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Question On Old Computers

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06-12-2014 , 01:38 PM

Doc T River

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I have an unplugged computer that has been down in my basement for over fifteen years and an unplugged computer in my bedroom that has been there for almost eight years. If they won't turn on or the hard drives won't turn, is there anyway to get files off the hard drives.

I'm not needing to retrieve the info. I am just wanting to see if I need to worry about others retrieving it if computers won't run when I dispose of them.

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06-12-2014 , 02:47 PM

Morphismus

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06-12-2014 , 02:53 PM

kerowo

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Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 37,183

You are better off pulling the hard drives out and hitting them with a hammer a couple of times.

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06-12-2014 , 03:36 PM

tzwien

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I'm curious what a microwave would do to them.

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06-12-2014 , 03:41 PM

kerowo

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Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 37,183

Probably wouldn't get past the casing.

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06-13-2014 , 04:28 AM

mahnahmahnah

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Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 805

Depends on how much someone wants to recover data from the hard drive... If you have the right equipment you can recover data from any drive that hasn't been scrubbed with proper software or physically destroyed.

As a test, one of our vendors gave us a hard drive and a sledgehammer and we really went to town with it (3.5" hard drives are remarkably strong!!)... they still recovered a lot of data.

These days I know someone that strips the drives down to their components and melts them down.

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06-13-2014 , 05:26 AM

captZEEbo

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If the computers won't turn on, the hard drives still could easily work. Think of a computer as a handful of individual parts that all work together (eg. power supply, motherboard, hard drive, ram, etc). Any one of the parts could malfunction and not allow the computer to turn on. If the problem is something other than the hard drive, all you'd need to do would be remove the hard drive and plug it in to a working computer/external closure and easily have access to the info with no recovery magic needed.

Last edited by captZEEbo; 06-13-2014 at 05:32 AM.

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06-13-2014 , 11:19 AM

Morphismus

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Quote:

Originally Posted by mahnahmahnah

These days I know someone that strips the drives down to their components and melts them down.

That's probably the safest.

There are also adapters which allow you to connect to usual internal drives via USB, and then you just can secure-wipe them.

But honestly I think smacking them down such that you can't just plug them in anymore (e.g. because the microcontrollers are destroyed) would be enough. How likely it is that someone would repair the drives to retrieve some old data of yours?

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06-13-2014 , 01:31 PM

mahnahmahnah

adept

Join Date: Apr 2013 Posts: 805

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morphismus

How likely it is that someone would repair the drives to retrieve some old data of yours?

For someone like me, it would never happen... No reward for the time spent. For some of the people on this site it is certainly possible.

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06-13-2014 , 10:41 PM

#10

LASJayhawk

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Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 2,900

I would remove the drives and dispose of the computers.

You could take the drives apart and bust the platters into a thousand pieces.

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06-14-2014 , 10:08 AM

#11

Morphismus

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^ if you do that Doc, please post a vid!?!

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06-14-2014 , 01:27 PM

#12

Doc T River

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Quote:

Originally Posted by LASJayhawk

I would remove the drives and dispose of the computers.

You could take the drives apart and bust the platters into a thousand pieces.

That idea makes me sorry I don't have access to the private shooting range I used to where I could have taken my double barrelled shotgun to them.

Last edited by Doc T River; 06-14-2014 at 01:28 PM. Reason: don't have the gun either anymore

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06-14-2014 , 02:56 PM

#13

Morphismus

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Just thought of something: Your drives might not work anymore... but will they blend?

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06-14-2014 , 04:32 PM

#14

Doc T River

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Originally Posted by Morphismus

Just thought of something: Your drives might not work anymore... but will they blend?

Will they blend what?

Last edited by Doc T River; 06-14-2014 at 04:32 PM. Reason: Do you want me to make them into a smoothy machine?

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06-14-2014 , 05:25 PM

#15

Morphismus

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Last edited by Morphismus; 06-14-2014 at 05:26 PM. Reason: Problem solved imo

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06-14-2014 , 07:15 PM

#16

LASJayhawk

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Doc T River

That idea makes me sorry I don't have access to the private shooting range I used to where I could have taken my double barrelled shotgun to them.

I was kinda thinking about that.

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06-14-2014 , 08:37 PM

#17

Doc T River

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If I could get them to Vegas, do you think a range out there would let me take a machine gun to them and dispose of the debris?

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06-14-2014 , 11:34 PM

#18

LASJayhawk

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Join Date: Jan 2014 Posts: 2,900

I know the range out by Boulder City used to let you shoot at thermite.

Pack hard drive in thermite!

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06-16-2014 , 12:37 PM

#19

Montrealcorp

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what the hell...
freakin powerfull blender morphismus !!

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