Old Hard drives

[kenstogie]

So I was cleaning (amazing for me but it is really true :applause and I have a bunch of old hard drives. What to do with them??

I think they are the full sized EIDE, maybe a SATA and a couple small Laptop hd's. I am not sure if they are NTFS or FAT 32 or skinny 16's. (sorry ) They are from my old computers (windows 2000 i think, hell maybe even W98!).

What does it take to get the files off of these???

After words how do I dispose of them??


I could take a picture of them if need be.

 

[Hoshneer]

Hammer + Anger = Privacy Assurance

 

[kenstogie]

Yea that's a great disposal option but not sure if it would work for the file removal part. Got a chuckle out of it though

 

[sean]

Let this be an inspiration:
[video=youtube;lx_vWkv50uk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx_vWkv50uk[/video]

 

[Master Shake]

Let this be an inspiration:
[video=youtube;lx_vWkv50uk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx_vWkv50uk[/video]

So this what too much time on your hands looks like. Still got a good chuckle though.

 

[sean]

Have you seen all the people at ComicCon? I think that is the true definition of "too much time."

 

[Heath]

I work in the electronic recycling industry and the best thing to do is be sure you brake the circuit board and take a hammer to the side that the plates are on. Than depending on where you live you should be able to find someone(Craigslist) that will take them. Where I am from there are a ton of electronic recyclers near me! Or you can try calling your local electronic outfitter and ask if they have a recycling program. Hope this helps.

 

[kenstogie]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J01I1G/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I did a little research and I am hoping the above product will do the trick to pull any files off and then comes hammertime!

 

[blueboy714]

I use and recommend Killdisk (www.killdisk.com) if you can connect the HD to a pc. It's freeware that just writes a bunch of random 1's and 0's onto your hard drive. It writes over your HD two or three and no one can recover anything from it.

Other alternatives:

if you want a fast solution is the good hammer - it won't get rid of your files but no one can read the files.
if you have a cassette tape demagnetizer - it will work on the hard drive.
if you want to take the time - you can take the HD apart and break the HD.

 

[rev.b]

Personally id put them thru an industrial metal shredder and throw the pieces off a bridge into salt water but I don't keep anything on mine to justify that........way to many hackers in the world. I'm so paranoid I unplug my camera when not in use lol

 

[blueboy714]

Personally id put them thru an industrial metal shredder and throw the pieces off a bridge into salt water but I don't keep anything on mine to justify that........way to many hackers in the world. I'm so paranoid I unplug my camera when not in use lol

smart rev.b - my first job out of college 25 years ago was a systems manager/hacker for a bank. I was paid to break into their system and show them where they had security flaws. It was ok for a while - but boring. I'd rather hack on my own time just for fun.

 

[James]

Someone afraid of ex gf porn surfacing on the net??? lol

 

[diddyk]

Get a IDE/SATA USB adapter (something like http://www.amazon.com/SATA-Drive-Adapter-Universal-Drives/dp/B009VKSNS6/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1374033261&sr=8-7&keywords=ide+sata+to+usb+adapter) to get any files off the drives and then use a program like DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke at http://www.dban.org/download) to wipe data from the drive/s.

 

[TravelingJ]

I just used CCleaner to write like 35 times to the drives, then drilled through it a bunch of times, then lit it on fire, then hit it with a sledge.

 

[kenstogie]

Though I do have a "few" ex gf vids, i know right where they are for easy viewing. in actuality I was really trying to get at me old cakewalk/sonar files so that I could remaster them. If they are even there. That and just see what the hell is on there.

 

[bugbear]

Since I'm cert in digital forensic's thought I would add my 1.5 cents

Physical destruction or overwriting with something like DBAN are both valid (overwrites the unused space too)

Physical can be fun < I've used liquid nitrogen and a hammer, thermite, etc

The long term consensus is overwrite 3 times with 0's which is the default in dban I believe

But most pro's say once is reasonable

 

[bugbear]

There was that computer piñata incident too where we went all Office Space on some laptops with yard tools, but that was for fun

 

[Aberlour]

A HDD docking station would be an ideal solution for accessing and copying old files.

http://tinyurl.com/o99q6fn

 

[kenstogie]

So the adapter above worked but it took some work. First you have to hook it up and the connector goes in right side up and upside down no problem, second you have to get the right jumper hooked up and is supposed to be set as "master" though accoriding to the chart it was and it didn't work so I tried the others and the 3rd one over did work. THen you have to take "owner ship" of the hard drive which is somewhat of a PITA but can be done. Just thought I'd let you all know in case someone else ever had to do this.

The SATA drive worked with out anything other than hooking it up.

 

[jdwaynes1980]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000J01I1G/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I did a little research and I am hoping the above product will do the trick to pull any files off and then comes hammertime!

I purchased this product about 10 years ago, and still use to this day. It's the easiest way to get files off old, or corrupt hard drives. Also lets you use old hard drives like a flash drive through a USB port. I have a couple of my old 500GB drives now sitting around full of videos, and mp3s.1