What to do with a stack of old, small, hard drives.

[comodidit]

Hi everyone.

I've got a stack of 50 or so 3.5" SATA HDDs and 20 or so 2.5" SATA HDDs. Most are in the 80-160gb range.

These are left over from old systems at the office being replaced.

We can't donate them, and we can't sell them.

I can either find a project to use them for, or I can smash them to pieces with a sledgehammer.

Anyone have suggestions for a useful project that could be completed with a limited(read: near zero) budget?

 

[dingo07]

see if your local gun range will let you use them as targets... and have a fun day!!!

 

[MidnightDistort]

Are they dead? If not they can still be used. People are looking for cheap replacements all the time when their hard drive dies and they don't have enough money for a brand new drive. They won't be much useful in a new system depending on the performance of the drive & the possibility they might die but i too have a few hard drives that i have been using as a temporary storage device. Just sell them at a fairly low price if anyone requires a temporary hard drive to transfer data or whatever. Ebay is a good place, i see drives as low as 20GB on there.

And if you want let people know the SMART data on it so they can decide whether it's worth it.

Edit: Also if your worried about important data left this: http://www.dban.org/ will take care of the problem.

 

[ittimjones]

I would set up a massive RAID array with them. or a few RAID arrays. That would definitely make for some good use in the company. I think. or at least for a cool project.

 

[fzabkar]

If you decide to dump them, please at least salvage the PCBs. I would gratefully take them off your hands, even at a price, and I would never sell them. Instead I would use them for reverse engineering purposes, eg ...

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/HDD/Tutorial_SP0411N.html

All my work would be published on my web space for free download.

If you are located in Australia, then I would like very much to have the complete drives, again for reverse engineering purposes.

 

[unreal9400]

Sell it on ebay.

 

[geofelt]

First, make certain that there is no sensitive data on them.
If it is too much bother to deal with that, just smash the drives.

More likely you will get decent money if you market them on ebay as a large lot.

 

[ss202sl]

He clearly states that he can't sell them, and 3 of the last 6 comments suggest he sell them on Ebay.

What charities does the office support? I would get a sledgehammer for the next fundraiser, and let your coworkers pay(donate) for the privilege of smashing their old hard drive.

 

[Traildriver]

If you do throw them away make sure they are unusable. Unusable as in no business data is retrievable.There are some people who would search them for personal info. A drill is nice because they stay in one piece making them easier to recycle at a depot, if you have one in your area.

 

[swifty_morgan]

pull them apart. separate the electronics/gold, remove the platters ( destroy ) , scrap what's left. about 50 cents a pound.

 

[nbelote]

Take out the magnets. They're useful for all sorts of things... or you can give them to kids, kids love magnets.

 

[DarkSable]

I second swifty_morgan's vote - gets you a bit of cash, and doesn't allow data into the wrong hands.

 

[MidnightDistort]

He clearly states that he can't sell them, and 3 of the last 6 comments suggest he sell them on Ebay.

What charities does the office support? I would get a sledgehammer for the next fundraiser, and let your coworkers pay(donate) for the privilege of smashing their old hard drive.

Well he didn't really say why he couldn't sell them. It might just be that he wants to make sure sensitive data isn't on there or thinks that the drives are too old to reuse.

 

[ELMO_2006]

what about stripping apart the drives to sell the aluminium for scrap. LOL!

 

[MidnightDistort]

what about stripping apart the drives to sell the aluminium for scrap. LOL!

Recycling is good for the environment keeps recyclers in use, won't get much cash but it adds up.

 

[swifty_morgan]

maybe you should read the thread a little harder.