Aces High Bulletin Board

General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Tmac7 on August 13, 2009, 01:11:40 PM

Title: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Tmac7 on August 13, 2009, 01:11:40 PM
Is this of any use or is it too old?

its a IBM 40gb IDE Hard drive. I don't know if its for a laptop or desktop computer. let me know

Thanks

Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Masherbrum on August 13, 2009, 01:41:24 PM
Depending on the age of it, just beware of putting things on it.   You can probably use it, but I wouldn't put anything important on it.   Because it very well may crash.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: OOZ662 on August 13, 2009, 02:11:24 PM
If you can hold it with a flat hand using just your fingers and not have it overlap very much if any, it's for a laptop. If it's about the size of your face, it's for a desktop. :D Also, it's VERY rare to see IDE hard drives in laptops, and they're special ones.

Like Karaya said, it isn't going to be very reliable. With the way they were made back then, it could run for years. If it's been abused, it might die in a few days. You can't really tell.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Tmac7 on August 13, 2009, 05:15:09 PM
Well i was looking to get rid of it sell it because i have no need for it my friends Brother-in law passed away and he had stuff that was being thrown out old computer parts never been used and i took that because it looked interesting
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Fulmar on August 13, 2009, 08:28:04 PM
It could be a Deathstar.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: MrRiplEy[H] on August 14, 2009, 12:04:05 AM
This kind of HD is recycling center material. Nobody's going to pay more than 5 bucks for it.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Tmac7 on August 14, 2009, 05:50:59 AM
alright thanks well worth a  shot grabbing it
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: OOZ662 on August 14, 2009, 10:13:02 AM
PLEASE don't just throw it in the trash. That's like throwing away batteries. Everybody does it, but it's an environmental nightmare...
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Tmac7 on August 14, 2009, 10:56:53 AM
i'm a pack rat im gona keep it lol
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Masherbrum on August 14, 2009, 11:06:09 AM
PLEASE don't just throw it in the trash. That's like throwing away batteries. Everybody does it, but it's an environmental nightmare...

Agree.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: gyrene81 on August 14, 2009, 11:38:48 AM
The magnets inside those things are a lot of fun...the big old scsi drives had some really heavy duty magnets in them...something else...if you hit it just right with a 3 pound shop hammer, it makes some neat sounds when you shake it.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: OOZ662 on August 14, 2009, 12:47:07 PM
Oh yes. Back in my computer repair station at the high school, I used to take apart the dead hard drives to salvage the magnets. You can practically stick a ream of paper to a whiteboard with one of those things.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Denholm on August 14, 2009, 04:23:54 PM
Question: Which tools do you use to open them up? I have a dead IDE driver with some strange, "stripped" screws holding it together. Doesn't look as if a typical screwdriver will open it up.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: OOZ662 on August 14, 2009, 04:36:38 PM
Some of them use star-drive bits. The older ones are regular phillips heads. We didn't have any star-drives, so I couldn't open those.

EDIT: Most hard drives have star screws in the top plate. Sometimes those holding the chipset on are phillips, and sometimes that leads inside. We had boxes of hard drives of the same model, so that's why I had so many I could salvage.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Denholm on August 14, 2009, 05:09:41 PM
Ah, okay. Thanks for the information.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: OOZ662 on August 14, 2009, 05:14:15 PM
By the way, I was just reminded that the real name of a star-drive is a Torx bit. :D

(http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:3QNJACW1IS6RmM:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Torx.jpg)
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Denholm on August 14, 2009, 05:30:18 PM
Thanks again.  :)
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Fulmar on August 15, 2009, 01:35:09 AM
PLEASE don't just throw it in the trash. That's like throwing away batteries. Everybody does it, but it's an environmental nightmare...
Alkalines/Heavy Duty/General Purpose are okay to put in the trash.  Only downside is that they take up space in the land fill.  There's really nothing harmful in them.

Ni-CAD, NIMH, Lithium Ion/Polymer, Silver Oxide, Sealed Lead Acid and regular lead acid batteries are a big no no in the trash.  They are very harmful to ground water etc.

There are VERY few companies that recycling Alkaline batteries.  The reason?  No money in it and they're not harmful.  Nickel based cells can be broken down.  Silver Oxide batteries contain silver which can be scrapped.  80% of your new car batter is made of recycled materials, a good majority of it being lead and the plastic casing.

If you're talking your alkalines to a local retailer to be recycling, the dirty truth is they're probably recycling you're nicd/nimh/li-ion etc batteries in your bag, but their alkalines are getting tossed.  Most retailers are not paying for the recycling.  Recycling companies generally provide recycling boxes and shipping free of charge to retailers because they'll make money from recycling.  But like I said before, there's no money in alkalines.  I've been in the battery business for a few years now and there is quite a low number of the general public that knows what goes on for recycling, both in batteries, materials, and lighting/fluorescents.
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: OOZ662 on August 15, 2009, 12:21:18 PM
Everybody's pounding on me for specifics today... :rolleyes: :D
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: Denholm on August 15, 2009, 12:22:47 PM
We all have to reap at some point. ;)
Title: Re: Friend gave me this for free.
Post by: iaqmya on August 15, 2009, 07:01:23 PM
 :noid

Then, again, that drive may have so many secrets from the CIA on it, it might tell who actually was on that "Grassy Knoll" :x