For cheap or free

[spacebug]

We have some stuff that we're getting rid of 'round the office.

Powermac 7200/90. Oooooh. Big. Beige. Slow. Snap up this baby before anyone else does! Please. Please, take it away.

Mac G3 desktop with monitor. Also big, beige, and slow, but not as much. Need a bridge between your zippy new machine and your floppy disks? This is your man.

APS DAT drive. For all your tape backups!

Intel pro/100+ Adapter. Still in box in cellophane.

HP Laserjet IIP. As far as I know, it works.


Also might have copies of Filemaker Pro and a vintage laptop or two, I'll keep you posted.

Also, purely hypothetically, if you had a huge pile of tape backups that you saw no good reason to keep, how would you destroy them?

Comments

[oliverx.livejournal.com]

I might have a use for the G3. What's the CPU speed?

Backups: someone's probably going to say "a big magnet". But it takes a surprisingly big magnet (think lifting cars) to accomplish the task with modern tapes. And it can't simply be a big magnet, it has to alternate polarity, aka a "degausser".

Most people run them through industrial shredders that grind them down into itty bitty pieces.

[spacebug.livejournal.com]

It starts up but gives the lovely little question mark, so I can't check. It's a powerPC.... 400mHz?

[(Anonymous)]

400 millihertz? Shame on you, Killa.

I'm afraid question mark on boot probably makes it more trouble than it's worth.

[sarendipatree.livejournal.com]

If you're just worried about the redistribution of the data contained on the tapes, a bulk demagnetizer would do the trick. In lieu of a bulk demagnetizer, simply holding the tape in front of a 21 CRT and hitting the degauss button oughta work adequately.

If you're lookoing for creative ideas, I leave that to your devious imagination.

[(Anonymous)]

Basically all modern CRTs degauss automatically on power on. They pump AC line current through a shut-off thermistor to the degaussing coil which is around the yoke (quite some distance from the screen, typically).

And yet video tapes, set-top Tivos, etc., etc., regularly survive. It either takes a strong field directly in contact with the media (aka a write head) or an extremely strong field not too far from tape.

Also note, the Faraday cage effect does not apply to magnetism, only to electrostatic charges, so the above-mentioned Tivo drives are not saved from degaussing by metal shielding. There is a related phenomenon for magnetism called the Meissner effect which has only been demonstrated in superconductors.

[spikenheimer.livejournal.com]

the degaussing of a crt wont be enough to wipe the tapes...

most backup tapes take some considerable magnetic force to wipe them totally clean. shredding / fire is the most secure way to destroy them. of course fire probably causes toxic smoke.

many companies just use a secure trash provider to dispose of thigns like this...

[omaha.livejournal.com]

if you had a huge pile of tape backups that you saw no good reason to keep, how would you destroy them?

cheap, tho time-consuming/messy methods:

remove tape from case & seperate from hub; then run tape thru cheap paper shredder.

remove tape from case, then cut with tin snips.

[eqe.livejournal.com]

Regarding tapes -- definitely best to let one of the secure disposal places deal with it.

Failing that, find someone with a big axe and safety goggles. Use axe to ensure that no tape spool remains mounted, and no more than 6 inches of tape remains uncut. Dispose of resulting giant mess as standard office waste.

Definitely do not burn them, and do not assume that your magnet skillz are good enough to degauss them.

[burnunit.livejournal.com]

how old are the laptops

headlines brewing...

Beowulf Cluster breaks long reclusive silence