Clean up your stuff people

This is why you clean your devices...

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A good lesson to learn.

I have done sledge-hammer "cleanings" of old hard drives that had family financial data on them where I wasn't going to trust anything but physically destroying them. :slight_smile:

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I just disassemble them. Stacks of shiny platters and really strong magnets make good fidget toys.

(actually, the magnets are useful for so many things...)

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A zen level of patience I can only aspire to.

Plus, it's REALLY fun to hit things hard w/a sledge hammer.

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Or run a drill through them

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When asked (not very often :slight_smile: ) I recommend using the Drive Wiper function of CCleaner.

If you're bored it will do a 35 times overwrite. Great fun on a 10TB HDD.

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This topic actually reminded me I have a couple of old drives from my NAS that need "cleaning." I haven't done the drill method in a while, and my wife always freaks out when I do the sledge ("You'll lose an eye to flying metal!!!"). Supposed to rain next week, so maybe it will be both a drilly and drizzly time... :wink:

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Santa Claus GIF by filmeditor

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Got a torch?

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I can tell you that even a tiny sliver of metal in the eye is not pleasant… having a doctor poke in your eye with a needle to get it out while you are not supposed to move a part of you that naturally moves ALL THE TIME is just not fun. All that to say - I recommend you listen to your wife on this occasion - wearing safety glasses should suffice though…. :blush:

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Always do. A friend took a random piece of metal into the eye many years ago when doing something in his shop. I wasn't living near him at the time, but his stories about it were not fun.

My wife is a belt, suspenders, bungi cords, and anti-gravity pods kinda girl, and even then she's never quite sure things are going to be all right. :smiley:

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50 BMG it will never work again.

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This is my plan for several old hard drives I have lying around. I don’t have the patience to wipe each one securely, less messy than a sledgehammer, still fun for the kids to watch :laughing:.

Thankfully now days we don't have to worry about this so much because everything is in the cloud.... :wink::grin:

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Aren't you just supposed to keep all your old 80Gb hard drives in a box with the 56k modems??? You know, in case you ever need one for something.

Yes, I have a box in my basement that has multiple <=80Gb drives and dial up modems in it.

I suppose that's how they end up at Goodwill, not cleaned up. When due to circumstances someone else has to clean your house out and get rid of stuff.

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Dude, I have a couple of mfm and rll's on the shelf...lol I Probably have a couple of isa controllers for them in a box in the basement

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Little target practice with a rifle is always satisfying.

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I 2nd that, they make a good target.

I literally just went through some old hard drives I had in a box (EIDE old). I disassembled them all after formatting and then running the DOD wipes on them. I would probably not have disassembled if it weren't for two that wouldn't spin. Once I saw how easy it was, I decided that is gonna be my new method.

But it's REALLY fun to have fidget toys!

The three on the left with the etched ring were the result of head crashes in 3 different drives; the little 3 in the middle are head park magnets. Taking apart old hard drives is the best thing to do to dispose of them.

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