Hey all you beautiful selfhosters,

What are your suggestions for frugally obtaining HDDs in the current economic climate? Specifically the EU (Netherlands).

I’m looking at second hand drives, but even those go for €100+ now, with bad sectors and all.

Can we organise a collective AI datacenter robbery and doll out some stolen drives? 😁

  • neidu3@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    4·
    10 hours ago

    I usually scavenge old drives from work. On one hand they’re a bit smaller than I’d like them to be, but on the other hand they’re free except from the minor work and documentation involved in ensuring that no company related data remain.

    • wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      6·
      10 hours ago

      Wish my company allowed that. Everything goes to a licensed secure destruction service that literally puts them through an industrial shredder. Awesome to watch, but wasteful as all hell.

      • neidu3@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        4·
        10 hours ago

        Well, there’s a footnote on my end: Me taking the drives home is a bit of a grey area, as the procedures say that the drives are to be mechanically destroyed when no longer needed. It doesn’t specify needed by whom. And I do attack them with my angle grinder, so it’s in accordance with company policy.

        And yes, my employer knows and is OK with it. We go through a ridiculous amount of drives due to large storage needs, so pragmatism tends to trump bureaucracy.