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General => Technical Help => Topic started by: Malcolm Bull on Sunday 29 April 18 16:11 BST (UK)
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Whenever I buy a new replacement computer (from my local computer shop), they always give me the old hard drive, though I'm never sure what I am supposed to do with it,
Is there some connector that I can buy to read stuff off the old drive, just in case ...?
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I'm not sure if there are options simply using the appropriate leads and connectors, but if you search for "hard drive enclosure" (possibly add 'external') you'll see the kind of thing that's commonly used. Obviously check the size before you buy - but if you take the drive back to your local computer shop, they'll probably be able to sort you out.
As well as retrieving any data off the old drive, some people use their old ones for external backup storage.
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I think -not very sure of this - it might be for your security. I knew someone who used to extract the hard drive himself, and smash it up before disposing of it, in case there was any financially sensitive information on it, apparently. Could be wrong, of course...
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It will be for your security. The only surefire way to stop criminals stealing data from secondhand computers is to destroy the hard drive. I have removed the hard drives and destroyed them from old computers before getting rid of them.
Stan
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Good afternoon,
I agree with TY and Stan, for security purposes.
I would suggest buying a memory card, 64 gb to make sure you have enough space. Download everything you need from old computor. Everything else you can delete and do a factory reset if you have the option.
Once done remove the hard drive and smash it, a large hammer and path usually does it. Then just take the whole computor to your local tip for recycling.
John915
Added, memory cards are a much better way to store info of your computor these days rather than an external hard drive. Store them in a case and pop them in the slot when needed.
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You cannot be too careful when disposing of old hard drives.
I always smash my old hard drives with a lump hammer, making sure they are in as many pieces as possibly, then they go to the tip. I also make sure all CDs and DVDs are completely destroyed, as I did in the days of the old floppy discs.
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Added, memory cards are a much better way to store info of your computer these days rather than an external hard drive.
Can you clarify what you mean by this? Memory cards and flash drives are just as susceptible to fires, floods, falling down a drain/back of the sofa and theft as external hard drives. I've yet to see an external hard drive being eaten by a dog.
Also compare the cost of a 1TB external hard drive with a 1TB SD card.
For transferring info from one machine to another, yes SD cards or flash drives are fine, but I wouldn't rely solely on one method for long-term backup.
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Thanks ARTHURK. I shall follow your advice.
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Good afternoon,
Added, memory cards are a much better way to store info of your computer these days rather than an external hard drive.
Can you clarify what you mean by this? Memory cards and flash drives are just as susceptible to fires, floods, falling down a drain/back of the sofa and theft as external hard drives. I've yet to see an external hard drive being eaten by a dog.
Also compare the cost of a 1TB external hard drive with a 1TB SD card.
For transferring info from one machine to another, yes SD cards or flash drives are fine, but I wouldn't rely solely on one method for long-term backup.
Memory cards are easily stored in a case which will hold many cards, my grandsons holds 60. Personally I don't sit on the kerb, the kitchin worktop or the sofa when using the computer. So unlikely to lose a card down any of them, no dog either.
As to prices, a good external hard drive could cost between £30 and in excess of £100. Memory cards cost between £5 and £50, couldn't find a 1tb, largest was 128gb. But all in all cards would be cheaper, are just as good for storage if looked after and are much easier to transport if you travel for research purposes.
As far as using old internal hard drives as external storage goes, I wouldn't. Once out of the computer all the ones iv'e dealt with are bare metal cases. I doubt they are double insulated so an electrical risk is present. You could wrap it in tape but then risk overheating. Lastly, most parts in computers are connected with single line connections which the part is pushed onto. External leads have the requisite number of terminals in a block formation not a single line ie usb connecters or similar. Just waiting for an answer from SiL as this is his line of work. Building, installing and aftercare of computer systems for the scientific industry.
John915
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As far as using old internal hard drives as external storage goes, I wouldn't. Once out of the computer all the ones iv'e dealt with are bare metal cases. I doubt they are double insulated so an electrical risk is present. [...]
You can buy an external case for hard disks, complete with a SATA-connector inside, and a USB connector to the computer outside. I had a laptop with two 250 GB drives. When the laptop "departed this life" I bought two such cases - they cost me (I think) about 12 € each.
So I now have two extra external drives for backups (I rotate them with a third drive, so I have backups from three different dates, in case I need to retrieve an older version of something I've recently overwritten.)
Try "usb hdd external case" or similar in a search engine to find out what is available.
