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Dpg3456

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2016
Okay so I am going through my dad's old computer hardware that is pretty much obsolete now. So he has 9 or so WD 90GB (or something like that) hard drives. Some of then were ran in raid. What is the best way to dispose of these? He is worried about the data that is on those drives.


Also, We found a bunch of Cooler Master and Arctic Silver thermal paste that is about 15 years old. They have been stored in the packaging and none of them have been opened. Are they safe to use still?


I know Arctic Silver is good thermal paste, but how is Cooler Master thermal paste?
 
You can wipe the drives with something like Eraser or BleachBit. Or toss them in a microwave you don't like much for about 30 seconds. Or, open them up and physically destroy the discs. With the software method the Gutmann method is the one to use. 35 random overwrites of the entire disc(s). It is not fast, but is effective. The DoD standard is 7 overwrites to give you an idea of how thorough the Gutmann standard is. The DoD standard presumes foreign governments or spies can't retrieve the data. Darth Vader couldn't get data after using the Gutmann standard.

Eraser http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/eraser.html

BleachBit http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/bleachbit.html
 
I like disk destruction time. It involved 🔨 s. Nothing like beating on a tank (hard drive chassis are surprisingly hard...) to let some of that pent up rage out. What? I'm an angry person......
 
i take mine in the back yard and smash them with a sledge hammer until the disk is all bent up.
 
Okay so hitting then with a hammer sounds like the best time to me. Any ideas on the thermal paste?

 
Okay so hitting then with a hammer sounds like the best time to me. Any ideas on the thermal paste?
I'm probably a minority here, but I really like IC Diamond 7. Super thick, and a PITA to work with, but I have never had any dry out on me. I used it starting with an old laptop GPU, (5870m) and so many laptop CPUs and quite a few desktop ones as well.

It's a pain to spread, recommend the dot method. And if you reapply alot, it will wear off the writing on the IHS as it contains diamond dust [emoji14]
 
Hammer is your best friend when destroying something, no I have no anger issues... xD
 
A simple drill bits will kill the drive pretty fast. The TIM should be fine worse case should only be 5deg worse than it was new.
 
Now where is the fun in that? Seriously, HDD destruction time is one of the few times you can let your primal rage flow in our modern society....

I work construction so I have lots on time to let out that primal rage . Gun club membership helps as well
 
Thanks for all the replies. I am not worried about reusing them since one game would fill it up.

The only outlet recently for anger was throwing all my collected glass smoking utensils in the trash and listening to them shatter into a million pieces.
 
Actually, those hard drives have wonderfully strong rare earth magnets inside around the actuator pivot. They make great refrigerator magnets. Take them apart and harvest the magnets. That will also essential ruin the ability for cyber crooks or the government to harvest your data. You can also use the shiny platters for mobiles and targets.
 
Okay so we have a couple new developments. There is only one 80 GB WD Caviar SE, one 640 GB WD Caviar Black, one WD 500 Gb Caviar Blue, two WD 750 GB RE2, and two WD 250 GB Caviar. There is also two Cheetah drives that are brand new but not sure what to do with those.

Is it worth trying to sell any of these drives? Or even running any of them? I think they are sata 2. I was thinking about keeping the 500, 750, and maybe the 650 and running them in raid. I never have messed with that so might as well give it a shot.

The others i am not sure what to do with. They are good and running, are they worth trying to sell?

Also would running something like this work to just wipe the drives? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XLAZODE/ref=twister_B01M6ZINC9?th=1
 
If you're going to sell them, you're back to post #2.

Ok fair enough. Now here comes the questions about raid.

My father remembers that when you run two different size drives in raid, the will become the smallest size. like if you run a 500 and a 250 together, you will only have a total of 250 when running them in raid.

I am pretty sure it doesnt work like that and if you run the 500 and 250 together in raid you will have a total of 750 gbs. But i am not 100% sure.

And would that cable work for wiping those drives?
 
Your father is right. RAID divides the data equally. Since you can't get 500 GB on a 250 GB HDD, you get two "250" GB drives.

Yes, you should be able to use the cable to wipe the drives from another computer.
 
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