So I found this Dell PC in the trash...

Adrianime

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As a little bit of background, for the past month I've been researching and prepping to build my very first PC. I finally got all my parts in last weekend, and I plan to build this weekend.

My full Build is here: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1700280/finalized-build-comments-appreciated.html

So I go out to take out the trash tonight, and when I open up the dumpster there is a dell PC sitting on the top of it (with the side panel removed, and motherboard facing up). After a bit of internal back and forth, I decided to grab it and take it up to my apt to look at it in preparation for my build this weekend. Was this a bad idea? You tell me.

Inside, I see a 1GB stick of RAM (useless to me), optical drive without a brand, and a Maxtor maxline III 250 GB HDD http://www.amazon.com/7L250S0-Maxtor-MaXLine-SATA-Drive/dp/B000Y8I8PW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1371703899&sr=8-4&keywords=maxline+iii

Of this, I'm considering taking the HDD, formatting it, and adding it as an extra drive on the comp I'm building (after I get everything else working, of course). I think it's an older Sata (1.5 Gb/s), but it should still work right? I figure I can use it as disposable storage, like a giant garbage bin or something.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks!
 
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No worse than cutting up cadavers to gain experience. :) But really, if the equipment is serviceable, why not! I think wiping the drive is a healthy idea, as you wouldn't want somebody else's leftovers to potentially spoil an otherwise good thing.

fatboytyler

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That HDD is very old. That is almost the same thing in my old Gateway with a Pentium 4. It's relatively loud and slow, but quite reliable. Its a good cheap drive, but not really good for boot or gaming on a modern build. Nice find though!
 

Adrianime

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Thanks for the input. Yeah I definitely wouldn't use this drive to run anything, or boot. Just extra storage.

 
No worse than cutting up cadavers to gain experience. :) But really, if the equipment is serviceable, why not! I think wiping the drive is a healthy idea, as you wouldn't want somebody else's leftovers to potentially spoil an otherwise good thing.
 
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fatboytyler

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If you could find a SATA to USB adapter you could convert it into a sort of external drive. But yea, using it for extra storage for random stuff would be perfect.

 

Adrianime

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The DELL HDD beeped and screeched when i tried to put it in my computer. So I gave up on the idea. Haha, it was a good experiment though!