What do you do with your old external HDD'S ?

[TonyGamble]

Londoner here.

As part of my lockdown clearout I have come across a box of old external HDDs.

I have kept them as a precaution that some life threatening file has gone awol after two decades of upgrades but now feel confident that danger has passed.

There are probably about six and they are probably mostly 2tb.

Yes, they have data on them.

I could get a heavy hammer, bash the daylights out of them and consign them to the rubbish bin.

The problem about passing them on is that I really ought to 'clean' them and when I set Acronis on one of them it looked as if it was going to take days. I am told that simply formatting is not secure.

Then what do I do with them. I cannot imagine eBay will produce much and I really don't want to get into arguments with people claiming they found a bad sector.

I've asked a local charity and not got any real suggestion.

Does anyone here have any ideas?

To repeat - I live in London. So any reply needs to remember that.

Thanks in advance.

Tony

 

[TonyGamble]

The more I read the replies the less I feel I am going to be able to turn these drives into something that less fortunate folk will benefit from.

I subscribe to a local neighbourhood forum and offered them a couple of laptops. OK, they were converted to Linux but I would not have thought it beyond the wit of some kindly computerman to convert them back to Windows and give them to two needy folk. No response.

2TB HDDs are less exciting but I'm learning just how deep into a throwaway society we have moved. I offered these to the neighbourhood forum. One guy responded saying he worked for a church. When I asked him what he did for the church he seemed challenged! Sad. Sad.

Sad and no reflection on the supporters of DPR who help the world go round a tad more smoothly each day. Over the years with DPR I have learnt more about photography and PCs than I would have done on a university course. Long may we sail safely.

I feel the hammer is my solution.

Tony

 

[a_c_skinner]

I stand corrected. Of course the format doesn't destroy the data, it is an add on process but worth knowing.

 

[Austinian]

The more I read the replies the less I feel I am going to be able to turn these drives into something that less fortunate folk will benefit from.

Expertise and time vs. value are likely the limiting factors in that. :-(

I subscribe to a local neighbourhood forum and offered them a couple of laptops. OK, they were converted to Linux but I would not have thought it beyond the wit of some kindly computerman to convert them back to Windows and give them to two needy folk. No response.

Here locally at least your laptops would have some value due to low-income families needing even the most basic PCs for their children to do distance learning during the pandemic. An organization known as Goodwill runs a local computer store where they'll take any computer and, if possible, restore it to a usable condition and sell it on at a very low price.

The UK may be doing a better job of dealing with poverty and not need such help, IDK, but I thought I'd mention this in case there's a similar group in Britain.

 

[Mystery member]

The more I read the replies the less I feel I am going to be able to turn these drives into something that less fortunate folk will benefit from.

I subscribe to a local neighbourhood forum and offered them a couple of laptops. OK, they were converted to Linux but I would not have thought it beyond the wit of some kindly computerman to convert them back to Windows and give them to two needy folk. No response.

I've found that spare computers find a better home amongst the not-so-needy, but that's my view of the world. The last few have been for families who are comfortably off, but needed an extra computer for the younger children.

There's also a considerable responsibility in ensuring that such computers aren't infested with malware or porn.

Sad and no reflection on the supporters of DPR who help the world go round a tad more smoothly each day. Over the years with DPR I have learnt more about photography and PCs than I would have done on a university course. Long may we sail safely.

I've found that the PC forum is a valuable source of information, more so than the other strictly photographic ones. It's been seven years and more probably more posts than I originally intended.

 

[TonyGamble]

Two good posts there.

Thank you.

It seems Goodwill don't operate here in the UK. I used to work in the 'arts' and the whole attitude to charity is different in the UK. It certainly works better and is more useful in the US. The tax system is different and the perception of helping is different. Both achieve more donations in relation to the GDP.

I looked at the box of HDDs half an hour ago when I was in my studio. I'll leave them until the end of the week - and then start to test the elbow grease.

