If you're fine with spending some money, you can buy a NAS box like the TerraMaster F2-220 and simply pop in the drive. This turns the front of the hard drive into a swiveling door to open and close the container. Instead, find a new use for it. Do this several times. You'll never have to tote the drive from room to room again. Once your setup is connected to the router, it should automatically detect the IP address and allow you to set up login and password credentials as well as create user profiles. The controller of most hard drive enclosure limits the maximum capacity of the connected hard drive and the limitation is about 4TB to 8TB. 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Turn them into external hard drives perfect for storing your extra files. Hang the disks at a different level from each other for better aesthetics. HDG Explains : How Does Google Chromecast Work? Using your old hard drive as a portable drive, as described above, certainly gives it a new life but it requires that you lug it around and manually attach it to whichever machine needs access to its precious files. Step 4: Restoring and Saving Your Data. Next, connect wires from the HDD to the amplifier, then all you have to do is send a signal an audio signal and you're ready to pump up the jams. Alternatively, you may check at a docking station for many hard disks, which are also available on Amazon. We recommend '90s industrial music for the best effect. Then check the SMART data is OK, and sell em' on ebay. Create a Sculpture or a Wind Chime 4. Old hard drives that are not wanted anymore should be disposed of. As we replace and/or upgrade older computers, many of us tend to save the hard drives, until we . So, you pick up a new hard drive and slot it into your computer and now you're left with the old one sitting on your desk. You'll use metal scissors to do this but be careful as cut metal can be pretty sharp. Reuse, Sell, or Destroy Them? Then, more and more users use SSD to replace old hard drives on their computers. That said, you shouldn't throw away. Got an old hard drive and don't know what to do with it, today we cover what you might want to do with that old drive Twitter: http://twitter.com/cpu. What to Do with Old Hard Drives? Reuse, Sell, or Destroy Them? What to Do with Old Hard Drives? Note that it is best to create exFAT partitions if you want to connect it to other devices like set-top boxes for video playback. 8 Ways to Fix, Top 3 Ways to Fix No Space Left on Device Error in Linux, How to Fix the Emergency Calls Only Error on Android, How to Fix Could Not Create the Java Virtual Machine Error, FIX: Your Device Isnt Compatible with This Version on Android, How to Download and Install Zoom on Linux, How to Fix Something Went Wrong Error in Microsoft Outlook. Method 1 Wiping Your Hard Drive Download Article 1 Use software to wipe your hard drive. Matthew S. Smith has been writing about consumer tech since 2007. USB: The most common standard for external devices, you may find USB on external hard drives from the late-90s to the present day. Disk density: 500GB to 30TB. With your hard drive removed from the computer and your eye protection on, repeatedly strike the hard drive on various sides until it starts to open. That way youll make sure your personal data will never be accessed by anyone. 3. Via The Trash Can On A Mac. 1. Additionally, a hard drive enclosure also plays as a protector and holder for the internal hard drive. For hard drives that still function, the best answer is using it as a valuable DIY external storage device. Before long,. If you are on a budget, and cant afford a high-capacity solid-state drive (SSD), consider combining a high-quality low-capacity solid-state drive with a high-capacity hard drive. The materials you'll need are relatively common and affordable. Perfect for stashing your emergency money. What do you do with all of your older hard drives? : r/DataHoarder - Reddit They could contain important information that should be kept private. Whether it's functional or not, your old drive still has some cool uses. Meta's New VR Gaming Showcase Featured Tennis, Dungeon-Crawling, and Popular IPs, Meta Quest 3 VR Headset Arrives This Fall and Costs Just $500, Google Announces 7 Android Features Like New Widgets and Shortcuts, No Mans Sky Finally Launches on Mac, Supporting PC Cross-Play and Saves, Is AI an Existential Threat? Read, The disposal method depends on which case your old PC is in. Are there bunches of old hard drives sitting in your drawers? You can remove the magnets from your old hard drives then use these as ultra-strong ref magnets. You can follow him on Twitter at @RichEdmonds. Be a little gentle while dismantling them: you don't want chips or scratches here. It's a nice arts and crafts project to do, especially if you have children. Since the old hard drive was partitioned before, you need to repartition it. Often, there are screws hidden underneath labels, so you might have to go searching around. What To Do With An Old Hard Drive - YouTube You can use it to decorate your living room, or connect some LED lights and use it as a lamp. If there is one rule of personal computers, it's that today's impressive hardware is destined to become laughably outdated in short order. IDE/ATA/PATA: Internal hard drives from the late 1980s through the 1990s used IDE cables and, later, ATA or PATA cables. Select Open folder to view files. If you're . 