Before we start gutting your HDD and give him guts, let's talk about data security. A "dead hard drive" means that the drive is not functioning properly, and any attempts you make to recover data programmatically were unsuccessful. If the disk contains really important data, and you suspect that an eccentric might be found who decides to get it, then erase the data so that it cannot be recovered :). Although if the only valuable thing on your screw were the stolen rips of Bon Jovi concerts, then your piece of iron is ripe for all kinds of DIY projects ("Do it yourself" projects).
Basically, all DIY projects with hard drives can be categorized according to the level of technical knowledge and skill of the experimenter. Let's start from simple to complex :).
Extraction of spare parts
The simplest but most useful thing that can be obtained from a hard drive is magnets. V hard drives super strong magnets are used, and they can be used on the farm in any way. Here's an example of how one character built a knife holder for the kitchen. He took a wooden plank, removed the core with a chisel, and stuffed magnets into it.
In general, he certainly did this in vain, because when a friend has knives at hand, it’s not far from everyday life :). It's good that the pans did not cling.
They are also often used to magnetize screwdrivers or as fridge magnets.
Let's add more creativity
Ordinary screw pancakes can be turned into a steampunk watch. To do this, you need a few details that you can find in hobby stores, or try to discreetly borrow Granny's alarm clock.
And if "your hands are not for boredom", then the next one can collect an LED clock from a hard drive.
Even an old hard drive can be turned into a super-sensitive input device. watch a craftsman turn his old HDD into a DJ console.
Here is just a small sketch of interesting solutions from old pieces of iron.
I wonder how our readers use the killed hard drives.
Do not rush to throw away hard drives left after upgrading your computer or hard drives that are out of order - you can always find a new use for them. For example, make a mirror, a watch, a safe for storing cash, network storage and other useful things.
The purposes for which old hard drives can be used depend on whether they are in working order or not. It is curious that a functioning hard drive has much fewer uses than a non-working one.
Portable storage
If the hard drive is in working order, it can be turned into a portable storage device. To do this, it is enough to buy an external container for a hard drive and place a hard drive in it. Depending on the size of the drive, a power adapter may be required, for example, if the drive is 3.5 ", whereas an adapter is usually not needed for 2.5" drives.
Home cloud server
If you already have an external drive and do not need another, a working hard drive can be used to create your own NAS, and then you can access the data on the drive from any device connected to your Wi-Fi networks... If you are not ready to spend the extra money, you can build your own NAS based on the Raspberry Pi single board computer.
How non-working hard drives can be used
A defective hard drive cannot be used to store data, but its physical components can have other uses. Before starting work, you need to disassemble it into "spare parts". The process is demonstrated in the video posted below.
Magnetic knife bar
Hard disks contain large neodymium magnets that can be used to create magnetic holder for knives. All you need is a bar, magnets, glue and a set of common tools.
Mirror
Optical discs in a hard drive can serve as an excellent mirror. Discs must be removed very carefully so that chips and scratches do not appear. They can then be placed in the office, used as a signal or pocket mirror.
Wind chimes
Optical discs can be used to create not only mirrors, but also other pretty gizmos, such as wind chimes. For their manufacture, you will need the actual optical discs, the hard drive case, a metal fastening ring and a cord with which the structural elements will be connected.
Secret safe
Creative use can be found not only in the components of the hard drive, but also in its case, for example, as a safe for storing money. It is quite easy to make - just remove all the components from the case and screw the cover to one of the upper corners of the case using a bolt. As a result, you will have a container of a swivel type, where you can put your money.
If your hard drive is broken and cannot be restored, then, as in the joke, you can get an ashtray, a mirror and a magnet out of it :) In fact, you can get MUCH more, and I'll tell you now how to do it and what is there interesting.
If you do not have a faulty hard disk (hard drive) - do not be discouraged, contact your computer friends, just to your friends, or in any service center computer technology, they should definitely have such copies (usually in workshops, men are too lazy to throw out old trash). The "older" the disc, the better: before the material and all sorts of things were not spared.
For the master class, I took as many as three pieces (saved up for a long time) to show possible differences (although they are usually all different, you will never guess what is under the cover this time) In addition to the hard drive itself, we will need screwdrivers (minimum - cross and flat (" + "and" - "), maximum - a set of screwdrivers as in the photo in the left upper corner, namely the hexagonal star attachment).
This photo shows that there are different thicknesses. It is better (if there is a choice) to take a thicker one, there may be a bonus: not one, but even two or three mirrors! Plus all sorts of things.
If the "screws" (the slang name for the hard drive) are of this kind (of such a company), then it will be easier for you, you only need Phillips and straight screwdrivers, they are usually found in every home. I don’t know how where, but I came across ALL the hard drives of this company with cross mounts ...
