3 TB HDD What Do I Do With It?

I'll start with the fact that I haven't tested it yet. That is part of my question. I generally don't do much with computer stuff other than show it to a couple people and if they don't want it I scrap it. Unfortunately, prices for computer scrap are so low for me right now I barely look twice at it and don't tear down towers.

So I found a 3 TB HDD yesterday and even I know that is large and will be worth something if it works. I showed it to my buddy at work and he is interested and wants to test it, but I know he won't pay anywhere close to the $60+ they are fetching on Ebay right now. I'm not even sure if my computer at home has SATA so I don't know if I can test it myself. My question is what would you do? It could be a while before I have a machine that I can test it with but I'm in no hurry to get rid of it, either. It's only worth a dollar in scrap so I'm willing to try to go for more, I just don't know how far.

sounds like you have a buyer...see what he offers, you want more than scrap and he is looking for a deal on a 3TB HDD...
easy peasy don't even have to ship it
sure it's not top dollar but it's not like you have $$ into it or have several hundred..it's one drive,that will be obsolete in 7-10 years.

Used to be able to buy the hookup kits for the usb port of your computer, to hook up and clean/clone a hard drive. I got mine from ebay (cheap). Might be the way to go,cause you can reuse the kit for other HD's.

I agree with NH. I'd take the money, unless you have enough for a more than scrap value lot. I'd keep your next working computer with a SATA port that comes in for scrap, though, and make a tester out of it....

you can still get the sata adapters, I've got a couple, and a external hd case I use it in to test hard drives. dirt cheap on amazon, but if you only get $5 for the drive, maybe not worth the trouble.

I can say though, if I came across a 3 TB HD, I'd keep it. my biggest drive is 1TB and most are 500gigs, so a 3 would be super nice...haven't priced one but my 1tb I paid much more than $60 for...

Thanks for the replies. I left it with my buddy at work to test. He has software to check blocks and whatever. Truth is, even as I type this at a computer and wouldn't have access to SMF without one, I really hate them. They make people 10x lazier than TV ever has and while I probably could put one together, I have no desire to. I don't even like taking them apart anymore! Mobos are at .35/lb now :(

You must not be selling your boards to SMF buyers.

$0.35 / lb!! :-o

I can't, I'm in Canada. I have saved up totes of peripherals, cpus and ram. Mobos used to be 1.75/lb, I used to love tearing apart a tower. now it's not worth it. Plus, the Mobos in the newer towers are half the size and 1/3 the weight of pre-2000 ones. I just pull cpu, ram and cards and move on.

Your last statement is the reason why many have chosen to move into the testing and reselling of computer parts. It has worked for some and frankly with effort its not that complicated.

Let's say you want to grow a garden and don't know what to do now a days just go on youtube and watch some videos. Well youtube is not the answer to all the study/research you will need to do but its lots of it and can help you educate yourself enough to go into the resell business or not. Its nice to know if you really don't want to do it. It seems in your location this may the very best way to go. If you are interested in more info that I have learned then pm me.

Frankly at current prices for scrap ewaste and otherwise its not difficult to see why many have chosen to get out of the scraping business. By the way I don't seem to hear about so many scrap metal thefts going on. It seems even the thieves and drug addicts have gone into other activities. Mike

As a more than scrap buyer, I can say that there are a lot of people who used to just scrap parts that are checking into the more than scrap value route.

With prices these low, I can see why. Being across the border does make it more complicated, though....

I believe our freight expert has experience shipping between Canada and USA. also, I'm sure a few of our buyers know how.

Had it looked at and apparently it spins but nothing happens. A 500GB HDD that I found with it did the same thing. Can anyone say why this would be?

Any number of things could be wrong. Did you successfully test another drive immediately after to ensure your testing set up is working?

If you are going to pursue testing hard drives get the hardware which costs very little and the programming that I use is free. I use Ubuntu Operating System which is free. Good luck, Mike

It wasn't me who tested it but I trust the guy that did knows what he's doing. I just thought the previous owner had done something to them because the other one he tested was from the same place.

It does sound a little strange that have two do the same thing from the same source without some connection. I have a wipe program that loads into a computer and completely wipes the hard drive of everything. Perhaps that's what he/they used to wipe the drive.

I am interested in looking at those two drives if you feel like sending them to me. Mike

ps I would pay for shipping via paypal

The problem with 3 Terabyte drives is that they dont fit the norm of typical improvements in technology. They are very hard to use and configure in any computer. This is very easy to understand when you look at the big picture of computers. Way back in the early 1900's some computer programmer came up with a trinary program for computer processes. Basically it ran off of 0's, 1's and 2's. After much trial and error (kind of like Vespucci with the incandescent light bulb, but i digress), it was determined that any combination of 3 would be complicated to incorporate into this algebraic theory. One of his interns suggested going to a 2 digit (binary) code and was subsequently told to take a hike. Eventually that guy became the father of binary code and the red-yellow-green light technology used on our road systems. His name was Dantforth P. Snellybelly.

Since that time all computer technology is based on this 2 digit system. It even went over to the hardware side, where devices would improve by multiples of 2. If you dont believe me, just look at memory (256k-512-1gb-2gb-4, 8, etc). The same is true in part with hard drives. The natural progression from a 1TB drive is to 2TB, then of course 4TB. In your case you found a beta drive of someone under the influence of paoti who wanted to buck the system and go to 3TB instead of the normal 4TB. I could go on and on about how this is the end of the computing world as we know it, but I think to put this to bed you need to send the drive to me for proper care and destruction, after we dust for prints to try and find the yahoo breaking our time tested system. Just my 2cents