...and do you know if strangers have access to the info on them?
Read here.
yup because of some of my work requires me to sign NDA's, if a drive craps out theres no way Im sending it in unless it dies rather quick before anything crucial gets put on it. Otherwise if an old drive dies it gets taken completely apart and usually either the discs are given to my little cousins as they make great mirrors or I just drill a couple holes in it or nails depending on my mood ;)
I have heard of people buying used hard drives off of ebay to try to mine personal data. Taking apart a drive and destroying the discs is not only a good way to destroy the data, but it is also pretty fun
I fear the data mining, too. Usually when I get a new laptop I take out the old laptop harddrive and get an external enclosure for it, and then use the old drive as a data backup for the new one after re-formatting.
I've still got the hard drives from my first PC I bought in 1988 that had a hard drive. All of my computers before then were either floppies or cassette on the one back in 1979. If I get rid of a computer I don't send it with the hard drive or else I put a cheap small drive in it.
There are just too many ways to pull information off a drive even if it's been over written or wipped. Those that have used a bit level disk snooper know what I mean.
i like taking the magnets out of the old drives
then use them for holding up pictures
;) makes Hard drives REALLY hard to use after i'm done ..
Since I don't seem to be getting around to setting up a business to do this ...
Hard drive platters make beautiful wind chimes -- gorgeous tone and mirror-finished so they reflect all over.
that and as mentioned the magnets make great fridge magnets, some can hold a surprising amount of weight. I believe they are rare earth magnets, there freakishly strong so watch your fingers ;) ie: I have just 2 magnets at work that were holding up a 36"x48" white board...
