What To Do With Old Hard Disks?

In the past, I have mentioned in just about every forum where the issue has come up, that the most important thing to do when disposing of an old computer is to keep the hard drive.

Sure, if you are trying to sell the old PC it will sell better with the hard disk, but in that case you should first wipe the data off it with a secure wipe program (like DBAN) not just format it.  

Back to my suggestion that you keep it.... If you keep your old hard disk you will always have access to it as a point in time backup of what your old system had installed and what files you had at the time of your upgrade. This is handy if you forgot to copy something over to the new system, or you lose a file. Just stick that disk in your handy fire safe (you have one for valuable paper documents right?)

What do you do with it when you want to copy something from it? Get one of these handy dandy USB 2.0 to IDE/SATA adapters. (this link is just an example, search your favorite tech site or computer store and I'm sure you will find one similar to this). You plug one end into the hard disk and plug the included power supply into the hard disk (it should be pretty evident how that works, the connectors only fit one way.) and then plug the USB end of the cable into a USB port on your new PC. It will appear, after a moment, as a new removable drive. ...just like a USB memory stick.

You then can copy and paste files from it, or to it, and use it as your backup hard drive. Maybe make a folder called "OLD PC" and drag and drop all of the current contents into it, then create a folder with today's date "Backup-ddmmmyyyy" and copy your new files that you want backed up from your new computer's C: drive there.

Xmas Gifts For Techies 2009

Ok, it's already Dec 14, you only have 10 days of Xmas shopping left. If you haven't already got a big gift for your resident techie, here are a few ideas:

1. PS3 slim. One of the first posts on this blog back in 2006 was the PS3 line watch. Back then I was drooling with anticipation of the upcoming PS3. I bought one in the summer of 2007 because I was stuck at home all day for a few months because of a car accident. ...even back then with hardly any games available it was fun. The new slim version is out now for this Xmas season. It doesn't play PS2 games anymore, and only plays PS1 games if you download them from the online store (about $6 each) but there are lots of PS3 games and bluray movies out now so that's not much of an issue, and if it is, you can always pick up a PS2 slim to go with it for peanuts.

2. Drobo. Every techie needs more disk space... constantly. Drobo will manage it all by itself. You just stick a disk in, when you need more space you stick in another disk, when you need more, stick in another. when you run out of slots to stick disks into you pull out the smallest disk and stick a bigger one in in it's place. No config, no copying files around, it takes care of it all for you.

3. ReadyNAS. For the techie that has more stringent requirements for his/her data storage, ReadyNAS is like Drobo on steroids.

4.Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. For a geek or a book lover (or a geeky book lover) this is a great gift idea. It stores and displays (in black and white) books and magazines bought through Amazon or downloaded as PDF. It has a rechargeable battery, but it only needs to be charged about once a week, even when the wireless is left on all the time. You can go much longer than that if you remember to turn off the wireless connection when you aren't actually downloading a new book.