7 Ways to Fix, Fix "You need permission to perform this action" Error, How to Uninstall Microsoft Edge From Your Windows 11 PC, How to Remove all Traces of a WordPress Plugin, How to Speed Up a WordPress Site in 11 Steps, How to Install a WordPress Test Site on Your Computer, 7 WordPress Tips For a Mobile Friendly Website, How To Manually Set Up WordPress On a Domain. You can also choose to sell the idle old hard drives for extra cash. By Cassidy Ward / July 25, 2022 2:39 pm EST If there is one rule of personal computers, it's that today's impressive hardware is destined to become laughably outdated in short order. Step 1. What Can I Do with a Dead Hard Drive? - Lifehacker You're going to need them later. With a few minor modifications, you can turn your old hard drive into a working speaker to play your favorite tunes (via Hackaday). Then take all of the screws you saved and slide them into the newly widened openings, using a bit of super glue to keep them in place. Run EaseUS Disk Copy, head to the Disk Mode and choose the old hard drive as the source disk. 12 Things to Try, How to Use a Spare Router as a Wifi Extender. You have a completely non-functional hard drive and you feel creative? Click Apply and Proceed to confirm the operation. With your newly abrasive platters spinning, you can grind the rough edges off just about anything. It is the measurement of the amount of data a disk can hold. Don't throw it in the trash, as the metals can damage the environment. Search for SATA HDD Hard Drive Enclosure, but make sure you buy the right size. What to do with old hard drives? - Dell Community But surprisingly, a functional old HDD has fewer uses than a dead one. But if you get it out whole, it's the perfect mirror. Also, if youre stuck with other old components, here are some ideas on what you can do with old RAM and how you can use an old Router for cool projects. Purchase instructions for hard drive enclosures: 1. It is a little waste to set those old hard drives aside if they are still well. Harvesting the magnets is one of the easiest and simplest things to do with old hard drives. Well, old hard drives that are still useable. Lightning vs USB C: Whats Different (And Which Is Better)? To get started you're going to need a couple of additional components, including a router and a NAS adapter. When its inside the computer, a hard drive is protected by the computer casing. Don't throw out that old hard drive from your computer! So, make sure the physical size of your old hard drive and then pick up a suitable hard drive enclosure to accommodate that hard drive. There are many exciting ways to use the old hard drive, whether its working or not. When you make a purchase using links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Once the device is completely unusable, take it to your nearest e-waste recycling center. Apart from being handy in survival scenarios, it can also be a decent safety tool for cyclists. The old hard drive you want to put in a hard drive enclosure should not be larger than 8TB. Every drive has a limited lifespan before it kicks the bucket. You're basically opening up the hard drive, removing all the guts, and making some slight modifications so that it looks normal while hiding your deepest secrets. 6 Things You Shouldn't Do With Solid-State Drives - How-To Geek The . what do you do with old hard drives? Cut the platters, paint on them, or carve them out and see where your imagination takes you. For any of the projects below, you will need to open it up and strip its parts, which is a pretty easy process. You can get creative in your cubicle by turning this into a rearview mirror; all you need is a large thumbtack. Use it as an external storage drive, or dispose of it properly. Here's how to choose and install your new drive. Ding, dent and scratch this platter. To wipe an old hard drive, you can still try MiniTool Partition Wizard. What to do with old hard drives? - YouTube We suggest you use AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional, a free disk and partition management tool for Windows 11/10/8/8.1/7/XP operating systems. Upgrading hardware is a big thing for PC upgrade, and one of the first things you might consider upgrading is your hard disk. Whether it's functional or not, if you don't have any use for the drive, sell it. Do this if you want to keep the drive usable but data erased. Next, remove any of the peripheral hardware like brackets and screws, then simply slip it inside its new shell. 