Old hard drives make lousy flowerpots, but very effective paperweights. And I must confess that on some occasions, I've been tempted to use them for batting practice or skeet shooting.
But I don't think that's the answer you're looking for.
But I don't think that's the answer you're looking for.
One thing you can do with an old drive is give it away. Check around to see if there's a friend, local school, or non-profit that could make use of it.
Before you donate the drive, however, you need to make sure that there's nothing of a private nature on it. If there are files that might embarrass you, or that might prove valuable to identity thieves, you need to properly destroy them.
You can also make use of the drive yourself. If your computer has an extra drive bay (very likely if you have a desktop; very unlikely if you have a laptop), you can install an old internal drive and gain a bit more storage. Assuming that the drive connects via today's standard SATA interface, this is a very simple operation. Older drives may use an IDE interface, which your PC's motherboard might not support.
Finally, you can turn an internal drive into an external one. All you need is a USB enclosure. These generally cost about $20, but I've seen them for as little as $10.
Before you donate the drive, however, you need to make sure that there's nothing of a private nature on it. If there are files that might embarrass you, or that might prove valuable to identity thieves, you need to properly destroy them.
You can also make use of the drive yourself. If your computer has an extra drive bay (very likely if you have a desktop; very unlikely if you have a laptop), you can install an old internal drive and gain a bit more storage. Assuming that the drive connects via today's standard SATA interface, this is a very simple operation. Older drives may use an IDE interface, which your PC's motherboard might not support.
Finally, you can turn an internal drive into an external one. All you need is a USB enclosure. These generally cost about $20, but I've seen them for as little as $10.