The MOASC continues unabated (Mother of all shack clearouts). I’m up to 10-11 estate (station wagon) loads of old electronics PCB and junk. I disposed of all the 3.5in floppies, about 350, none of which have been used since 2002 and two old 3.5in floppy drives. I am about to embark on checking the 6 scrap PATA IDE hard disks (40, 60, 80, 160, 160, 200GB) have been scanned and useful stuff copied to the shack NAS before they are destroyed.
In this process I have found my TS-570 and IC-706 radios, they were under 10 years credit card statements and a SOTA hat I no longer wear
But what do you do with PATA IDE DVD drives? I have 2x perfect Pioneer high speed all mode DVD/CD writers and a high speed DVD-ROM. They all work perfectly and have probably only written 100 DVD/CD between them. It hurts me to bin them when they work.
Suggestions for something to do with them?
(And yes, if someone pays they postage they can have them.)
Sell them on ebay with a subtle hint that maybe your lost old bitcoin wallet was on there but you lack the tools to get it off. Set the reserve at $5000. Call it an NFT, and laugh your way to the bank.
Keep them, until everyone else has thrown theirs away, then sell them for a massive price when someone (hopefully rich) discovers irreplaceable data on some DVDs, but can’t find a decoder for the strange obsolete UFO-like storage devices!
Play music CDs with them.
Where do you get the CDs?
There was an estate sale close by my house, and I picked up over 200 CDs for can$99. We are still working our way through the craziest selection of blues, jazz, obscure trios, and other genres.
I dismantled mine. The case(s) will probably do for kit transverter(s) which are on their way. The internal hard plastic frame is in the black bin, the electronics is in the WEE bin and the metal working parts in the metal bin.
The HDDs had the electronics stripped off for WEE, the case squeezed until the centre bearing popped out and then into the metal bin.
Sometime this will all go to the Council Amenity Site - which is probably still appointment only!
I am clearing non-stressfully, bit by bit, so good luck with your purge, Andy
73, Rod
The box of bank and credit card statements is next - no SOTA hat
I have a box of bank/credit statements that is approx 70x50x50cm. 20 years worth along with pensions statements that have been moved to other providers, old car insurance documents, service bills for cars I haven’t owned for years. The list goes on and it all needs to be safely disposed. All the junk for the tip has been sorted so a significant percentage can go for recycling. At least my council site is open without appointments!
Stuart, seeing that makes me want to produce some Javascript on a web page people visit that starts opening and closing optical drive doors just for the hilarious consequences it will have
I’m currently clearing out about 200 3.5 inch floppies. I’ve wiped all with a rare earth magnet salvaged from an old hard drive. Most had only obsolete software (Turbocad for DOS?) and essential files like BIOS updates for PCs that have long ago been sent to electronics recycling. In a fit of extreme compulsiveness, any floppy that had actual personal data was, after wiping, cracked open so the magnetic media could be removed and shredded.
Why bother? It turns out that there are antique computer hobbyists who cherish the old beasts from the dawn of computing and keep them running. A local enthusiast is eagerly awaiting my delivery of these floppies that he and his buddies can use with their antiques. I’m happy to keep them out of the landfill.
That’s an idea Ray. I’ll try the local ones before they go for recycling. I have about 100 paperback novels to go to the charity shop so it’s not like I will be making a wasted journey.