1. Updated on November 2, 2021 Reviewed by Ryan Perian Tweet Share Email What to Know Access data from an old Windows hard drive on a modern Windows PC by simply attaching the old hard drive to the current computer. Give Them Away To An Organization That Needs Extra Storage Hard drives can can be a really good gift, especially for small organizations and businesses with a tight budget. Plug the NAS adapter and connect the hard drive to its USB port. When you get the hard drive enclosure, you can put your old hard drive in it and connect it to your computer. The other end will be used to attach to the hard drive spindle and platter. Step 2. It should recognize the IP address and let you set up login and password credentials and build user profiles. With a little disassembly, a few additions, and a handful of moderately common tools, you can transform your old hard driveinto a clock the Rocketeer would be proud to display on his desk. Top 8 Creative Answers To What To Do With Old Hard Drives Deploy an external casing or dock, re-use the drives and expand your storage space by however many GBs you have at hand in those old spinning wonders. Take out all the parts, then insert one of the screws in the corner. Wait for Windows to identify the hard drive. You will need an adapter to access the old hard drive if it does not use a USB. If you have one of the older HDDs then you'll be familiar with the spinning disk inside. Turning your hard drive into a magnetic knife block is relatively simple and can be accomplished using only common hand tools, although having access to more advanced tools will make the job easier. Or if a simple mirror is all you want, then this Instructable will show you how platters can double up as pocket mirrors. 1. (A 3.5-inch HDD will not fit into a 2.5-inch supporting dock or case, no matter how hard you try.). As previously mentioned, the spindle and platter of your old hard drive spin like nothing else on this earth and, with a few minor modifications, you can put that to work cutting perfect slices into a fresh pizza. As to old hard drive disposal, there are, generally, three methods reutilizing, selling, or destroying. How To Delete Data From Old Hard Disk Drive. 1. Wipe it! Select Entire Drive from the Wipe pull-down. It's not always easy to know what to do with old tech, even knowing where to safely dispose of hardware can be a pain. Welcome to Help Desk Geek- a blog full of tech tips from trusted tech experts. Turn them into external hard drives perfect for storing your extra files. Follow the kit instructions to get everything working correctly. It's an easy DIY project that puts your geek cred out there for the world to seeand of course, someone has made a tutorial on Instructables. How Much Is My Laptop Worth? Provided it doesn't need any additional formatting and if it was already working in your old computer, it likely doesn't then you're off to the races. While you're at it, take a minute to inspect the drive for hidden screws, there might be some tucked away beneath the labels. Here well show you how to delete all partitions, after the deleting, if you need, you can also go to the Format Partition feature to change the file system. As a matter of thumb, power adapters are handy for desktop 3.5-inch hard drives, whereas adapters aren't normally needed for laptop 2.5-inch drives. This article lists several DIY ideas, and they might inspire you to come up with your own projects and create something new. How about being artsy and making sculptures? Step 3. What to do with old hard drives after you upgrade your hard disk? It's likely you already have the first one, but you might need to buy the adapter. You might need a specialized screwdriver for this task, take a look at the screws on your drive to identify the right tool. Portable Safe 5. Over the last five years, he has ghostwritten numerous tech how-to guides and books on a variety of topics ranging from Linux to C# programming and game development. Use the pliers for better grip, and bend the backing plate until the magnets are free. A hard drive enclosure (also known as hard drive caddy) is a plastic, metal, or aluminum box. Hard drives contain some really powerful magnets that could be used for all kinds of things. What To Do With Old Hard Drives - All Green Electronics Recycling Step 3: Previewing Your Files for Free. Choose a screw hole at one of the corners to leave unaltered, this is going to be your hinge to open and close your new hard drive safe. You can keep and install all the apps, software and games that you use on a frequent basis on the solid-state drive. Plug the adapter into a USB port on your computer, plug in the power via the molex adapter unit, and then turn on the switch on the power cable to provide . New York, All you need is a couple of more components. You won't need any special tools for this, but if you don't have wood glue or other simple hardware tools around, your local hardware shop should have it. Next, gut your hard drive and take out the spindle and platter. You've also saved a working drive from being recycled or destroyed. What Can You Do With Old Hard Drives? - TechReset 1. The platters inside a hard disk drive can act as perfectly polished mirrors. Basically, what this allows you to do is access your hard drive's contents from any device connected to your Wi-Fi. Before donating or recycling your