Recycling Sky HDD's

Hardware
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I'm building a new system from scratch to predominantly run node-RED, and needed a independently-powered HDD in preference to either a SD card, or a HDD sharing the same power supply as my Pi for resilience.

Whilst looking what external HDD's were available, a friend commented that they had ended their Sky contract - anyone want the box before it goes in the bin?
That seemed too good an opportunity to miss, as I knew that they contained a Seagate 500GB SATA 3.5" drive ....so the project started this afternoon.

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1.jpg4048Ă—3036 3.18 MB

Removing the HDD was pretty easy, and only a small pozi screwdriver, and a sharp knife (to cut the cable ties) was needed.

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2.jpg4048Ă—3036 2.55 MB

I purchased a 3.5" SATA USB3 HDD caddy from Ebay for ÂŁ13, I chose this one because it's constructed from aluminium & vented so it should stay cool, although similar caddy's are available from AliExpress from ÂŁ5 delivered.
The HDD simply pushes onto the caddy interface, and then 2 screws hold the lot together - very securely

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3.jpg4048Ă—3036 2.64 MB

All done!
I formatted the drive, and then ran SeaTools on the drive for an assessment of it's condition, which came back OK, so next stage is to attach a Pi and install an image.

Paul

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I did nearly the same thing with an old Virgin Media box a friend gave me. It also had a 500GB SATA drive drive inside, which is now inside my PC. It just seemed a shame to have to bin the rest of the hardware.

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It's hard, but you have to let go :wink:
My work room is overflowing with things that might come in handy one day....

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The only problem is when I do eventually throw things away, I can guarantee a week or so later I will need the "said" item. Oh well, that's life I suppose. My wife keeps telling me... "you can't take it with you" !!!

3 Likes