checking an old HDD

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stuck
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checking an old HDD

Post by stuck »

Further to my requiem for an old PC, the pile of bits that was said machine, includes four HDDs. The one that used to be the main system drive, an 8 GB ( :eyeout: 8 GB!!) device, seems to be 'OK'. As in, if I hook it up to my other old machine (running Win XP) then I can see it and browse it in File Explorer.

However, when I hook up the other three HDDs (one at a time) then despite the jumpers on these drives being set the same as the drive that 'works', i.e. they are set to 'slave', they don't show up in File Explorer. Nor do they appear in Disk Management (or in Easus Partition Manager). They are spinning though, I can hear them humming.

Presumably that means these HDDs are bin fodder? Or have I forgotten a particular magic spell that must be cast before Olde Teche like this works?

Ken

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ChrisGreaves
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Re: checking an old HDD

Post by ChrisGreaves »

stuck wrote:
24 Mar 2023, 14:18
Presumably that means these HDDs are bin fodder? Or have I forgotten a particular magic spell that must be cast before Olde Teche like this works?
Hi Ken,
all joking aside, for once, before you cart them off to the Council Tip you might want to email a few local museums.
While the museum may not want them, someone there may know of a technical museum that can make use of old parts, perhaps with a techie who can "do something" with the HDDs.

Back around 1987 I did my last IBM 1401 job, for Murray Bulgers in Toronto, and after I had left I learned they were going to cart the 1401 to a Toronto trade fair and bash it to pieces alongside a new apple, "Out with the old, in with the new". I asked them to consult the technical museum in Ottawa.

The outcome was marvelous: my old boss phoned IBM Toronto, told them that their profile was too low, and IBM paid to truck the 1401 to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. Last time I looked it was still there!

Cheers, Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace