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Ask HN: What's the best way to dispose of a huge amount of old floppy disks?
Okay, so here's the story.
My dad used to run a company that was contracted to program defensive missiles (using some odd language called Ada....). He passed away a long time ago.
So, right now I'm at my mom's house to organize his old files. I uncover a few thousand floppies and spools of magnetic tape.
What the hell is the best way to take care of this without going crazy? We're strapped on cash right now, so we can't hire professionals.
And I don't want to just shred them. My dad would probably get pissed for doing it the wrong way.
Anybody with experience with this?
Also, I am backing this stuff up.
Thanks guys.
- cperciva 17y agoMy dad used to run a company that was contracted to program defensive missiles Sounds to me like there's probably classified information there, in which case step #1 is probably to phone the government and ask them what they want done.
- ryanwaggoner 17y agoSpeaking as someone who used to have a TS clearance, it's unlikely that they contain any classified info if they were sitting around at the guy's house. But the info could be sensitive, or it could possibly (unlikely) have been classified after the fact, so the advice is probably sound.
- cperciva 17y agoit's unlikely that they contain any classified info if they were sitting around at the guy's house You'd hope that, but it wouldn't be the first time a contractor was careless about such matters.
- RevRal 17y agoFun! Thanks. Maybe they'll take them off my hands or something. Thanks for the responses.
- bhousel 17y ago10 Ways to Reuse or Recycle Floppy Disks: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/reuse-recycle-floppy-disks.html http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/reuse-recycl... #1 on the list is send them to Greendisk, a company that takes disks and all other kinds of stuff too, including the magnetic tape.
- Shooter 17y agoI gave a few thousand old floppies to an artist on Etsy. She recycled 100% of them into art items, and then sent my wife some cool jewelry to thank me for the raw material. Some of the jewelry was even made out of the floppies I sent, although you wouldn't know it to look at the jewelry. She also made some fancy photo frames and some other items. I just came across the artist's "floppy disc artwork" by accident while looking around on Etsy, which then prompted the idea to get rid of the old floppies I had in storage. I'm sure there are other artists who use floppy discs for art material... [EDIT: bhousel's post has some better suggestions...the ACT Recycling program sounds especially neat.]