{"id":807,"date":"2009-04-10T09:00:44","date_gmt":"2009-04-10T14:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/?p=807"},"modified":"2014-05-22T13:41:49","modified_gmt":"2014-05-22T18:41:49","slug":"creative-recycling-of-dead-hard-drives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eshop.macsales.com\/blog\/807-creative-recycling-of-dead-hard-drives\/","title":{"rendered":"Creative Recycling of Dead Hard Drives…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019ve got some bad news for you; your hard drive is going to fail.<\/p>\n

It’s not likely to be any time soon; under average conditions, most modern hard drives have a fairly long life span. I\u2019ve got a 10-year old ATA drive at home that still spins up and works like a charm – albeit a little slowly.<\/p>\n

The fact remains, though, that your hard drive is<\/em> an electro-mechanical device and, as such, will<\/em> eventually fail. This is one of the main reasons I am such a preacher of frequent data backup<\/a>. If you haven\u2019t been careful with your backups and you need to get data off of the drive, you can look forward to working with a Data Recovery Service and the associated fees.<\/p>\n

However, if you’ve been diligent with your backups, when your drive finally goes to The Big RAID Array in the Sky, you should be able to install a new drive, restore your data, and plow on ahead. If the drive is under warranty (most drives have 3-year warranties, and the drives in OWC Enterprise-class Solutions<\/a> are covered up to 5 years). If you’re past the warranty period, the replacement would, obviously, be done with a new drive.<\/p>\n

Either way, the only thing you will have left is that old, dead hard drive.<\/p>\n

However, even though it is unable to perform its intended function, that dead hard drive still has plenty of useful parts inside.\u00a0 You just need to open it up.<\/p>\n

WARNING! Opening the hard drive will not only void your drive’s warranty, it will DESTROY the drive, preventing you from EVER being able to recover the data without extreme expense. Even then, the chances for recovery are VERY slim. ONLY do this if you NEVER want to see the data on this drive again!! <\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

All you need is a couple of Torx screwdrivers (I\u2019ve found T-6 and T-8 to be the most common) and a larger flat-bladed one. Remove all the screws you can find on the outside (sometimes they’re hidden under labels), and you should be able to remove the top cover.<\/p>\n

Keep the screws around; they\u2019re decent quality, and you never know when one of them may fit a use you\u2019d never have thought of. I\u2019ve got a number of hard drive screws that replaced old, stripped screws in my old Wallstreet PowerBook.<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019re inside, you can get to the really<\/em> fun parts. I\u2019m not going to detail how to remove them, as it varies a bit between manufacturers and models, but here\u2019s a list of some of the neat things inside.<\/p>\n