[Boatanchors] Value of vintage electronics on eBay

[Bill Cromwell]

Hi Rob,

Once upon a time, when the hard disc platters were made of glass with an 
iron compound coating we had to "delete" the contents of 2500 old 
computers. We brought in a strapping young man and outfitted him with 
safety gear - goggles and etc. He was presented him with stacks of the 
old hard drives and a big sledge hammer all on a concrete slab. There 
was no possibility of recovering bank data from the drives after he had 
exercised that hammer. We nicknamed hin "The Hulk".

There are utilities for securely wiping hard drives without destroying 
the drives. The drives we destroyed were of no further use. If they had 
not been obsolete we would have "recovered" them. If you don't know how 
to do that you are safer destroying the drives - as you do. In addition 
to that big magnet you should acquire a big hammer. On the newest 
mechanical drives the actual discs (you said you remove them) are 
plastic and can be cut up with scissors or run through a shredder. What 
do you propose for the SSD's?

73,

Bill  KU8H

On 3/5/19 6:05 AM, Rob Atkinson wrote:
> I never sell or give away any of my old drives.   When I move to a new
> computer, I pull the drive from the old one, dismantle it, pull out
> the disk and wipe it with a strong magnet.   The few dollars I might
> get for it are not worth the risk of identity theft.  I also caution
> against buying and using used drives.   you never know what's on them
> when you first spin them up.
> 
> 73
> 
> Rob
> K5UJ

-- 
bark less - wag more