What to do with dying drives?

[bchur83]

I have a couple of 80/120GB IDE drives that are developing bad sectors, and I am wondering what I can use them for. I was thinking about trying to find where the bad sectors are, and partition around them. What do you guys do with your dying drives? They are out of warranty.

 

[JackNSally]

Paper weights or take them to an electronics recycling center or try Dell's recycling program (I don't think it's free :/). I wouldn't bother trying to partition around them, other sectors might not have gone bad yet... or try spinrite.

 

[MadMan007]

Use them for non-critical backups? Like archiving downloads. You can always re-download when needed and only occasional access could extend their usefulness quite a bit. It depends upon how bad they really are though.

 

[shellshock]

For me, If a drive is showing any signs of failing, I keep it far away


Like others have suggested, use it for non crucial backups or something similar. Just keep in mind the fact that the drive could go south at any point in time.

 

[Ascii2]

The dying drives may be used for decorational purposes.

Attaching one to a wall may look nice, especially if opened to be able to see the platters.

 

[Enablingwolf]

I toss my old "I think they are going bad" stuff in a box. If someone needs it bad enough. They get it.

 

[~(o)-(0)~]

^ lol, then 3 months later you get a call, "hey! that hard drive you gave me lost all my data"

but seriously, if its bad enough dump it, otherwise non critical backups or dump it in a system that rarely gets used, somethign u lend to ppl when they come over or something

 

[Enablingwolf]

If I give it to someone. They know exactly what is going on.

Not like I sell my boxed parts. They usually go to what I consdier a good cause, and it is an upgrade to what they have. Sometimes folks just dont like spending money or have the money for parts. Or it is for testing, if something actually will work or not. Lots of uses for parts that are going out.

 

[doublejack]

If a drive has even one bad sector, the integrity of the entire thing can't be trusted. So there's no way to just partition off the "bad spots"... the whole drive is a bad spot waiting to happen.

When a drive starts going on me I copy anything I want off, and I chuck it in the garbage. Drives are so cheap it just isn't worth messing with imo.

 

[vanessab]

What to do with dying drives?

SELL IT ON EBAY.....LOL

 

[bchur83]

I will probably just end up pulling them out of my systems, mark them bad and throw them on the shelf. I might try to do a Manufacturer low-level format and see if that helps any. If not, then they will get thrown.