Ask HN: What to do with many old pata hard disks?

Posted by rw- on Saturday May 29, 2010 @06:31PM
from the ask-hn dept.

I own 10+ (old) pata hard disks. All are between 100 and 400 GiB. What can i do with them? For a file server I would need a microATX/ITX board with many pata slots.

( 3 comments | 2 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: What to do with many old pata hard disks? by OttoSnard on Saturday May 29, 2010 @08:04PM (#1389533)

Personally, I do not miss the ribbon cables that PATA drive use. It was a pain in the ass to route them, particularly in some MicroATX cases.

Couldn't you use an PCI card to add support for more PATA slots? Certainly someone like Promise probably makes something like that.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: What to do with many old pata hard disks? by gvb on Saturday May 29, 2010 @06:52PM (#1389421)

Disassemble them and hang the platters from fishing line to keep the bird from shitting on your boat.

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Re:Ask HN: What to do with many old pata hard disks? by jodrellblank on Saturday May 29, 2010 @10:34PM (#1389762)

That's a total of 1-4Tb. New cost for 4Tb is $220 using two of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148...

10 drives will need a hefty controller, and some mounting system, and they will be hot, noisy and power hungry.

Instead of finding 10 disks and asking how you can cram them into your life, ask what you want in your life and go and get the things that needs. If the disks aren't in there, get rid of them.

[ Parent | on HN ]