computer, you need to completely wipe or remove the hard drives. Making it portable largely involves giving your hard drive a new shell. But you can still recover data off a dead drive, and the drive's physical parts are still valuable. It overwrites the entire drive 3X, and verifies each pass. You can even use multiple hard drive platters and attach them to a big board to create a larger artsy mirror. I know one new drive is the simpler solution, but I hate wasting these perfectly good older drives. Destroying your old hard drive is a matter of security. Turn It Into a Portable Drive Once you upgrade your laptop's drive or run out of space on your PC, you have a functional HDD in your hands. Choose the specific locations or drives that you wish to scan for data recovery. How you replace a hard drive depends on the type of drive and your computer, but in general, this means removing cables or sliding the hard drive out from the bay. In fact, all electronic waste should be destroyed before recycling. It's not technically impossible for old malware to harm a new PC, but the risk is much lower than that of encountering malware while browsing the modern Internet. This process may take several moments. If these problems occur after a fresh installation or in Windows Safe Mode, the root of the evil is almost certainly bad hardware, possibly a failing hard drive. 9 DIY Projects for Your Old Hard Drive - MUO This way youll save some money and get a great way of managing your PCs storage. However, malware found on an old hard drive will be programmed to take advantage of an older machine. Secure hard drive disposal For users who want to dispose of old hard drives or sell old hard drives, the first operation is to completely wipe all data on the disk. The seemingly infinite storage space a few years ago has already been filled with various files and software. Why China and Japan are praying the US won't default They use the highly reflective surface of the platter inside the drive to reflect the laser beam. But this way is also dangerous the bits of glass or metal will fly all over and can scratch you. All you have to do to make portable drives is to pull out your old hard drives from your PC or laptop, and place them inside a case. If you've got an IDE hard drive lying around, what can you do with. The best part about both options is you won't have to fork out an absolute fortune. Follow these steps to convert your HD into a portable drive: You can go even further and after you convert the old hard drive into a portable drive, you can make all the files stored on it wirelessly accessible. You can earn some money by listing a working hard drive on auction sites dealing with computer parts, or on general websites such as eBay. As we know, SSDs use semiconductor chips rather than magnetic media to store data, which means putting SSDs in a strong magnetic field is nothing helpful. Attach it to the other side of the metal and you're ready to start cutting. Your old hard drive will contain driver and configuration data specific to the other PC. Select the hard drive you want to erase ( again, double-check you have the correct drive) Click Wipe to securely erase the drive. An old hard drive's parts are perfect to build yourself a brand new clock, complete with LEDs and other cool bits. Is It Safe to Access an Old Hard Drive on a New PC? This will keep the casing in place when it's closed, without you needing to screw and unscrew everything each time you want to use it. Once you remove the guts of the hard drive, use a drill to widen the rest of the screw holes on the casing. Finally, screw in the hinge screw, leaving it loose enough that the casing can lift and turn freely. Hard drives sport some super-powerful magnets that you can use for all sorts of things. HDG Explains: What Is Chromebook Developer Mode & What Are Its Uses? Drop the hard drive into the slot and turn the dock on. This is similar to our guide on expanding storage on your Xbox One with old PC drives, but instead of gaming on Microsoft's console we'll be re-using our components on our desktop PC. Some Experts Say No, How WhatsApp Usernames Make You Much Safer In Real Life, Meta Tests 2-In-1 Verified Social Media Subscription in Canada, Garmins New Fnix 7 Pro Smartwatch Offers Better Displays and Battery for Weeks, How to Access Data From an Old Hard Drive. The aim here is to transform your hard drive parts into a shell for holding a clock movement kit. The extra components required are a servo tester, an electronic speed controller, two banana terminals, and some sandpaper. The first thing you'll want to do is figure out the size of the disk. Lets leave that to your imagination. Put it to use again by popping it into an external hard drive enclosure and you'll have a DIY external hard drive. Scroll down to learn more details about the two stages. Storage for Archived Files Dead Hard Drives 1. You can create a little portable safe for your valuables, and hide them in plain sight. This will allow us to connect our old mechanical drives to our PC.
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