Where do Old Hard Drives go when they are superseded?

[fobotcso]

I've got an old Quantum ProDrive LPS 270MB IDE in which the IDE interface circuitry has died. Visual inspection of the platter suggests that the data are still intact.

I'd quite like to get the data off.

It would be a simple job to change the interface card if I could get the exact HDD but I've searched the Web carefully but can't find a source in UK. There seem to be plenty of sources in US.

Alternatively, I'd even consider swapping the platter into another drive case. I only want to run it for 5 minutes then it can go ...

Anyone got any ideas where these old HDD can be got in UK - preferably in the south?

[MarkD]

are now owned by Maxtor... based in Dublin somewhere I think. Also check out Ontrack who specialise in disk recovery but not cheap.

[fobotcso]

Thanks, I don't value the data enough to spend more than about £10 (GBP) in getting it. I also know of Vogon who would be happy to get it for me for pounds many but I prefer it to be a self-help project.

Quantum have left the Hard Drive business. It'll be something akin to a "breakers yard" where I'll find what I need. They're selling these things in the US for about $10 plus mainland postage.

I'd like somewhere similar here UK or Eire.

[ORAC]

Well, I'm in LA. If you want to, just let me know the details and I can order it for you here and put it in a jiffy bag to you. Much cheaper than the courier postage a company would insist on.

[Cornish Jack]

Fobotcso
In my pile of things that will come in useful one day are some Quantum H/Ds of various sizes - 80/85Mbs etc. They work but are too small to be really useful - presumably the controller boards might be extractable, but I don't know whether controller boards are specific to capacity. :confused: e-mail me if they sound useful. :)

[Mac the Knife]

"Visual inspection of the platter...."

In a Class 100 clean room I hope.

[fobotcso]

Mac, er, not exactly. :) Actually, there was a bit of dust on the platter but I blew it off! :( :(

As I said I would "quite" like to get the data off at low cost, but it's not mission critical so it's as much a learning exercise as anything else.

CJ. TVM for that kind offer. I think the interface boards are specific to the HDD. I found a Quantum 540 locally for £6 but the interface card is quite different so I suspect that the smaller ones will also be different. Actually, I think this drive is knackered as well. It won't hold a partition after using fdisk.

ORAC that is a good offer. I'll not trouble you just yet until I've researched more locally and then I'll find one in the LA area (that is a big place!) if I want to take you up on the offer.

I'll always remember my first arrival in LA as pax. It was night and the Captain announced that we were now over the outer reaches of the City and we could see the lights stretching forward as far as the eye could see.

With no major delays, we landed 40 minutes later!

[fobotcso]

Thanks to all who were quick with advice and offers of help.

I did a half-hour's finger-walking with the Yellow Pages and found the exact HDD 10 miles away in a small/medium computer company.

Kind chap had formatted and checked it before I got there and showed it to me working. Asked for £5 for the biscuit fund. Got home, and it checked out OK on my system so I swapped the contoller/interface card to my broken HDD and it worked a like a dream. So total cost was £1 over budget at £11 (plus petrol).

Got the data. Of course it may just have been blowing the dust off the platter that did the trick.;)

This was a good learning exercise; the most important lesson I've re-learned that we all know but don't always remember is:

when someone brings you an ailing computer that is just about working, get the data off while you can before you do anything else!

Thanks again.