Storage for Old Internal Hard Drives, ideas pleeease!

HooCanTellMee

Hi Everyone,
It is probably a daft question. I am buying adapter to be able to access my old hard drives, ide but I now have PC that doesn't have connectors for them. No problem as I have two new drives. However, old PC went kaput and I would like to get old data off old drives and make use of them. Not just bury them in back of the already overflowing cupboards.
What I would like is a cheap method of protecting the drives, now they are no longer protected by PC case, ideally I would like the connectors at the back exposes, so I can just plug them in when I like. I can see several enclosures, but they all are designed to plug into the PC and have cables etc. The price reflects this! I will have the necessary connections, just want straight forward protective covers. Have up to ten old drives I would like to recycle, so £5.00 each for protection is a little steep. Hate to throw things away! Any MoneySaving ideas please?
Thanks for taking the time to read this.

John_Gray

Perhaps just buy a single PATA USB external hard drive caddy, and swop the disks in and out when required? The connectors aren't really designed for frequent removal/insertion, but should be OK provided you don't make a habit of it...

gonzo127

agreed with above a USB hard drive caddy sounds like the best bet and should be cheap,

or something like this http://www.ebuyer.com/189377-startech-bi-directional-sata-ide-adapter-converter-pata2sata3

googler

So... you're running IDE cable and power cable out from the PC as flyleads, and you want a rack, cabinet or similar where you can swap the leads from one drive to another, without placing the drives in one or more caddies?

I'd just put the drives in 'zippy' self-seal bags to keep the dust out, open up the end of the bag when you want to use a drive and put the leads in.

closed

What's the capacity of the ten old drives? If they are small (compared to a modern drive), it's probably not worth the effort or money - get the data off once, and store in a cupboard or buy one usb hd docking station or caddy.

HooCanTellMee

Hi all, and thanks for the replies, my first attempt to reply seems to have disappeared into a black hole.
I'll try to take the answers in order,
I am getting an adapter that can connect up most hard drives, sata, ide and even laptop drives. But this doesn't include a caddy, just cables and driver discs. I don't intent to remove or insert the connectors any more than necessary and will be very careful.

I didn't know you could get the adapter shown on e buyer, extra thanks for that! However, my new PC is small and has no spare bays to add these drives
.
Googler, that is exactly what I intend to do, I don't want to buy lots of single caddies or keep swapping the hard drives out of one caddy. Wanted to give the drives a little more protection than the anti static bags, would also be nice to be able to label them. Won't use them if they are buried in cupboard.

The old drives vary in size, and include the two I am going to replace in my newest PC, these are both 80GB, some 40GB and a couple 200GB. The new PC is only small, no room for more than two hard drives. New ones are 1.5TB so one as main other as backup. I use Linux as well as XP, and toying with the idea of Windows 7, so the smaller drives are still very usable. With adapter will be also able to use them as backup for kids computers and netbook.
Once again many thanks to all of you.

googler

googler wrote: »

So... you're running IDE cable and power cable out from the PC as flyleads, and you want a rack, cabinet or similar where you can swap the leads from one drive to another, without placing the drives in one or more caddies?

I'd just put the drives in 'zippy' self-seal bags to keep the dust out, open up the end of the bag when you want to use a drive and put the leads in.

...and assuming they're all the same size - i.e. all 3.5" form factor, I'd find a cardboard box that would hold them standing on end with the terminals facing upward, and with the seal of the zippy to the top....

Remember one or more may need jumpers changed between slave and master.....

HooCanTellMee

Thanks for reminding me Googler you are right, some of them do have jumpers, I know the 80GB ones don't, but you have probably saved me from a few minutes of head scratching!
Was hoping for something more high tech than a cardboard box, but it makes a lot of sense and will be a lot cheaper, good idea! Especially as I have plenty of boxes lying around. I am kicking myself for getting rid of drive cages from a couple of old server type machines I had. Used to pick up old PC from recycling centre before they stopped letting you scavenge. I was always amazed how people would just leave the hard drives in for anyone to access. Thank goodness times have changed.

My kids, mid teens, never backup and although most of their stuff probably isn't worth worrying about I would like to at least save their stuff once a month.
I am hoping to inherit a gaming PC from my son when he upgrades, so the adapter and kit will be used again next year when I copy my drives over. Will also be interesting to see what is on some of the older drives that are lurking around.

InsideInsurance

Personally would put them in that big black box that gets emptied every week.

I used to have dozens of old drives in their anti-static bags sat in various boxes "just in case" but after moving home decided it was much better to get a large central storage device, get everything off the old discs and simply bin them. Some of them I hadn't looked at for over 12 years and in reality had only a few megabytes of data worthy of saving (mainly for laughs at old pre 2000 websites I was "designing")

HooCanTellMee

No chance of old black bag idea, wouldn't put my old debit card in there either. I have drives from last PC, it gave up the ghost, and I need to get photos and documents off of them, the motherboard packed in so the drives should be fine, but can't connect them to new PC. The connections are wrong, and no room for them in the small case, already splashed out on much larger drives anyway.
Some of the older, smaller drives are probably a waste of space, but 80GB will run a couple of linux distos, or will do to backup other drives. Have to admit to being a hoarder, and you are right a lot of stuff is probably only fit for the tip, but then I am getting that way myself!

HooCanTellMee

Just to thank everyone again for their advice, I am waiting on adapter then full steam ahead. I will then be able to check all the old drives and get rid of any I don't need and reuse the others.
Can anyone advise on an external caddy to hold 1.5TB drive for backup, or would it be better to just put it inside the PC. In the PC would mean quicker access time? If the PC goes up in smoke all my data goes with it? Bought the internal drives when on offer, and thought I ought to start backing up, instead of just spreading my files across the family computers. My youngest, wants my photos off his hard drive to make room for more games!