Tony

 

[tkbslc]

Just Run a drill through them once (or hammer a nail). You'd have to be a motivated security expert with a specialized recovery lab to get anything off them after that. Nobody is going to bother unless you are known to be storing military secrets.

Kind of sad to toss old gear away. But they aren't worth enough on eBay to be worth the time to give them even a basic disk wipe to prepare them for sale. (you'd want to do the same to donate them).

Magnets work, but you need a real degausser to have any confidence that it worked.

 

[kelpdiver]

can these old drives be removed from their enclosure? There's may be a hobbyist population in London that might like 2tbs units to do test/lab type work, where reliability isn't a key concern.

As for your data, unless you think it has financial stuff, I think a single pass clean cycle does the job. The NSA or MI5 types aren't likely looking to resurrect your data.

Interesting bit though about the magnets. I have a plate (SS or Ti) in my shoulder from an accident - I tried buying some rare earth types to see if anything would stick, but confirmed non magnetic.

 

[Denis247]

I'm still buying 2TB drives !

 

[Jestertheclown]

This will do the trick.

Just be sure to follow the instructions carefully.


"It's good to be . . . . . . . . . Me!"

 

[tkbslc]

I'm still buying 2TB drives !

Are you buying used ones that have been in a storage box?

 

[ken_in_nh]

If you have the required tools, I’ll suggest taking at least one of the drives apart for the magnets.

The two or three hard drives I’ve taken apart had fairly healthy (rare Earth?) magnets in them. They were small so you weren’t going to pick up an anvil with them or anything. Relative to their size though, they were pretty strong. IMO pulling a pair of these out of drive is probably worth the effort to have them on hand for future use. I’ve used mine to find the exact location of nails within drywall on a couple of occasions.

NOTE: These magnets are strong enough that they can potentially “bite” pretty bad if you get your finger in between two of them snapping together. Be careful.

Same thing I do. And if you want really strong magnets, strong enough to hold a small phone book to your refrigerator, take apart a dead microwave. The magnetron is pretty cool too. But watch out for the filter cap....

The disks from a HDD make decent coasters if they're from the bigger HDD (bigger in diameter).

 

[Sebastian Cohen]

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...basically.

Short answer : Clean wipe/several format passes and/or drill holes and/or smash.

Always recycle electronics at local electronics chain (they are obliged, as of yet by EU law to process your old stuff). Never use the bin because of potential environmental contamination.

Now I have no deep dark nefarious hobbies, like stamp collecting or woodcarving, so I don't have anything I can get arrested for on my drives. (There is a clemency for Napster use in the 00s right?) What I do have is tax returns, medical records, birth certificates etc. If you are particularly paranoid, these types of information could be used for social hacking/spear phishing to get control over sim card swaps, change account information etc. The more personal information someone has, the more they will appear as if they are you when a company rep asks about personal information. If you're just a normal chilled bloke, it's still not fun letting people look at your tax returns or your resent medical bill for a chlamydia test or that operation to remove your piles.

When it comes to data on old drives, treat it like you would paper. Do you want your paper tax or medical details just lying in the bin? Now paper, getting wet might last shorter in the trash. But a drive is pretty protected so it might last longer and if someone finds it, it might seem to be of value so someone might try and start it up.

I wouldn't recommend donating them to anyone you know, as old drives tend to break down. If people you give the drives to has a malfunction, they might blame you or you have to help them (even worse). Old drives, 3-4 years, I don't consider safe, even though I have some with old backups still that have seen very little use (backups of backups).

1. Best route is to re-format with several passes. (A simple format just marks space as empty, info is still there and easy to access). BUT this takes time and is tedious, especially if you have several. Depending how paranoid you are, I recommend this route.

2. Quick way is smashing it with a sledgehammer. Be cautious, drives can contain carcinogenic materials that is bad to breathe in. Use PPE. Make sure you get the drive plates out and bend them or that they are bent inside the case. Recycle.

