Time to retire my old computers with Windows XP

Because of health problems I need to retire some of my old computers. I plan to start with my two oldest desktop computers which are running Windows XP. I also plan to get rid of all computer hardware from this era. That includes all IDE hard drives, PCI cards, and AGP video cards. I also plan to get rid of old software including DOS, Windows and games.

I could part out all of this but that seems like too much work for me. Can anyone suggest how I can accomplish this short of sending it all to the landfill.

 

you need to get the physical addresses of a few of the folks here who build pcs', they would probably be very happy with the parts,

 

How do I find out who they are?

 

cornemuse, clippybeer, priscus, to name a few, send them a message on their personal page, look up their names under Members,

 

HA! HA! I too am getting overwhelmed with IDE era parts! I have a box full of IDE hdds I hate to toss. They are ooold but are good, 10-20 years old & been sitting there for most 'o their lives, as for being used, some are like new! Have one WD160g Blue (ide) still sealed in the factory bag. As in brand new! 10 years old!
Getting rid of all mobo's without sata ports.

Whats interesting is I just bought & recieved five used 160g WD Black sata 2½" drives, with shipping about $5.50 each inc. shipping. All the other purchased used hdds (sata) still work just fine. HA! 5 more, just what I dont need!

 

Are you sure your IDE drives are good? I have found that hard drives eventually fail even if unused.

Do you have any use for an AGP video card? I have several such as GeForce 4 ti4600 and GeForce 5 FX5900.

About 6 months ago I went through all my IDE drives and checked their SMART data. It showed most were failing. In fact one actually failed while testing it. I only have maybe 3 IDE drives that that are shown to be good now.

I bought a WD 250GB IDE drive on Amazon that was said to be unused. Checking the SMART data verified that was true. I tried to copy data to it but it failed after only an hour of use. When I say fail I mean it showed lots of failed sectors and eventually would no longer show up even in disk diagnostics. The drive was manufactured in 2006. I suspect it sat on a shelf unused for a long time. I should have known because it wouldn't be the first drive I had that was fine when I put it on the shelf but failed years later when I tried to use it again. Fortunately, the drive was eligible for a free return to Amazon so I got my money back.

I have five desktop computers. The two I am retiring are using IDE drives and have Windows XP on them. One also has Windows 7 but new Windows updates are failing. Around 2019 Windows 7 updates assumed that the CPU supported SSE2 and failed if it didn't.

I will probably just box up all these old computers and computer parts and take them to the recycler. I don't know what they will do with them but hopefully they will not end up in the landfill.

BTW, I have an old laptop I bought in 2004. It has an 80GB IDE HDD. I upgraded the RAM to 2GB and installed Windows 7 on it. It still works fine so I will probably keep it until it fails.

 

Lately I've been going through them to see what is/was on them. Out of a ±dozen one was bad.

 

The recycling center is where I took my Pentium II and other assorted vintage hardware. There's places like AmiBay or Ebay where you could sell that stuff but I consider it too much of a hassle and definitely not something you need when you have health issues. I don't know what they do with that stuff, maybe they sell it themselves or just send it somewhere that strips whatever metals they can get.

And no, I am not looking to acquire any legacy hardware so am not interested in any of your computer items. If anything I have a few legacy computers and accessories of my own that I want to unload.

 

One good thing about those old IDE drives, they have HUGE powerful magnets in them, compared to the sata drives.

 

Hmmm . . . . I'd be interested in buying a computer running XP if you still have them, MisterEd.

 

Also. what IDE drives and sizes do you have spare?

 

I would be interested in computers with sata ports, including ide ports obviously, , , ,
MisterEd, where in the world are you located?

 

I have 6 IDE drives left. CrystalDiskInfo shows Good on 2 of them and Caution on 4 of them. Caution means the drives are still working but may fail at some time in the future.

However, I have put on hold my desire to part with my old computers. The two oldest with Windows XP are using the drives that are still good.

 

MisterEd, I'm shocked. I have a large box of drives (maybe 50?), most IDE, most go years or decades between being powered on, and I believe only 4 have ever given me errors. Are you storing them at room temperature? I've definitely had more trouble with drives that have ever gone below freezing. I'm up north, so I don't have any experience with summer temps over 85 F haha! I'm willing to sell any of my IDE drives in the 20-80 GB range. And as many free IDE cables as you want haha I have a bag of at least 40.

BestBuy recycles an incredible variety of electronic, home, and car parts, almost always for free, just click on Recycling right from their main page. That being said, I'd love to buy some of your parts. The problems you describe with drives are what I run into with video cards! I can think of 4 systems off the top of my head that I can't turn on because they need replacement video cards. 2 pci's, an agp, and a pci-e.

I buy on eBay all the time, but I don't bother trying to sell my old stuff because I would be so angry if I took the time and money to ship to someone, and they filed a BS claim and got a refund of my money AND my part.