1. Forum
  2. Usenet
  3. UK.COMP.HOMEBUILT

  • Laptop Spinners

    From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to All on Sat May 11 09:43:29 2024
    Decided I should have a look at half a dozen old laptop spinners I have in
    a box. 1 x 250GB, 4 x 500 GB and one with a connector that my ATA
    converter doesn't fit, did laptops have custom connectors?

    I have cleaned them off (except the odd one), I suspect the space is more valuable to me than the drives?

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    By the time you can make ends meet they move the ends

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Theo@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Sat May 11 11:38:01 2024
    Jeff Gaines <[email protected]> wrote:

    Decided I should have a look at half a dozen old laptop spinners I have in
    a box. 1 x 250GB, 4 x 500 GB and one with a connector that my ATA
    converter doesn't fit, did laptops have custom connectors?

    Not for SATA. Could be SAS? Or if it has pins could be PATA.

    (there were some early PATA SSDs with custom pinouts, but not HDD AFAIK)

    I have cleaned them off (except the odd one), I suspect the space is more valuable to me than the drives?

    The only use I can think for those sizes is if you mess with PCs and want a selection of swappable boot drives (eg plug in a Windows 7 boot disc). Otherwise a 50 quid SSD or USB stick will be quicker and lower power.

    Suppose you could put them in some kind of RAID using a pile of USB adapters
    or some old server, but unless you want to learn about NAS things I can't
    see why you'd bother.

    IOW it doesn't sound useful unless you specifically need something of that nature, or you have all the necessary bits to build something for free.

    Perhaps taking them apart and stealing the magnets is more useful?

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to Theo on Sat May 11 12:36:00 2024
    On 11/05/2024 in message <9vD*[email protected]> Theo wrote:

    Perhaps taking them apart and stealing the magnets is more useful?

    So sad for something that not really that old (compared to me)!

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    The fact that there's a highway to hell and only a stairway to heaven says
    a lot about anticipated traffic numbers.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Abandoned Trolley@21:1/5 to Jeff Gaines on Sun May 12 08:38:33 2024
    On 11/05/2024 10:43, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    Decided I should have a look at half a dozen old laptop spinners I have
    in a box. 1 x 250GB, 4 x 500 GB and one with a connector that my ATA converter doesn't fit, did laptops have custom connectors?

    I have cleaned them off (except the odd one), I suspect the space is
    more valuable to me than the drives?



    Theres some sort of PATA "standard" which uses a a 42 pin (actually 41,
    coz one is blanked off) ribbon cable connector, but the pins are at a
    reduced pitch, so the connector is smaller than the normal 40 way ribbon
    cable

    Some while ago I bought something like this : https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111731869728

    Is that what you mean by "ATA converter" ?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Jeff Gaines@21:1/5 to All on Sun May 12 09:28:11 2024
    On 12/05/2024 in message <v1prlp$2jnqv$[email protected]> Abandoned Trolley wrote:

    On 11/05/2024 10:43, Jeff Gaines wrote:

    Decided I should have a look at half a dozen old laptop spinners I have
    in a box. 1 x 250GB, 4 x 500 GB and one with a connector that my ATA >>converter doesn't fit, did laptops have custom connectors?

    I have cleaned them off (except the odd one), I suspect the space is more >>valuable to me than the drives?



    Theres some sort of PATA "standard" which uses a a 42 pin (actually 41,
    coz one is blanked off) ribbon cable connector, but the pins are at a
    reduced pitch, so the connector is smaller than the normal 40 way ribbon >cable

    Some while ago I bought something like this : >https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111731869728

    Is that what you mean by "ATA converter" ?

    Yes, thank you :-)

    Mine has 2 "full size" connectors, one with one hole blanked and the other
    not. It doesn't have the smaller pitch/size connector. I have dumped the
    drive after carrying out a physical DBAN with a couple of pairs of pliers!

    --
    Jeff Gaines Dorset UK
    You can't tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Abandoned Trolley@21:1/5 to Abandoned Trolley on Sun May 12 12:05:34 2024
    On 12/05/2024 12:04, Abandoned Trolley wrote:


    Mine has 2 "full size" connectors, one with one hole blanked and the
    other not. It doesn't have the smaller pitch/size connector. I have
    dumped the drive after carrying out a physical DBAN with a couple of
    pairs of pliers!


    :-\



    p.s. I obviously meant 44 pin (eyro)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Abandoned Trolley@21:1/5 to All on Sun May 12 12:04:02 2024

    Mine has 2 "full size" connectors, one with one hole blanked and the
    other not. It doesn't have the smaller pitch/size connector. I have
    dumped the drive after carrying out a physical DBAN with a couple of
    pairs of pliers!


    :-\

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)