Old hard drives are tempting, but power cost changes the math
About 20 old are available, with sizes from 40GB to 320GB, and all of them still work. The first idea was to use 6 of them in an old PC to build a 1TB DIY NAS. That plan no longer looks practical because 1TB is small for a NAS today, and keeping an old PC plus several drives running could cost more in electricity than buying a cheap 1TB external drive.
The drives have healthy SMART checks, and some have fewer than 800 hours of use. The real question is not how to get cheap , but how to use the drives for a fun or useful short-term project.
Key points
- There are about 20 working old from 40GB to 320GB.
- The original idea was a 1TB DIY NAS using 6 drives in an old PC.
- The plan is weak because 1TB is small and the ll could be too high.
- SMART checks show the drives are healthy, and some have under 800 hours of use.
- They are better suited to experiments than permanent always-on .