Old Hardrives (Page 2): Maybe that was before cipher.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

bnsf wrote:

I was told years ago to fdisk the harddrive. Change the drive partitions from a single drive to multi drives. Then reformat each drive. This should remove all data on the drive.

Maybe that was before cipher.

Bayou

bnsf wrote:

I was told years ago to fdisk the harddrive. Change the drive partitions from a single drive to multi drives. Then reformat each drive. This should remove all data on the drive.

Nope. That makes recovery difficult, but not impossible for a skilled techie. To truly clean a drive you have to use a program that writes garbage data to every bit on the drive, and does so numerous times.

The best way to be really sure is to physically destroy the drive. As someone else mentioned, drill it with numerous holes and smash it to bits with a heavy hammer.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I have a lot of old drives that I use as redundant backups. There are different enclosures/adapters you can get to quickly connect a drive to your computer. Hard drives can last forever, but SSDs have a limited life, as determined by the amount written to them. I have hard drives that are twenty years old, and they can still read and write data.

If a drive eventually dies, there are powerful magnets inside that you can remove.

Old drives - https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/projects-make-old-hard-drive/

Broken drives - https://lifehacker.com/what-can-i-do-with-a-dead-hard-drive-5619879

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

jerryc41 wrote:

...If a drive eventually dies, there are powerful magnets inside that you can remove...

The disk is also a nice shiny mirror. Maybe good for a Christmas tree decoration.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

kitrn23 wrote:

Got a new computer, after moving data from old to new, I removed the hard drive from old and sent the rest to Goodwill. Wondering if data on old drive still exists on this drive? Can I use this drive as a backup in Raid device? This whole backup has me going crazy. Just cannot wrap my head around it, even though I read so much on U-Tube.

If you do not have a use for the HD just drill a hole all the way through to render it unreadable.

If it was an older computer (age not noted by the OP) it probably is not a large HD. You could insert it into a External USB Dock to use intermittently after re-formatting.

If you are contemplating building a RAID you may need to have matched drives (varies by RAID device).

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

DirtFarmer wrote:

The disk is also a nice shiny mirror. Maybe good for a Christmas tree decoration.

People were using CDs and DVDs the same way- also to scare birds away from their gardens. I saw a wood turner (I think) use pieces of cut up disks to make something pretty. That's all I remember: craftsman, disks, pretty. And no, it wasn't a pretty craftsman.

ORpilot Loc: Prineville, Or

I don't get grid of my old HDs. I erase them and reformat them. Then I use them as a secondary back up or just like a USB jump drive. Several of mine have my photo classes on them (lots and lots of data). You can pick up external cases to put the HD in for under $20.

neillaubenthal

RG is right…drives are cheap and if they're more than 3 or 4 years old it's time to retire them and use something new. They can last a really long time…I've had them go for 10 or more years but those were never turned off. The ones in the RV that only got turned off once a week when we moved and were on continuous outside of that lasted 4-5 years. At some point I switched to 2.5 inch spinning BackUP Plus drives for heat and noise reasons since USB was plenty fast enough for backups as my Firewire ones died.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

neillaubenthal wrote:

RG is right…drives are cheap and if they're more t... (show quote)

So I should replace the HD in my 5 year old computer? It's older than 3-4 years.
Or should they only be recycled once they are removed from service at that age.
You said you had one go 10 years or more.... Obviously you didn't replace it after 3-4 years...
Does removing them from a computer make them more prone to failure?

SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA

neillaubenthal wrote:

RG is right…drives are cheap and if they're more t... (show quote)

There are a lot of operating parameters that can be considered when determining which drive to purchase. But the manufacturer's have boiled those down into a single parameter, the warranty period. Typical warranty periods for consumer grade HDD's is between 1-3 years. After that, you're on your own and you assume all risk for drive failure.

If you have critical data on your drive and no regular backup routines, you're operating on borrowed time.

If you have critical data on the drive and you make regular backups, then the risk due to drive failure is only since your last backup.

If you have no critical or important data to lose, then no need to worry about drive failure except for the inconvenience of replacing the drive, your operating system and applications. Statistically you have much better odds that the drive will more than 5 years before you're replacing the drive system.

Personally, I make regular backups so my risk is between backups and I use the drives to failure. I typically get 5-6 years from a drive, except from Seagate. I will no longer touch those drives.

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Bridges wrote:

Check with Mrs. Clinton. I understand she knows how to scrub drives so that all info disappears!

Or you could try flushing them!

Don

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

SalvageDiver wrote:

There are a lot of operating parameters that can be considered when determining which drive to purchase. But the manufacturer's have boiled those down into a single parameter, the warranty period. Typical warranty periods for consumer grade HDD's is between 1-3 years. After that, you're on your own and you assume all risk for drive failure.
...
...

As with all devices...

I have had no drive failures in about 30+ years.
I do get reputable drives, I never look at the warranty period. I just get the drive.

Curious - When's the last time someone had a drive fail under warranty?

shoelessjoe

The FBI can look at 7 layers of past data. If they can do that then others read some layers also. Maybe not what the FBI can do but don't bet on it. Drill a hole, dirll a screw in it or take a nail and and bang it in and hammer the hell out of it.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

shoelessjoe wrote:

The FBI can look at 7 layers of past data. If they can do that then others read some layers also. Maybe not what the FBI can do but don't bet on it. Drill a hole, dirll a screw in it or take a nail and and bang it in and hammer the hell out of it.

"Layers"???

R.G. Loc: Scotland

Longshadow wrote:

"Layers"???

I think he's referring to overwrites. The original data plus six overwrites would give you seven layers.