but had reloaded the OS and Software thinking that because they couldn't see the data anymore no one else could so for the few hundred $ that they saved by selling the old computer they lost their home all their money and had their credit cards maxed out.
They where effectively bankrupted by this action which any business would never allow to happen.
So unless you can absolutely guarantee that there is no sensitive data on the HDD and you have to remember e-mails and address books as well the drive should be replaced with a cheap new one and then the computer sold off the HDD if it can not be reused should be dismantled and the platters melted down so that there is no possibility of any data escaping your control.
Exchangeable drives
by Compassman - 6/10/05 6:43 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have removeable drives. I will take an old drive and reformat it. Then I will dedicate it to a specific task. Recently, I set up one old drive to check IPCop. Another went to learn Debian. To use either, I take out the drive tray, swap out the drives and I get a "new" machine.
But what happens when you run out of uses
by HAL 9000 - 6/10/05 7:05 AM In reply to: Exchangeable drives by CompassmanFor that HDD? Remember that every load can be recovered intact with the proper equipment would you be happy to risk your personal and financial security for the sake of a few $ saved in properly disposing of a HDD?
What do you do with your old hard drive?
by mycroftd - 6/10/05 6:46 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
Turfing an old harddrive seems like such as waste as there always seems to be a use for the super-strong magnets at the read arm. I have dissembled these drives and used these magnets for everything to part holders in the garage, to magnetic handle bases to fridge magnets. The aluminum from the harddrive cases I take to the recycle depot.
What do yo do with the old hard drive?
by cmk59 - 6/10/05 6:58 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I did two things with mine...the new HP I bought had an IDE setup, as did my previous one, so the choice was easy. I copied all the files to my new hard drive by 'dragging and dropping.' Then, I deleted all the PROGRAM files from the old hard drive, freeing up lots of room. In that way, it acts as a 'backup' for any files I may need in future that I can't find.
Second, I partitioned the old drive, and put all the mp3 files I have on the empty space. I cannot access (by accident, but by choice only) the 'recovery' sector (kind of like HP uses a 'recovery' sector on its new computers), but I can now compartmentalize my music on the drive, saving space on the newer drive to do the work I need.
what i do with my old hard drive
by mdf47 - 6/10/05 6:59 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I let it in the old computer and use it for the information on it. I don't get rid of my old computer because I have some programs that may not play on other machines as well.
Old hard drive:
by James Sewell - 6/10/05 7:26 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
When I usually upgrade my computer system I will get
other parts needed to build up my old one and give it to one of my family members. If I just purchase a larger hard drive, then, I save the part until I can
build a cpu system. I have passed four system to the younger family members. Re-format the drive.
don't get all Office Space on it...donate it
by dpsmith58 - 6/10/05 7:38 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
as much as smashing your old hard drive has a primal lust appeal, it won't save you dollar one or get you any closer to heaven. Donating the old friend however serves both: there are countless schools and organizations who will happily find good use for your piece of junk, and the government will reward your deed with a tax write off, usually worth the value that you once paid for it.
And to satisfy your inner Dirty Harry, you can rip apart the box that your new computer came in.
Smash it to keep MIB (Men In Black) away from your door
by Iodarius - 6/10/05 7:54 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
You could get a knock on your door in a few years when someone who got your old computer passed down a few times puts something on it. The 5th "new" owner may call the IRS or homeland security to get back at her married boyfriend, only thing is, you got stuff on there too. Strange but it happens. Maybe they're still clicking on "John" to use the computer. Smash the HDD, Burn the computer after you smash the HDD, whatever. Information never dies. It also becomes public very quickly.
Destiny of old hard drives
by stargazer777 - 6/10/05 8:30 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
On two occasions, I passed them on to family members. Once was one I gave my son, who desperately needed hard disk space; the hard disk was fine, but smallish after I upgraded to a monster drive. The other time, I used the old drive to build a computer for my wife; again, the drive was of admirable size, but still smallish compared to the new ''upgrade drive''.
A 3rd situation: I have a Western Digital 80GB drive which I had tried to use as a slave drive, but I can't seem to access it. I am keeping it on hand until I can perhaps successfully access the data.
- Dave G. in Virginia
What I will do with my old, old hard drive.
by patknine - 6/10/05 8:39 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I have a Hewlett-Packard windows 98. Just as soon as I acquire a new PC, I will take my trusty old sledge-hammer to my HP.
One, I figure it is the quickest and most thorough way to eliminate all traces of info remaining on the hard drive.
Two, because Hewlet-Packard's rebate program sucks big-time. I own several HP items and have mailed in several receipts & completed rebate forms to receive advertised rebates on various items. I am a very meticulous person in completing all the necessary steps to receive rebates and have always received them from other companies.
But, NEVER, NEVER have I ever been able to receive even one promised rebate from Hewlett Packard. I do, however, receive a letter advising me that they have received my rebate request. They always state that my submissions did not include original qualifying UPCs. This is their favorite response. I always make copies for my records to prove what I submitted to them, but, by then the rebate time has "expired" (according to HP). This is a big-time "cop-out" on HP's part and has convinced me that I no longer need to purchase their products. Why waste stamps sending for rebates you will never receive? SO, I intend to bash my 5 year old hard drive into at least a zillion pieces and forward it to HP along with my "original" UPC code and copy of my original receipt of purchase and wait and see if I still get their "standard letter of denial of rebate". I will buy my next PC from a company who practices honorable and fair consumer protocol.
Smash it!
by peterhb17 - 6/10/05 8:54 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
If I have no further use for the drive I would physically destroy it so there was no chance of anybody recovering any data from it (particularly personal info. If I had a use for it I might clean it up and use it as a backup facility or just additional data storage
What I did with my old HD
by olddreamer - 6/10/05 8:55 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
I bought an external hard drive housing; removed the drive from the old computer and installed it in the housing. Now it has become an external drive which can be used for "backup". The drive housing is relatively cheap (about $23.00). The housing I bought does not have an internal cooling fan; there are more expensive housings that come with a cooling fan.
Doing this, I have access to all the old files that I wanted to keep but didn't want to copy to the new Hard Drive.
olddreamer
what to do with old hard drive
by mneumann - 6/10/05 9:30 AM In reply to: What I did with my old HD by olddreamerI also put an old hard drive in an external case. I use it for backup; works great.
in the past...
by ozos - 6/10/05 9:03 AM In reply to: What do you do with your old hard drive? by Lee Koo (ADMIN)
i've just thrown them away/stored them
but if it's a good disk
it gets reformated and put back into the system
| Forum legend: | |
 |
Locked thread |
 |
Moderator |
 |
CNET staff |
 |
Samsung staff |
 |
Norton Authorized Support team |
 |
AVG staff |
 |
Windows Outreach team |
 |
Dell staff |
 |
Intel staff |