Here are
We unscrew the bolts, and take a flat screwdriver (as a lever, so it's better to be stronger)
We put a screwdriver under the cover and turn it slightly, we go around the perimeter. The lid is usually glued to something that looks like silicone, so simply pressing the lever does not work well, the more you can break something inside with a sharp movement.
Does not work? is there something preventing you from opening? Still would! Manufacturers are not fools :) there is always one or two. or even three hidden bolts under the stickers :) Feel with a screwdriver and you will find dimples that are easy to dig with the same straight screwdriver. This is where I had it hidden :)
And another tip: when you unscrew the bolts, you do not need to do this in turn, you need to loosen each one by half a turn or a turn and only then unscrew them to the end, otherwise it may turn out that one or two of the latter do not unscrew in any way due to the skew of the cover. It is also IMPORTANT: when the bolt does not want to unscrew in any way, you do not need to turn it with force - this way you can comb out either a screwdriver or a hole. It is necessary with almost all the weight to press the screwdriver perpendicular to the product, and so, while pressing, gently try to turn it. The harder you press, the better. Even the fasteners that my husband could not unscrew =) The main thing here is technology and accuracy, not strength =) Although strength is still needed, if the hand is tired, it's better to get down to business in a couple of hours, when the hand is resting.
So, we did it. And what a beauty inside the lid! Everything shines :)
Someone will decide that beauty is needed in order to admire it and will leave everything as it is, but I'm greedy :) Therefore, I analyze it further.
Now you need to untwist the top elements one by one. Better to start with a magnet and a barbed thing. And as a warning - when unwinding, use the method described by me above, since in the middle everything is usually screwed on very tightly and you can ruin the whole thing.
After the magnet is unscrewed (sometimes, by the way, it is not screwed on at all, but simply fixed on the protrusions in the case), remove the upper part of the magnet with the same screwdriver-lever, just very carefully, it can magnetize back and beat off your fingers! Bottom part a magnet (more often it is not a magnet, but just a piece of iron) can also be screwed on, or it can just be easily removed after removing the magnet
Now it came to the mirror. There are a lot of complications here:
first - the element rotates and you need to hold it firmly and press it down to unscrew all the bolts
the second - the mirror is very easy to scratch with a screwdriver, and then these scratches will not please
and the third - according to the law of meanness, how do not follow the rules that I described above - the last bolt ALWAYS turns out to be tightly twisted ... here you have to tinker, rest and tinker again (after all, you need to unscrew it carefully for the first and second reasons)
BUT the result of greed is always the same: after all, everything is untwisted and very interesting and beautiful things are obtained: in the photo there is a ring with holes ...
The mirror itself (here you have to rejoice and clap your hands - especially if there are several mirrors)
By the way, now you understand why this name is "hard drive"?
The disc must be taken out carefully, moving the little thing to the right (I call it a mouse, why - I will explain later)
When all the mirrors are removed and the joy has calmed down, you can unscrew the motor (located under the disc) and the "mouse". The "mouse" can simply be removed from the base upwards, or it can be screwed on.
I don’t know, maybe it’s still a bad photo, but in this circle in the middle there is a depression. It is lucky if, in addition to the recess, there is a transverse slot, which means you can unscrew this cylinder with an ordinary straight screwdriver. I was not lucky - and therefore we are taking a closer look at the deepening, or rather, at its shape. I have a hexagon - so I take it from a set of screwdrivers (there is also a set of keys - men should know) approximately suitable in size and twist.
Well there! Only now I realized that I didn’t take a photo of the “mouse”: (((But I think if you look at the other photos (and especially disassemble yourself), you will understand why this is so. When the cylinder is removed, it turns out something like an “eye "mouse. and the sharp end is her nose. Some old hard drives used colored wires, and when I tore off the train of the" barbed thing "from the mouse, there were cool antennae wires sticking out at the tip of the nose :) That's why the" mouse "
Let's get back to our case. Here's what we ended up with. This contraption can be used in different ways: like a hammer :), like an ashtray (you just have to screw the motor in place and cover up the holes with something) or you can do it somehow, I think you shouldn't have any problems with using it.
But first, we still need to turn over and unscrew something no less valuable to us.
We unscrew 4-5 bolts (I think an intermediate photo is not needed) - and lo and behold! In addition to the cool circuitry (from which, if necessary, you can burn off microcircuits, or use it as a decoration on your own), we also have a miracle foam rubber. It's a miracle, because it is unique in terms of density, softness, etc. It was from her that I made the pupils for my felted dragon, but you can cut out anything! Sometimes the foam is covered with a film on one side, but sometimes it is without it. If the hard drive is sooo old - there is an uninteresting foam rubber, and more often than not burnt in some places.