3. Easiest is to just drill several holes with a metal drill-bit (use PPE) and recycle.

If you're not aiming for world takeover, just making it hard enough that it's not worth the time to get the information is enough for 99% of us. A robber will go to a house without alarm, but if he REALLY wants your house, it's still possible.

Remember, information today is gold.

 

[Katamax]

Does anyone here have any ideas?

Most jurisdictions have some form of "electronic device recycling" program. Where I happen to be this moment, large electronic retailers let you simply drop items in their stores.

If concerned with access to your data on them, drill a hole in the top plate and pour 10cc of diluted (20%) muriatic acid into the hole before they leave your hands.

 

[ken_in_nh]

The irony these days, at least to me, is that there's so much data for each of us already out there, that it's hard to imagine any harm coming from an old HDD (unless it has evidence of criminal activity? Certainly not among readers here...)

Seems we've been taught to be afraid, very afraid. And yes, I've had my Amazon account hijacked, email hacked, charge cards cloned. None of this from old HDD, and each time recovery wasn't so bad.

 

[kelpdiver]

Seems we've been taught to be afraid, very afraid. And yes, I've had my Amazon account hijacked, email hacked, charge cards cloned. None of this from old HDD, and each time recovery wasn't so bad.

yes, I agree. I don't think there is great value in sending these old drives to the poor people of the world, but there are still potential users for it. Don't need to resort to destructive steps.

 

[TonyGamble]

When I started this thread I never expected it to run so long.

The consensus is that hoping these drives will transform the life of some needy third worlder is pie in the sky.

There are recyclers in London but in a semi covid world not easy to get to.

The last poster suggested they might be of use for me. Before the sledge hammer is deployed does anyone have a suggestion for these six 2tb HDDs. Suitably wired through a good USB hub and a mains mutisocket adaptor I see a 12tb data storeage device lurking. But on the surface I am not tempted.

Any last minute suggestions before I draw the discussion to its hard earned close?

Tony

 

[Greybeard2017]

When I started this thread I never expected it to run so long.

The consensus is that hoping these drives will transform the life of some needy third worlder is pie in the sky.

There are recyclers in London but in a semi covid world not easy to get to.

The last poster suggested they might be of use for me. Before the sledge hammer is deployed does anyone have a suggestion for these six 2tb HDDs. Suitably wired through a good USB hub and a mains mutisocket adaptor I see a 12tb data storeage device lurking. But on the surface I am not tempted.

Any last minute suggestions before I draw the discussion to its hard earned close?

Tony

You mean they are useable?

Then why are you getting rid of them?

I don't get rid of drives until they are reporting errors and then wipe them and take to the tip.

 

[Austinian]

When I started this thread I never expected it to run so long.

The consensus is that hoping these drives will transform the life of some needy third worlder is pie in the sky.

There are recyclers in London but in a semi covid world not easy to get to.

The last poster suggested they might be of use for me. Before the sledge hammer is deployed does anyone have a suggestion for these six 2tb HDDs. Suitably wired through a good USB hub and a mains mutisocket adaptor I see a 12tb data storeage device lurking. But on the surface I am not tempted.

Any last minute suggestions before I draw the discussion to its hard earned close?

Got plenty of backups already? I use my older sub-2TB HDDs for multiple image and clone backups going back many months, in case of a long-delay malware attack or a sudden realization that I need some old data, improbable as those events may be.

 

[TonyGamble]

Why don't I go on using them.

Because I have data and images that use up more than half a 6tb drive.

Following the ruling that not only should one have a back up but also that one should have a back up in a different location.

I have my 6tb working drive. I back it up constantly to a second 6tb drive. That is also next to my daytime pc.

I then back up to a third 6tb drive which is in my studio and a respectable distance away.

Yes, I could do this with sets of three 2tb HDDs - but would I? Probably not - which is dangerous!

 

[gs85739az]

"Most" metals inside your body are "non ferrous": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-f...rrous metals include,and alloys such as brass.

Some aren't:gadgets inserted in body with batteries,etc..tend to be magnetic..