What to do with old hard drives?

Wail

Wail

Suspended / Banned
Messages
6,671
Name
Wail
Edit My Images
No
As the question in the title asks; what do you do with older hard drives / memory cards?

Currently, I have no less that 10 hard drives that are now of no use to me as I’ve since upgraded to higher capacity drives. I’ve thought of selling them, or passing them on to someone who may want / need them; but I got worried in case the new user would retrieve any of the data.

Just wondering what do others do with their old hard drives?
 
Wail said:
As the question in the title asks; what do you do with older hard drives / memory cards?

Currently, I have no less that 10 hard drives that are now of no use to me as I’ve since upgraded to higher capacity drives. I’ve thought of selling them, or passing them on to someone who may want / need them; but I got worried in case the new user would retrieve any of the data.

Just wondering what do others do with their old hard drives?
Click to expand...

I just secure erase them with several passes of data and then sell them on, if they are worth anything or use them as data backup drives via a caddy.
 
hunnymonster said:
Darik's Boot & Nuke - choose your level of paranoia :)

http://www.dban.org
Click to expand...

Thank you for the link :thumbs:


jondc said:
I just secure erase them with several passes of data and then sell them on, if they are worth anything or use them as data backup drives via a caddy.
Click to expand...

I guess that ought to be good enough; but somehow I'm just a bit paranoid :shrug:


duttytd said:
If you do end up putting them in the classified section please inform me as im in need of a few hard drives.
Click to expand...

I may just put some up for sale; I'll make sure to PM you should I do :thumbs:


neil_g said:
sledge hammer.

quicker than a multi-pass erase :lol:
Click to expand...

You mean like this :bonk: ... works wonders for my brains, ought to do the job well :p
 
neil_g said:
sledge hammer.

quicker than a multi-pass erase :lol:
Click to expand...

Eraser then sledge hammer is the preferred method for sure. I know quite a few companies who employ the hammer method before scrapping! It's scary how many people sell on hard drives and computers where their old data is so easily accessed.
 
kill-it-with-fire-demotivational-poster-1235695993.jpg
 
I stick them on ebay (after writing zeros to the drive)
 
Last edited:
OrangeCanon said:
Eraser then sledge hammer is the preferred method for sure. I know quite a few companies who employ the hammer method before scrapping! It's scary how many people sell on hard drives and computers where their old data is so easily accessed.
Click to expand...

I'm tempted to do that, as I am very paranoid over my data :suspect:


Mank said:
kill-it-with-fire-demotivational-poster-1235695993.jpg
Click to expand...

If only I can get my hands on one, there are many other things I'd love to incinerate too :D


Jez2011 said:
I stick them on ebay (after writing zeros to the drive)
Click to expand...

Thank you, but as a matter of principle I refuse to use ebay and its sidekick, paypal.


lennox said:
Another disk wiper: http://www.killdisk.com/
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for that :thumbs:
 
7-pass erase using Disk Utility on OSX - it's good enough for the US DoD so it's good enough for me :D
 
it depends on what was stored on it - if its anything sensitive (banking info, personal information etc) then its smash it open, extract the discs and cut them up with tin snips then lob the wreckage in the hardcore bin at work where it will wind up in a ball of cncrete supporting fence posts.

On the ther hand if its only ever had pictures or inocuous files on it i'll just use a wiper then sell it , or just keep it for use in a caddy
 
big soft moose said:
it depends on what was stored on it - if its anything sensitive (banking info, personal information etc) then its smash it open, extract the discs and cut them up with tin snips then lob the wreckage in the hardcore bin at work where it will wind up in a ball of cncrete supporting fence posts.

On the ther hand if its only ever had pictures or inocuous files on it i'll just use a wiper then sell it , or just keep it for use in a caddy
Click to expand...

I'm tempted to go with the smash them to bits, just to put my mind to rest and stop worrying over them.


daugirdas said:
As an alternative you could get a few enclosures and use them for backups. It saves the hassle of erasing, which would be the next best choice.
Click to expand...

The thing is, there are a few of these and most were back-up drives. When 250GB were the maximum, got a few of those, then a few of the 500GB, then a few 1TB! In total, there must be at least 10 drives with a total capacity of no less than 5TB between them.

What I don't want, is to have to keep a log of what's stored on what drive, or may be I just ought to do that :thinking:
 
Used HDDs have no resale value. Two options :

1) Sledgehammer

2) Screwdriver

Option 1 is more fun, but wear goggles :) Option 2 is interesting the first time (dismantle it and then fire it up to see it working), then gets dull.
 
mid_gen said:
Used HDDs have no resale value.
Click to expand...

Just sold one on fleabay for £10. Better than a slap in the face with a wet fish.

I thought that once you've written zeros to the drive you can't recover the data unless you have access to some very expensive hardware.
 
i just give them to my friends / relatives / put it in the backup computer

lesson to self: buy a huge HDD that you think you'll never fill it up, worry about the problem a few years later (when the HDD's going to die soon anyway)
 
choiMatthew said:
lesson to self: buy a huge HDD that you think you'll never fill it up, worry about the problem a few years later (when the HDD's going to die soon anyway)
Click to expand...

personally i'd rather have my storage on a bunch of smaller drives (with redundancy of back up) so that you don't have all your eggs in one basket

the problem with people buying say a 4TB drive as there main internal is that they wind up storing everything on it and puitting the back up on a partition - then losing everything when it dies unexpectedly
 
if its sensitive info, drill them

if not, multi-pass wipe, (zero out the drive) then either re-use or sell.

:)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top