|
jamesmck
|
 |
« on: March 12, 2011, 04:55:15 PM » |
|
I have a couple of old tower PCs that need to be "recycled" and I don't have time to examine the hard drives for possible data I may want to keep before the day when I can get them into our local "electronic trash" collection, I can easily remove the drives to examine them later. These are quite old, from the DOS 6, Windows 3.11/95 era. Does anyone have any thoughts about being able to look at the contents of these 3.5-inch drives using an external drive housing that I can connect to a more modern machine via USB?
Thanks. . . . .
James
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
James McKearney
Washington, DC
|
|
|
|
wlewisiii
|
|
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2011, 05:13:58 PM » |
|
Depends on the drive controller. Odds are you're ok as most PC's had gone IDE by that time. Most of the external cases are for IDE or SATA - just make sure the connectors are the same. Best Buy would probably have them but finding a hole-in-the-wall PC builder is probably better because then there is at least a chance the person at the counter will have a clue. No chance of that at a big box...  If you have SCSI, it's a little more complicated but still doable as the cases are less common/more expensive. If you have some antique ST-506 MFM/RLL drives then all bets are off LOL  If you're really not sure what you have, take a digital pic and post it here. Hope this helps, William |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Heck, just give me a Tessar on any camera :cloud9:
"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies..." Green Day
|
|
|
|
|
|
wlewisiii
|
|
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2011, 06:18:13 PM » |
|
Yep, should work just fine. When you're done with the old drives, buy a 2 or 3 TB drive and you'll have an excellent way to back up your system.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Heck, just give me a Tessar on any camera :cloud9:
"I beg to dream and differ from the hollow lies..." Green Day
|
|
|
br1078lum
PFMcFarland
Prolific Poster
Posts: 2165
Waiting for the light
|
|
« Reply #4 on: March 12, 2011, 09:36:12 PM » |
|
Then take the platters out of the old drives before you recycle them. You never know where they will wind up. And they make really nice mirrors/light deflectors for studio work.
PF
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Smile, it won't kill you
|
|
|
|
Mike Kovacs
|
|
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2011, 06:19:32 AM » |
|
Take the platters out?
I guess you probably don't have access to one but an MRI magnet does wonders for wiping out old hard drive contents LOL. That's how our computer guy at the hospital deals with them, patient data being of high confidentiality.
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
LarryD
|
|
« Reply #6 on: March 13, 2011, 06:18:36 PM » |
|
I would be afraid of any metal in an MRI area. Ever see the video pf the O2 tank that got pulled out of a hallway and flew into the MRI machine killing the lady inside?
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
Film photography and the Soviet Union are not dead. Just downsized.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mike Kovacs
|
|
« Reply #8 on: March 14, 2011, 11:42:03 AM » |
|
I would be afraid of any metal in an MRI area. Ever see the video pf the O2 tank that got pulled out of a hallway and flew into the MRI machine killing the lady inside?
Yup. We know what we're doing  We even have special non magnetic tools we use for servicing the machine when the superconducting magnet is up. The worst is patients with metal in their bodies they don't know or don't tell about even though they are asked. Sometimes soldiers and certain metal workers have metal they don't know about. |
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
jamesmck
|
|
« Reply #9 on: March 14, 2011, 12:42:08 PM » |
|
Thanks, one and all, for all the helpful info.
phule - I assume that the Windows version of CBL data-shreader is capable of doing selective shredding of specified drives, correct?
James
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
James McKearney
Washington, DC
|
|
|
|
phule
|
|
« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2011, 07:42:06 AM » |
|
My method for using CBL is to boot off a CD using a machine that only has the HD I plan to wipe attached to it. I realize that this is not necessarily a common method but I have the hardware. So I've not actually used the Windows version. But if it didn't have drive select-ability then the software would end up wiping itself which probably would create a wormhole or something and the universe as we know it would end!
|
|
|
|
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
paul ron
|
|
« Reply #11 on: March 15, 2011, 07:50:55 AM » |
|
If one of the old machines are still running, why not dump the drives as an image file using something like GHOST? The image file will be much more compressed than the data so files will be smaller n easier to transfer. BTW you can use a serial to serial (data line swapped) as a transfer network with GHOST to off directly to your newer PC.
Once the image is made you can restore the image in any of your new machines to an external or a new second drive... even a flash drive.
Before trashing the drives... drill holes directly through them so the dries will be totaly unreadable.
.
|
|
|
|
« Last Edit: March 15, 2011, 07:52:31 AM by paul ron »
|
Logged
|
|
|
|
|
