Hard Drive Sorting

Hard drive sorting is done in System Evaluation. There should already be a tub for keepers and a bucket for recyclers.

Sort

There should be a bucket filled with drives to be tossed and a tub filled with drives to be kept. These need to be checked for mistakes. (If the tub or bucket is not there, use your best judgment to figure out which is which and go from there.)

List of drives to recycle

• 3 1/2 inch IDE hard drives marked less than 10 GB
• 2 1/2 inch IDE hard drives marked less than 2 GB
• 5 1/4 inch IDE hard drives, regardless of capacity (these are known as "Bigfoot" drives)

List of drives to keep

• 3 1/2 inch IDE hard drives marked 10 GB or bigger
• all SCSI hard drives in the keep tub
• 2 1/2 inch IDE hard drives marked 2 GB or bigger

When in doubt keep the drive.

Steps when Sorting

1. First, check the toss bucket for Drives that should be kept:
   • check the drives for hammer marks, if there are none see if they are on the keep list
   • put keepers in the "keep tub"
2. Next, check the keep tub for ones that should be recycled:
   • check the drives for hammer marks, if there are none see if they are on the keep list
   • put keepers in (back in) the "keep tub"
3. Create a temporary place for a recycle pile and put hard drives marked Not keep in it.
4. Ask someone in charge how to hammer the "not keep drives" (even if you think you know how), and ask about the ones you think you want to keep.
5. hammer the drives as directed
6. Put all the recyclers in the bucket and all the keepers in the tub.

How to tell a hard drive's capacity

Many hard drives are marked with their capacity. The words might be very small, but they're usually there. Look carefully for them. If that doesn't work:

Look for double labeled drives

Some drives have two labels. One generic label lists several different capacities and/or disk geometry. The other label is model specific and lists the model number. For instance one label might say:

MPC3032AT (3.24GB)
MPC3043AT (4.32GB)
MPC3064AT (6.48GB)
MPC3084AT (8.45GB)
MPC3096AT (9.74GB)

The other label says:

Model MPC3032AT

The drive is a 3.24 GB drive

Look for model number schemes

Some model numbers contain a hint as to the capacity of the drive. For instance, the western digital drives can usually be deduced by dropping the first digit in the model number. In the example above MPC3032AT is approximately a 3.2 GB drive and MPC3043AT is approximately a 4.3. Thus we can determine that the third and fourth digit in the four digit number is the drive size. By comparing similar models, you might be able to determine the probable sizes.

Google is your friend.

Try googling the model number and see if anything turns up.

Jumpering the Hard Drives

Keepers should be jumpered to "cable select" if such a setting is available. Otherwise, they should be jumpered to "master".

Western digital drives (and some others) differentiate between single (or standalone) and master. On most western digitals, no jumpers (or the jumper in the parking position) is the single setting and is what is preferred at Free Geek.

Most drives document the various jumper settings on the drive label somewhere.

Feel free to ask for further instructions on how hard drives are jumpered.

Where to put them

• Hard drives in the Recycle bucket go straight to Recycling after they are signed off by the Eval instructor and suitably whacked with a hammer. There is no need to receive or label them.
• Good Hard Drives go into the TARDIS (Build Office).