hard drives?

okay so usually i take them apart but recently i made a contact that will buy them just not now because he is waiting for his business to start and pick up if you will. However i am somewhat of a music junkie not too big but the music i do like i want them all so i came up with this question. is there any way i can take a computer tower i get for free unhook the hard drive and hook one up from another tower take the music (if any) i want from it and then wipe the hard drive to sell it as a wiped hard drive?

We have a very active buyer of hard drives on the forum and I suggest you check him out before you sell to others. Go to the buyers forum and look there,(I'm uncertain if I am allowed to use his name here in this part of the forum). You will not be disappointed.

There may be some legal reason why you can not legally copy music. I feel certain that others on the forum will be able to give far better advise on this subject. Mike.

thank you mike and i figured since its not like im trying to get personal info off them that its not illegal since i get them from the dump so its just like if i was to find a cd there i could legally download it to my computer i feel its the same thing as finding the cd

Working in a scrapyard,I get all the hard drives I want. I bought a USB hard drive reader (about 25 bucks) plug the drives in and root around. This is a source of nightly entertainment since they mostly have pics of other peoples vacations,partys etc. Only once have I found anything off color and by the dates,someone got a digi cam for christmas and took artsy photos of the wife or girlfriend. I would say there is nothing wrong with copying music from them if thats what floats your boat.

EDIT - Permanent ban because of this post. See post 29 here.

Admin.

okay haha im probably not going to look through photos even tho that sounds very entertaining haha i just want free music thank you hmburner i will look into that

Just be sure to save the biggest harddrive to keep the music on! Oh and fina a good computer to use as a jukebox :)

I would not be putting it out there that you are looking through personal information on hard drives.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by hmburner

Working in a scrapyard,I get all the hard drives I want. I bought a USB hard drive reader (about 25 bucks) plug the drives in and root around. This is a source of nightly entertainment since they mostly have pics of other peoples vacations,partys etc. Only once have I found anything off color and by the dates,someone got a digi cam for christmas and took artsy photos of the wife or girlfriend. I would say there is nothing wrong with copying music from them if thats what floats your boat

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This could really be a major lawsuit for your scrap yard by you putting this out on the internet. I would delete this comment.

@Jeremiah: you should also delete your quote of hmburner's comment. Lol

I very rarely run across personal information(credit card numbers etc) and by the dates,most of these puters have been sitting for years so there is nothing current on them.I enjoy going on family vacations with other people (through their pics) and I get to see the world through someone elses eyes.
On occasion,I get to go with my crane truck to Turtle Island garbage transfer in Toronto. They have a small office there where and RCMP officer goes through all the hard drives looking for ?
If the cops can do it ,so can I

People should be responsible for tossing their data and if they didn't request or have a COD then oh well.

Hard disks, or any media that COULD contain personal information SHOULD be wiped by the time we get it; but it happens, especially when you are dealing with the public. It only takes a couple moments to ensure any data that wasn't meant for anyone else, stays that way.

About a third of the drives I get are still full, an astounding lack of personal security in my opinion.

I get a lot of drives from banks through my I.T contact, all have been pierced with what looks like a single blow from a heavy rock hammer, it leaves a hole through the board, breaks into the chassis and dents the platters. There is no way that data can be recovered but the drives can still be easily dismantled.

Nothing wipes data faster than the trusty BFH

What I would worry about is getting hard drives that may contain underage porn/sick pics.

Wipe then test, no need to view others information. Mike

I can't believe I'm reading this. Ya'll need to stay off people's hard drives, that is personal and sensitive data! Looking through people's pictures, pretending to go on vacation with them and transferring files over to your own computer (even if it is just music) is wrong! Disassemble and recycle the hard drive and move on man. Take the money made and go on your own vacation.

An if free music is worth it that you'd put your rep, not to mention the possibility of fines, lawsuits, etc if ever found out...Go find a free music hosting site. Learn about torrents but **** it all man, stop taking from anothers Hard drive.

What's next, ripping copper out of someone's house cause you want a free sip of water? Yea yea, I'm being extreme, but you get the point.

