Disposal of laptop/hard drive worth keeping?

SnowWhiterThanWhite

Hi,

I've got a really old 7 year old Acer Aspire which has been on it's last legs for the past 2 years and now finally given up. Cracked screen, hinges both broke, dodgy power adaptor etc.
I've removed the hard drive - although there shouldn't be much personal information on there, and no files I want to keep - Am I now safe to dispose of the laptop?
Also, would it be worth considering using the removed HD as an extra HD? I don't know if this was failing too, as everything used to take so long to process.
If it is worth keeping, can you point me in the right direct of a a cover that would also hook up to another laptop?

NiftyDigits

Full model number?

googler

The hard drive is the only component that could hold any of your personal data, so yes - you are safe to dispose of it.

For the HDD, establish if it is an IDE or SATA drive (should be clear from label, or from googling model number), and get a 'USB caddy' or 'USB enclosure' matching the type of drive. They're all over Amazon, eBay, Maplin, PC World, etc, with little to choose between them.

Any USB enclosure will match any USB port on any other PC.

Weird_Nev

Yes, with the HDD out, there is nothing on the laptop that can store information when it is powered off - assuming there are no solid state drives or cards in the laptop.

Without knowing the hard drive type exactly, (I'm assuming it might be an old 2.5" sata drive but it could be older than that?) I can't link any specific product, but there are caddies available that you slide the drive into and then you just hook it up with a USB cable as an external portable drive. Very handy to have about as back up or large file transfer - though not to be relied upon completely as it's an old drive! The caddies can cost as little as £5.

SnowWhiterThanWhite

Thanks for your replies -

The HD specs - Hitachi Travelstar
ATA/IDE
80 GB

skiptalker

pull the memory sticks out they may be compatible with your next lappy and up your memory.

Mankysteve

Just note that HD is 7 years old and should not be trusted with important stuff you don't mind loosing. Also remember that even if you've deleted private stuff off the drive it may well still be on the drive.

NiftyDigits

SnowWhiterThanWhite wrote: »

Thanks for your replies -

The HD specs - Hitachi Travelstar
ATA/IDE
80 GB

2.5" IDE to USB 2.0 HDD Hard Disk Drive External Caddy £3.59

TonySoprano

Just a point you may like to be aware of

Personally I would not reuse an hard disk that old say for example in a caddy the surface areas of the internal plate will have been well used. If you decided to then don't use the hard drive in a caddy for important back up data

If you do get rid either crush it in a vice or take a lump hammer to it, extreme maybe but if it gets spotted at a recycling plant here or dump abroad its unlikely to be recovered in an attempt to reuse

SnowWhiterThanWhite

TonySoprano wrote: »

If you do get rid either crush it in a vice or take a lump hammer to it, extreme maybe but if it gets spotted at a recycling plant here or dump abroad its unlikely to be recovered in an attempt to reuse

Thanks for that

closed

use it as a backup device in a caddy, the age doesn't matter if it works