Bob
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An addition to "You cannot be too careful when disposing of old hard drives."
If you are using a hammer, electric drill or any other tool to destroy a hard drive always wear eye protection. Sharp pieces have been known to fly off.
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You can buy an external case for hard disks.....
Try "usb hdd external case" or similar in a search engine to find out what is available.
Thank you, Bob - what I wrote in reply #1 evidently got overlooked in the flurry of posts about security, smashing disks to smithereens etc etc.
There is one caveat about using an old disk in this way: it's not brand new, and will almost certainly fail sooner than a new one. Disks develop faults over time (bad sectors etc); I believe operating systems are generally clever enough to store data in the undamaged parts (you might need to use tools such as disk cleanup and repair), but the more you put on it, the less possible that becomes.
Of course, a brand new drive will eventually fail too, so backup strategies shouldn't ever rely on just one drive, however new it is.
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Yet I have managed to have 2failed power supplies on an expensive external hard drive. ???
Replacing the complete drive enclosure costing 10pounds last time, 6months ago. :D
[Search external hard drive enclosure for suppliers/prices]
Brian
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Thanks, too, to Berlin-Bob. I hadn't heard of these external cases, and they look like the ideal solution for my requirements. Thanks also those with health & safety in mind, but I'm 77, not 7!
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So: is it sledgehammers at dawn then?
TY
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Running a drive from a failed machine as an additional drive in a working one is common in the IT world.
It allows all sorts of software fixes not possible when the original machine is too screwed up to boot. It also allows important files to be copied off.
The procedure is so common that I used to run the relevant cables to the outside of my desktop machine, ready for rapid attachment. Using a SATA connection rather than an enclosure with a USB one is quicker, and the connectors are the same for 3.5" and 2.5" drives. An earlier comment mentioned electrical risks, but the highest voltage present is only 12V. The drive frame is always designed so that it can be placed on a flat metal plate without shorting anything - this is commonly the arrangement inside the computer's case.
Because of this easy access to drive contents, many organisations now encrypt the contents of drives.
Drives from old machines usually have plenty of life left in them, but beware of any that sound noisy as that usually means the bearings are on their way out. Many laptops get moved around while the drive is running, so their drives have a harder life, subjected to shocks and gyroscopic effects.
Modern drives use less power than older ones, and may work faster.
If your BIOS supports SMART (Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology), you might get some indication of future failure. If it doesn't, then there are many tools to give you a report on a drive. I use Hiren's Boot Disk for this.
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Back to the original comment, "Write Zero data sanitization" is another option. Search for that phrase and you will find articles such as this one.
https://www.blancco.com/blog-dod-5220-22-m-wiping-standard-method/
and
https://www.lifewire.com/free-data-destruction-software-programs-2626174
When I was working, for various companies doing defence work, it was the standard procedure before scrapping old hard drives. I am no longer up to date on the concept, but I am not aware of anything have changed.
Martin
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Just bookmarking this thread as my motherboard has just bitten the dust!
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I read that as motherinlaw the first time! Give more details, there are some clever people here. I can't help, my knowledge is only software.
Martin
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Haha, thank you Martin :) Apparently a capacitor was blowing on the motherboard. I have purchased a new system, getting to grips with Windows 10 and resolving software compatibility issues as I go along. I am a bit of a dinosaur/cheapskate and had stuck with 2007 or 2010 Word & Excel, most of my business data is rescued but my FH word documents have info in text boxes and pedigrees created with hierarchy inserts which now don't show. I also lost my ancient PAF programme, I have downloaded the basic Ancestral Quest as an alternative to that. Many of the programs we had were installed free when our children were students, no whistles and bells but more than adequate for my purposes. All data was backed up to external drives so most is retrievable I hope. My old computer is here until I know for sure it is not going to be required!
Christine
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I am sorry to hear of your loss. (Data, not mother-in-law).
Sadly I spent most of my career frightening people into doing backups. There is a very good tutorial here, "Back Up Your Data Now or Cry - James Tanner"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxD_EGhjKKI
He is a very good speaker, much better than the Ancestry Shrieky Woman.
My woodwork teacher used to warn us that the one time we put our hand in front of the chisel would be the time it slipped into the hand. I echo him, the one day you don't do your backup is the day your drive will fail.