If you want free music again...Go sign up for Pandora or I<3radio, both free. Want to go on vacation go watch the travel channel.

Sirscrapalot - I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. - Augustus

as a tech and recycler, I agree with the others. wipe and test. Leave the personal data alone. the liability to both reputation and finances just isnt worth a few moments of jollys.

I will only open a couple items when a data recovery is done, and that is only to prove successful recovery and done with permission.

at any time I am trusted with many peoples private and financial data. this is a trust with your customer but more than that the legal aspect can leave you out of business and paying for a stupid mistake for years to come.

now as for destruction of data, in therory even the punched drives are recoverable, its just a matter of cost and time. you can split the platters in half and still recover them. the only way to truely destroy the data is to turn them to slag.

thermite and a good torch can assist in this. by turning the entire drive to slag nothing is recoverable except metal alloys. even drive wiping is recoverable to someone with the skill and tools. granted it is beyond the skill and finances of the average person but if given the reason to the government has both to waste. so do some computer firms and a few average joes.

as a preventive step if you do not wish to shred or slag them open them and use a demagitizer on platter and put them on a belt sander with 40 grit or lower. you want DEEP gouges that cant be polished out again.

the boards can be repaced from the same brand & type of drive so that isnt really a fix to the problem. It can slow recovery but if make and model are know is rendered basically pointless.

holes though a drive prevent the average person but are a delay tactic at best.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by miked

We have a very active buyer of hard drives on the forum and I suggest you check him out before you sell to others. Go to the buyers forum and look there,(I'm uncertain if I am allowed to use his name here in this part of the forum). You will not be disappointed.

There may be some legal reason why you can not legally copy music. I feel certain that others on the forum will be able to give far better advise on this subject. Mike.

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why do that when im sure u have internet access
u can get what u want from the internet without having to interfere with HD's which may or may not have sensitive/confidential info on them.

the copyright/piracy issue is something u have to decide for urself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bcrepurposing

as a tech and recycler, I agree with the others. wipe and test. Leave the personal data alone. the liability to both reputation and finances just isnt worth a few moments of jollys.

I will only open a couple items when a data recovery is done, and that is only to prove successful recovery and done with permission.

at any time I am trusted with many peoples private and financial data. this is a trust with your customer but more than that the legal aspect can leave you out of business and paying for a stupid mistake for years to come.

now as for destruction of data, in therory even the punched drives are recoverable, its just a matter of cost and time. you can split the platters in half and still recover them. the only way to truely destroy the data is to turn them to slag.

thermite and a good torch can assist in this. by turning the entire drive to slag nothing is recoverable except metal alloys. even drive wiping is recoverable to someone with the skill and tools. granted it is beyond the skill and finances of the average person but if given the reason to the government has both to waste. so do some computer firms and a few average joes.

as a preventive step if you do not wish to shred or slag them open them and use a demagitizer on platter and put them on a belt sander with 40 grit or lower. you want DEEP gouges that cant be polished out again.

the boards can be repaced from the same brand & type of drive so that isnt really a fix to the problem. It can slow recovery but if make and model are know is rendered basically pointless.

holes though a drive prevent the average person but are a delay tactic at best.

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I agree .... Don't break the trust !

I've heard that it's possible to recover data from disc fragments but that seems pretty far fetched. It's more the stuff of urban legend and government conspiracy theory.

Have you ever tried to repair a crashed HDD ? It's precision piece of machinery. The easiest fix would be a firmware bug but if you're going to open the case you need a clean room, 20k in equipment, and some pretty specialized training.

Call me nuts but i see a business opportunity here. Open up a computer decommissioning service. For a 75.00$ service call you go to a customer's home or place of business. You remove the front cover of the HDD and hand the customer the platters to do with as they will. You remove the computer equipment from the premises with the guarantee that it will be properly recycled.

Kinda beats making 75 cents to a buck for breaking down a hard drive in your workshop. :)

Edited to add: Woops .... just read the other hard drive thread and it's already being done. Kudos to those who help others with secure data destruction.