Old External Hard Drives.

[Rolando]

Following up on this:Mikeys' Recommendations for a 4TB USB 3.0 or USB C External Hard Drive for everyday data post:

http://forums.macresource.com/read.php?1,2398405

What does everyone do with old hard drives/integrated enclosures?

I've a collected 4 3.5" HDs in external cases of about 1TB each and a couple of old 2.5" of less than 500mb.

I've destroyed a couple of failed drives, but I hate to do that to currently working drives.

I'd like to replace them with 2 larger capacity drives, but I already back up my most photos and music online, everything else is <1 TB, so there's that.

Any thoughts?

The drives all have pretty much the same data, different MacOS bootable partitions. I even have a 10.6 partition!

[Sarcany]

When I'm done with a drive, I pull it from the enclosure (if it's in an enclosure), drill a few holes in it with a power-drill and toss it in the bin where I put stuff for the electronic-recycling drop-off.

Every few months, I empty the bin into a box or bag and bring it to the city's collection facility for e-waste.

[jonny]

Depending on your city, securely wiped drives might be of value to recyclers/goodwill. Alternately, my kids love taking them apart and harvesting the platters and magnets!

[mikebw]

If you will still have a way to read the drive then it wouldn't hurt to make it an extra 3rd or 4th backup. Long term. Those magnets are great though.

[Zoidberg]

I worked with a guy who would put them in a metal pail/bucket and, when he'd collected enough, would fill the bucket with concrete and put it in his shed.

I knew another guy who would toss them out the window into the lake on his way home from work. A bunch of us routinely chastised him for that; he eventually stopped.

In days way back when, I'd run over them with an industrial VHS tape eraser.

Nowadays, they usually get DOD erased and then sold or passed along to someone in my family/friend group.