{"id":2125,"date":"2019-02-22T07:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-02-22T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=2125"},"modified":"2019-02-22T09:44:31","modified_gmt":"2019-02-22T14:44:31","slug":"a-reader-asks-what-is-the-size-and-interface-of-the-oldest-hard-drive-not-ssd-you-regularly-use-and-why-do-you-still-use-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/22\/a-reader-asks-what-is-the-size-and-interface-of-the-oldest-hard-drive-not-ssd-you-regularly-use-and-why-do-you-still-use-it\/","title":{"rendered":"A reader asks: “What is the size and interface of the oldest hard drive (not SSD) you regularly use, and why do you still use it?”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/a>How about four identical 14-year old, 250GB ATA\/EIDE hard drives? They’re still in use and still run fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I use them for archival\/backup storage of various photos, software, and virtual machines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
These 14-year-old antiques still work just fine. <\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Old-school ribbon cables, jumpers, and power connectors…<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"

Date of <\/strong><\/em>RE<\/strong>-manufacture: Nov 2005<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Those drives actually have more<\/strong><\/em> miles on them than shown because they were inexpensive remanufactured<\/strong><\/em> models. They’d already been in service; had failed or otherwise removed from service; been “remanufactured;” and resold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I bought the four drives in 2006 for a column I was writing for InformationWeek Magazine: “A Complete Terabyte File Server For About $500<\/a><\/strong>.” (Back then, off-the-shelf terabyte file servers normally cost two to three times that much.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drives have been bulletproof. After the article ran, I used them for many years in an office file server, and as attached storage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the PC that ran the drives finally died, I salvaged the still-good drives and began using them (naked, as seen in the pix) for monthly offline backups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using a $10 IDE-to-USB adapter<\/a>, I’d hook the drives to my PC once a month to update my long-term backup files; then stick the drives on a shelf, where they’d sit until I needed them the next month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When my files outgrew the drives’ capacity, I demoted the old drives to their current archival\/deep backup use. (I now use high-capacity external USB drives for routine backups.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing on the old drives is unique or irreplaceable — I know the drives will die someday sooner than later. But it’s still sometimes handy to be able to plug in an old drive and have fast access to archival files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their days have<\/strong><\/em> to be numbered but, so far, those ancient, sturdy drives are still doing fine, a decade and a half on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permalink: https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=2125<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How about four identical 14-year old, 250GB ATA\/EIDE hard drives? They’re still in use and still run fine. I use them for archival\/backup storage of various photos, software, and virtual machines. Those drives actually have more miles on them than shown because they were inexpensive remanufactured models. They’d already been in service; had failed or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2125","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-hardware"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-yh","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1319,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/12\/a-reader-asks-is-32-gb-ram-too-much\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: “Is 32 GB RAM too much?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-12","format":false,"excerpt":"A reader asks: \"Is 32 GB RAM too much?\" Fred says yes, even for future-proofing. Here's why.","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":782,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/10\/19\/a-reader-asks-how-much-open-space-does-a-drive-really-need\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":1},"title":"A reader asks: How much open space does a drive really need?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-10-19","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Liz G asks (via the CONTACT link) how much open space a drive really needs: I know installed hard drives need 15% breathing room. How about portable external hard drives? I have 7 Western Digital drives ranging in size from 500GB to 2TB and the only thing on them\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1923,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/06\/a-reader-asks-is-there-any-way-to-recover-data-from-a-computer-that-has-been-factory-reset\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":2},"title":"A reader asks: “Is there any way to recover data from a computer that has been factory reset?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-06","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Troy Marcotte* asks: \"Is there any way to recover data from a computer that has been factory reset?\" If the device was simply reset using an ordinary factory recovery DVD\/flash drive, or the like, then yes, some data may still be available. With a standard factory reset, the drive\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2045,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/15\/a-reader-asks-what-is-the-sense-of-backing-up-data-on-your-hard-drive-if-it-is-lost-when-the-computer-crashes\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":3},"title":"A reader asks: “What is the sense of backing up data on your hard drive if it is lost when the computer crashes?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-15","format":false,"excerpt":"You're right. There's absolutely no sense in that. Storing backups on the same physical hardware as the original is a terrible idea because, as you say, any major PC problem that takes out the original is also likely to take out the backup. You'd be left with nothing. True backup\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2364,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/19\/a-reader-asks-which-is-a-better-way-to-speed-up-an-older-laptop-add-more-ram-or-change-the-old-hard-drive-to-a-solid-state-drive\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: “Which is a better way to speed up an older laptop, add more RAM, or change the old hard drive to a solid-state drive?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-03-19","format":false,"excerpt":"In general, \u201colder laptops\u201d were mostly 32-bit systems, which mathematically max out at 4GB of RAM. If the laptop has less RAM than that, I\u2019d consider starting there, to bring the laptop to its full memory complement. Because it\u2019s an \u201colder system,\u201d you probably can buy RAM for cheap. If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/1280px-Samsung-1GB-DDR2-Laptop-RAM-e1587235482510.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1969,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/11\/a-reader-asks-does-it-still-make-sense-to-buy-external-hard-drives-in-the-cloud-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":2125,"position":5},"title":"A reader asks: “Does it still make sense to buy external hard drives in the cloud era?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-02-11","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Simone Paciaroni*\u00a0asks: \"Does it still make sense to buy external hard drives in the cloud era?\" I think so, yes. But not instead of cloud storage --- with cloud storage. Local storage gives you immediate access to everything, regardless of the size or number of files you're accessing. 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