Personal computing discussed

What to do with old PATA HDD?

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Vrock
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What to do with old PATA HDD?

Wed Sep 11, 2019 3:01 pm

I've an old Maxtor 160gb drive that was in an external enclosure. It is old and tiny, obviously, but it works. Is there something I can do with it, like recycling or donation, or should I just throw it away?
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Captain Ned
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Wed Sep 11, 2019 3:23 pm

Target practice. Fun combined with secure data destruction.
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Krogoth
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Wed Sep 11, 2019 4:00 pm

If you want to donate it then you might want to DBAN it if the HDD contain anything sensitive in its lifetime.
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meerkt
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Wed Sep 11, 2019 8:38 pm

If you want to use it and don't want an extra controller, there are these small one-to-one adapters:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/352784781830

Else, sure, why not list it somewhere and give it away for free.
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JustAnEngineer
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:16 pm

I used an EIDE to SATA adapter something like that with a slot-load Pioneer DVD-ROM player for over a decade. No problems.
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The Egg
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Wed Sep 11, 2019 9:27 pm

De-lid it, and turn it into wall art.
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Redocbew
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Wed Sep 11, 2019 10:01 pm

+1 for target practice.

Scavenging the magnets can be fun also.
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just brew it!
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:59 am

Remove the platters and use them as coasters?
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
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Xolore
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Thu Sep 12, 2019 9:41 am

Try making a hard drive speaker?
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Vrock
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Sat Sep 14, 2019 8:14 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Remove the platters and use them as coasters?

That’s not bad.

Continuing to use it as a hdd is silly given the weight and size of it vs its capacity. Blasting it makes a mess. Coasters may be the thing!
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SecretSquirrel
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Re: What to do with old PATA HDD?

Sun Sep 15, 2019 10:03 am

Vrock wrote:
just brew it! wrote:
Remove the platters and use them as coasters?

That’s not bad.

Continuing to use it as a hdd is silly given the weight and size of it vs its capacity. Blasting it makes a mess. Coasters may be the thing!


I don't know. I think it would be interesting to see the effects of a 30-06 round hitting spindle.
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