Martin
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My old computer was set to backup weekly. Unfortunately in the last few months of it's life it crashed continuously during backup & during it's last days went into a system repair loop and then an image restore from Feb 2018. I have lost everything from the last few months that was on the main hard drive, if that makes sense. I am one of those dangerous people who understands less than half of the IT I should!
Thank you for your sympathy :)
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You aren't dangerous. I just feel sad for people that lose data. (i learned the hard way, doing a com pany-wide software upgrade, but chose install, rather than reinstall.... I was 6 weeks into a new job, and had people in tears on the Monday morning. 34 years ago and it still haunts me. I ran the whole IT department on a 29Mb hard disk.
Martin
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Whenever I buy a new replacement computer (from my local computer shop), they always give me the old hard drive, though I'm never sure what I am supposed to do with it,
Is there some connector that I can buy to read stuff off the old drive, just in case ...?
My son has a gadget, I think it's called a Docking Station, he inserts the hard drive into it and it connects to his pc. He uses it often to recover or transfer data for clients either onto storage device or to a new machine. It takes any hard drive even those from laptops.
I make sure that my data is always backed up after my hard drive crashed and I lost months worth of research and documents. I back up to the Cloud and my pc is set to do it automatically. External storage devices are also suseptible, as mentioned, to crashing when you least expect it.
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I can now breath again! I took a risk & bought a used Office 2007 from Ebay, seems to have installed fine & I can now access all my genealogy documents and some important saved emails. I will now be dealing with disposing of the old hard drive safely. Happy days :)
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"Used Office 2007 from eBay...". I'm sure you'll be fine with this. But, as a warning to others, I got burned a few months ago. The Office download went fine (it was MS Office 2010 actually), and the eBay seller sent me a licence key - and it all worked fine.
EXCEPT, after one month, the licence key expired....... It was some kind of trial, or demo version. I never heard from the seller again, and never got my money back (only £10 - but a good lesson).
BTW - I think Office 2007 is out of support- which is why I went for 2010...
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Periodically check that your backup data is readable. During my working life I came across several people who were making backups without realising that they were corrupted.
Martin
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"Used Office 2007 from eBay...". I'm sure you'll be fine with this. But, as a warning to others, I got burned a few months ago. The Office download went fine (it was MS Office 2010 actually), and the eBay seller sent me a licence key - and it all worked fine.
EXCEPT, after one month, the licence key expired....... It was some kind of trial, or demo version. I never heard from the seller again, and never got my money back (only £10 - but a good lesson).
BTW - I think Office 2007 is out of support- which is why I went for 2010...
Off the topic of backups but why use MS Office when Open Office is freely available and enjoys continuing support? I've used Open Office for years and had no problems reading files created (by others) using MS Office.
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My old computer was set to backup weekly........................
If files are being updated daily then weekly backup could result in a significant loss if a problem occurred well into the week.
I back up to external drives manually each week but also have FreeFileSync/RealTimeSync running constantly to back up changes to important files to two NAS drives more or less as they occur.
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I think you can still get a copy of PAF online, failing that I can email a copy as I have it backed up several places.
Mick
Haha, thank you Martin :) Apparently a capacitor was blowing on the motherboard. I have purchased a new system, getting to grips with Windows 10 and resolving software compatibility issues as I go along. I am a bit of a dinosaur/cheapskate and had stuck with 2007 or 2010 Word & Excel, most of my business data is rescued but my FH word documents have info in text boxes and pedigrees created with hierarchy inserts which now don't show. I also lost my ancient PAF programme, I have downloaded the basic Ancestral Quest as an alternative to that. Many of the programs we had were installed free when our children were students, no whistles and bells but more than adequate for my purposes. All data was backed up to external drives so most is retrievable I hope. My old computer is here until I know for sure it is not going to be required!
Christine
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If it was just your motherboard that was failing then the info on the hard drive is still retrievable, my techie son does it often for customers whose motherboards have failed, transfering the data from the old machine's hard drive to the new one.
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When one of my laptops died some years ago, a friend of mine took out the hard-drive, put it into an external hard-drive box, so I could access all the data on it on my new laptop. In future, if possible, I will always do this as it's amazing the stuff that accumulates on h/ds that you might not realise you want until years later. I do back up but like most people, not often or comprehensively enough!
Regards
GS
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My techie son has a box of old hard drives, as clients upgrade to bigger capacity ones he put those into the anti-static envelopes and stores them after transferring the data. I have two that he put into my pc when my old harddrive started to fail.
One we use for a media storage device for our movies etc and the other as normal for me to use.