Search the Community

I read that HDD's lose magnetism over time and they must be re-recorded periodically to preserve the data. On 3.8.2025 I tested a retired Toshiba 500gb HDD that was formatted and filled up about 98% capacity with photos and videos on 2.17.2015. After it was retired, it was put in a ziplock bag and stored in a garage where temperatures ranged from 45F to 85F for the 10-year period. It was not run during that time. When I looked at it, all the data (photos / videos) were fine. I didn't do any drive software tests on it, as I didn't have any to use. I downloaded some drive software awhile back and it took over my computer, so I was happy to get rid of it. I archive audio, photos, videos and text files. Either they work or they don't work...those are the tests I'm using here. I then decided to do a microwave test on the HDD. I had originated this use of microwaving drives by accident. Last year I had ordered a 4TB Samsung SSD and it had problems from the start. But I was hopeful the bugs would work out and tried to use it anyway. I was transferring a 1.8TB file to it and it jammed near the end of the transfer. I was horrified to find out it would not let me delete my data before sending it back for a refund. Hence the microwave came into my head. It was a natural offshoot from using the microwave to treat moldy and mildewed paper, which I do regularly. I can't tell you how long this original microwave test was on the 4TB SSD, but it was just a few seconds. I didn't know what would happen or if it would wreck the microwave, so it was short. When I plugged the SSD into the computer it would not show up. I was happy with the results and gave it a little more microwave radiation after that for good measure. All we hear about nowadays is EMP danger with digital, so that also inspired me to do some microwave tests. Here are the tests for the HDD, SD card and thumb drives tested in a 1000-watt Samsung microwave. Toshiba 500gb HDD 1 second microwave test: Passed (I don't think the microwave does much microwaving in the first second.) 2 second microwave test: Passed 3 second microwave test: Failed - drive made a loud pop and sparks near the cord port. Computer would not recognize the drive. (Drive was microwaved without the cord.) Generic 4GB SD Card 1 second microwave test: Passed (I don't think the microwave does much microwaving in the first second.) 2 second microwave test: Passed 3 second microwave test: Passed / Failed (?) Some sparks. One computer would not recognize about 80% of the files and they only showed up as icons. When I clicked on an icon it would not load and it said the file was corrupted. Another computer played everything fine. 4 second microwave test: Failed - card made lots of sparks, plastic started to melt in spots on both sides of the card and there was a strong burned plastic smell. Both computers would not recognize the drive. Note: This test should be rerun with multiple cards for 3, 4, 5, 6 second tests to pinpoint the failure. I used 1 card and it received a total of 9 seconds of microwaving before it failed. (Not counting the 1 second test.) Generic 8GB Thumb Drives I used 2 thumb drives for this test. Thumb drive #1 1 second microwave test: Passed (I don't think the microwave does much microwaving in the first second.) 2 second microwave test: Failed - drive made an audio sound when inserting into the USB port, but the computer would not recognize it. I tried it on 2 computers. Thumb drive #2 3 second microwave test: Failed. Drive made a loud pop and sparks inside of the USB connector. Both computers would not recognize the drive. The rest of the HDD magnetism tests will be 12-year, 15-year, 18-year, 20-years and 22-years...if I'm still around. <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

Here is an early computer dating ad from 1969. I didn't know they started that early. Selection from the Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Print Advertising Archive. <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography

I'm sorry I didn't save more of computer history from back in the beginning. I got a late start...for me it was the early '80's. Here is what was happening 5 years earlier in July of 1977. Looks to be software was sold in books and you copied the code. Some computer magazine has cheap floppy 33 1/3 records with software on them. I had a modem, albeit a lot smaller than is shown in the photo. Got on Compuserve as my first tast of being online. When I moved to the Rustbelt, it was free Juno dialup...until it got wrecked by too many users. Then it was library internet...and they used ultra slow dial up. It would have been interesting going to the computer shows and events to document them. Couldn't do a thing working with the memory they had back then. These RAMs were in 'K's! They used cassette tapes for storage back then. Back in 1980's L.A. we had Federated Stores with Fred R. Rated (Shadoe Stevens) as the TV spokesman. (Circuit City killed Federated...then Best Buy killed Circuit City.) Internet Photo: Fair Use franklinavenue blogspot It was the early 1980's and the Apple IIe had just come out. I had bought a bootleg 'Pineapple' computer, which was a knockoff of the Apple IIe. I was shopping at the Federated store on La Brea near Melrose buying my computer gear. Later on, I moved over to Circuit City. Dot matrix printers were the printer of the day. They were graded on how well they could hide the dots to not look like a dot matrix printer. Internet? We had CompuServe and BBS bulletin boards. Before BBS / bulletin board forums were going mainstream, we had 'mailing lists' in the early 1980s. People would send in contributions and someone would print out on a dot matrix printer and snail mail to the subscribers. Was never a big computer guy, although I use computers extensively with my work. I just know enough to get by. Was trying to learn more about data storage and joined a group over at Reddit called Data Hoarders. But got banned from Reddit a little but later. Wasn't that big of a loss, I could never understand much of what they were talking about anyway. Crazy kids who couldn't understand why I collect SPAM emails as part of my work. Well, I couldn't understand why they collected the things they did...so we were even! <><><><> Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Archival Collection Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Small Gauge Film Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Advertising Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. VHS Video Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Popular Culture Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Audio Archive Daniel D. Teoli Jr. Social Documentary Photography