Here are our riches :)
By the way, maybe your fantasy will tell you WHAT can be made of bolts? I have already accumulated SEA of them, different sizes and flowers ... maybe your fantasy will tell you? :)
Below is another photo. possible options parsing on the example of other hard drives
A piece of metal you just need to pry off and peel off a little from all sides, glue, as you remember, is like silicone and it stretches. The main thing is not to bend
For me this time another surprise was in store - a metal ring under the lid. At first I thought it was a magnet and was delighted, but the magnet effect created a very tenacious glue.
You can also disconnect the circuit right away, even before disassembling the entire "screw". Especially when it is fastened with such a train that you can accidentally break it if you do it the other way around.
The train sticks out easily, just pull it.
This is the advantage I spoke about when I pointed to the thickness of the hard drive. Here, the top cover turned out to be very roomy, and there are only two holes in it (they can either be glued or screwed in the same bolts), this is an ideal ashtray :) or a container for small items .. it's up to you.
Read, why you shouldn't rush to throw away your old hard drive... How to secure the data stored on such a disk, if the disk is still possible to recover. The development of electronic technologies does not stand still, and the development of new computer devices and their components occupies the first line here. Stationary personal computers, laptops, netbooks, smartphones, tablets, ultrabooks are far from full list devices we use, and it is growing and expanding steadily. The most widely used are personal computers, used both for solving industrial or office tasks, and for personal use.
The essence of the problem
The main advantage of computers is their high processing speed, improved performance compared to other devices, as well as the ability to store and instantly process a huge amount of data. An important role in reaching the peak of popularity of personal computers is played by internal devices for storing user information - hard drives "HDD".
The use of modern materials and technologies makes it possible to create large-capacity hard drives at a rather low final cost. You won't surprise anyone anymore hard disk with a capacity in "10 TB", "12 TB" and even "16 TB".
Relatively recently, solid state drives have been widely used "SSD"... Chip-based technology drives "SSD" use flash memory to store information. Thanks to this approach, solid state drives have smaller size, weight and significantly higher speed of loading and processing information, compared to standard hard drives. However, they are inferior to the latter due to several times more high price and much less wear resistance.
Unsurprisingly, users decide to replace outdated versions hard drives new storage devices, more modern and faster.
However, as attractive as the option of using a hard disk to store basic user data is, there are good reasons to use other information stores as well. A large number of external drives are available today and "USB" flash drives. Additionally, thanks to the ability to access from anywhere, various cloud storage data on the Internet.
One of important reasons replacing an old hard drive with a new one is a high probability of the latter failure. Very often average duration smooth operation disk "HDD" is five to six years. And when a disk comes to the end of its useful life, a series of signs appear to signal this. We described in more detail about the possible signs of failure of your hard drive in our earlier article: "Five Signs Your Hard Drive is Nearing the End of its Life, Now What Do You Do About It?" .
Or your hard drive has already fallen into disrepair, and you are determined to throw it away as unnecessary. But do not rush to make hasty decisions. And in this case, your disk is still of some value, even if you checked it and it is not possible to recover information from it. Read our article on the possible use of old discs in any condition.
The disk is still working fine!
Not every hard drive is bad just because it's old. As we wrote above, there are various reasons for replacing hard disk, one of which is insufficient disk capacity. You can continue to use the old hard drive together with the new one by first performing a reinstallation on new disc operating system, and transferring all important data to it. Your old disk can still serve you for a long time... And if you don't plan on using it for storage important information or backing up your data, then you have nothing to fear.
By the way, you need to make sure that you don't find obvious signs of hard drive failure. You may need to run some disk maintenance tools that can predict and prevent potential hard disk failure.
As long as your old hard drive works well, there is no reason for you to get rid of it!
Perhaps your disc is not completely corrupted!
So you think your old hard drive is completely out of order after a crash? If you have data stored on such a drive and want to recover it, then you should run a full diagnostics on the drive and check if it is possible to fix it before getting rid of it completely. Maybe the situation is not critical and you will be able to recover the data. If your hard drive shows certain signs of life, then try to immediately create backup your data. The right step is always to do backup data regardless of the condition and age of the hard disk. Then you can be sure of the safety of your information. If the hard drive just didn't load the operating system installed on it, and otherwise works fine, you can probably copy the data using relatively simple methods. For example, using "Linux Live CD / USB" that helps restore data and the health of the main operating system after a failure.
If you have reason to suspect that your hard drive contains bad sectors and corrupted data, then you can try using a professional tool such as "Hetman Partition Recovery" to recover your data.
The disc can still be useful!
Are you really sure you don't want to use your old hard drive anymore? If it still works fine, there are many different and useful ways use it for its intended purpose.
