Used hard drives

[Shocker]

Do you re-use them??? Say what you think about them. I honestly don't see the point of buying a 3TB drive for an office system, and think of the environment.

[kc8adu]

Re: Used hard drives

absolutely!
i look at smart,run a full write and read test,and if ok i use them.
if its been running a long time with nothing scary in smart it will probably outlast its usefullness.

[shovenose]

Re: Used hard drives

For my own computers, I often use new hard drives. But for computers I sell and some of my computers I use I re-use used disks.

[dood]

Re: Used hard drives

Yes, I re-use hard drives. If for a customer, I limit to a 30 day warranty, or remainder of factory, whichever is longer.

My testing procedure is - Check SMART, read scan test, 3x write 0's test. This also ensures that all the previous data on the drive is gone.

[NormanSaxon86]

Re: Used hard drives

Yea it is a good Idea if your computer can support a new drive I would add one. Open you tower case and look for the ribbon cable that connects to you harddrive that is already on you computer. If you have another harddrive plug on that ribbon you can install a new harddrive quick and easy. All you need to do is set jumps to your slave harddrive and you are ready to plug in.

You might even look into making a custom portable harddrive with your spare.

[Topcat]

Re: Used hard drives

If they come up clean after a full check-out, sure I reuse them...but typically not for mission critical stuff if they're really old or have an extreme amount of hours on them. Any drive that has relocated sectors is relegated to use in crap systems, which are cheap and sold as-is.

[Shocker]

Re: Used hard drives

By the way, what is the smallest hard drive you'd consider useful??? I'd go for 40GB.

[Topcat]

Re: Used hard drives

^
I've used some 20gb drives for some d530's I reconditioned. Holds the OS and any useful programs that a machine of that era would effectively run (WinXP, MS Office, Outlook, basic photo editing stuff, etc...), with room to spare. They're great internet browsing and email machines.

[brethin]

Re: Used hard drives

I test them and if they pass without issues I use them on non critical builds. As for size the smallest I have used recentlly was a 6.4GB to run WinXP, Telenet, FPT etc.

Oh that reminds me if anyone has any 3.5" SATA drives they want to unload I am in need of them, no size too small, Im looking for around 12 drives.

[c_hegge]

Re: Used hard drives

Smallest I consider useful is 80GB. Anything smaller just goes straight to the metal recyclers.

[ratdude747]

Re: Used hard drives

Smallest I consider useful is 80GB. Anything smaller just goes straight to the metal recyclers.

are Australians that much richer or are electronics just cheaper down there?

[Shocker]

Re: Used hard drives

While 40GB is the smallest I'd feel confident putting in someone else's system I don't get rid of the smaller drives unless they're D.E.A.D.

Note also that I try to avoid using drives with ball bearing spindle motors whenever possible due to the noise. I'd take a 40GB FDB over an 80GB BB any day.

[pfrcom]

Re: Used hard drives

are Australians that much richer or are electronics just cheaper down there?

No, to both

[shovenose]

Re: Used hard drives

I agree under 80gb is pretty useless. Not counting my 64GB ssd and the 40GB drives in the $100 Linux boxes we sell at work...

[Topcat]

Re: Used hard drives

I agree under 80gb is pretty useless. Not counting my 64GB ssd and the 40GB drives in the $100 Linux boxes we sell at work...

You can't have it both ways.....either under 80gb is useless or its not....which is it? When it comes to capacity, the means are irrelevant (whether its SSD or a spinner).

[c_hegge]

Re: Used hard drives

are Australians that much richer or are electronics just cheaper down there?

No, it's just that 40GB is too small, and no one around here has a clue how to use a second HDD.

[ratdude747]

Re: Used hard drives

No, it's just that 40GB is too small, and no one around here has a clue how to use a second HDD.

I see.

40gb/20gb is good for internet boxes. esp. for a pallet of machines with the hdds stripped and crushed.

[c_hegge]

Re: Used hard drives

Yes, but no one uses their PCs purely for the net around here. Most people have enough photos and videos to fill 40GB drives up. I know of a few people who fill their 1TB HDDs up.

[vinceroger69]

Re: Used hard drives

i would also reuse them as long as they test good
slightly of topic but whats the best free or paid software you guys are using to test used drives with cheers

[kc8adu]

Re: Used hard drives

i save any hdd that is good.
lots of oddball industrial stuff that rejects newer high capacity drives even with the limit jumpers set.
bad ones get stripped for magnets and scrapped unless its something useful for the board and parts for a data recovery job.