There are various uses for your old disc. For example, consider setting up "RAID systems". "RAID" Is a redundant array of low-cost drives that allows you to use a spare hard drive to mirror data from another drive.
Alternatively, you can configure a second operating system on it and use it together on one personal computer... An old hard drive gives you the opportunity to work on another operating system without putting your main hard drive at risk.
Or turn it into your own media center. This is not a complete list of possible options for using an old working hard drive. Depending on your needs, you can independently decide on the further purpose of your disk.
The disc contains personal information!
You can simply sell or donate (donate) your old disc if it is not needed. This may not bother you, but you should be aware that your old disk contains a variety of personal information... And even if you do not plan to look for it there, then someone else can do it. Some cybercriminals can search for your saved information to use it for their own personal gain. You have formatted your old hard drive and you are sure that it is impossible to access your stored data. But, this is not the case, your data is still on the disk and can be restored back with special software.
You must understand that this is the peculiarity of the work. file system "Windows"... When a file is routinely deleted or a disk is formatted, the system does not actually delete the information, but marks the given space as free for further recording and use! The only way to make sure that intruders cannot recover your personal files, it is to overwrite them many times.
If the realization that someone can access your files makes you nervous and anxious, then you will have to look into ways complete cleaning memory of your hard drive to permanently delete sensitive data. However, such methods are not an absolute guarantee of protecting your personal data from recovery and access to them by third parties.
If software can no longer access your hard drive, you can always physically destroy it to prevent any data recovery.
The disc needs to be recycled!
If your old hard drive is no longer functional and cannot be used for other purposes, then it definitely needs to be recycled!
Electronics contains different kinds precious materials, for the extraction of which a huge amount of energy was expended, it is possible that the territory was polluted and significant damage to the environment was caused. If you refuse to process and extract from electronic devices of such materials, their extraction will increase environmental, social and economic damage every year.
Today, environmental protection and recycling of materials comes first in terms of importance. Therefore, it becomes unreasonable to scatter expensive materials. You can also contribute to conserving natural resources by reducing their consumption and reducing the amount of waste you create. The latter statement means that you should take care of recycling your faulty hard drive.
Conclusion: old and broken hard drives are not automatically useless
Whether your old hard drive is still working or not, there is some value in it. You can still recover your data from it, use it for your own needs, sell or donate your drive, or a recycling company can extract rare metals from it. Either way, an old hard drive can be useful. And the worst thing you can do with your disc is smash it up and just throw it in a landfill.
What did you do with your old hard drive? Or maybe you have other ways to use it? Please share your ideas and tips with us in the comments to expand the use cases for these drives.
In this post, we'll take a look at what you can make by using an unwanted old hard drive.
Neodymium magnets in a computer
First you need to unscrew a few screws that secure the body parts. We see a neodymium magnet under the cover. Hard drives use very powerful magnets that can lift 1,300 times their own weight.
For everyone modern storage devices there are always two stops of the magnetic head unit and, accordingly, 2 neodymium magnets. To remove the 2 magnet, you need to unscrew another screw and remove it together with the holder, or unscrew the magnetic head unit first, and then pry it off with a screwdriver.
The applications of neodymium magnets are almost limitless. For clips and clamps, toys and entertainment, cleaning engine and transmission oil, searching for treasures and lost iron objects under water, making motors and generators, restoring the magnetic properties of other magnets, and much, much more.
Mini emery from hard drive
To do this, you first need to transfer the dimensions of the disc to sandpaper, it is convenient to do this with a compass. You should use fine grit sandpaper so as not to overload the engine. So, we cut out the outer diameter with scissors and the inner one with a clerical knife.
Glue sandpaper wherever possible with glue. But in order not to wait a long time for the glue to dry and so that you can easily change the sanding paper, you can use double-sided tape.
The emery is already ready. We connect it to the connector from computer unit food and use. With its small dimensions, such an emery machine is quite powerful. Its power is enough for sharpening screwdrivers, pencils, chisels and curved knives.
How to eliminate PC noise
Old computer cases are often very noisy. One of the causes of this problem is the direct attachment of the hard drive to the PC case. When reading information, the disc develops tremendous speeds and, accordingly, a small vibration appears, which is transmitted to the entire computer case. A small manufacturing defect, poor soldering or an incomplete screw in the case lid will always remind you of this.
To fix this problem, we only need to cut 4 rubber strips. These can be old bicycle tubes, deflated baby balls, or a piece of silicone car mat. We fasten the ribbons to the hard drive and attach it to a new location just below the DVD-ROM, or even instead.
In general, the result is excellent, as all vibrations are absorbed by the rubber bands. Also, this device can be called an anti-shock. If you accidentally kick your PC, the hard drive will not be affected in any way.