Posted on 11/23/2016 2:05:17 PM PST by nickcarraway
A YouTuber shared video of his novel way of erasing his embarrassing old computer files -- dumping floppy disks into an overturned lawn mower's blades.
The video, posted to YouTube by user Will it Mow?, begins with a man explaining that he wants to get rid of his old floppy disks.
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"I've got a lot of private data on these old disks," the man says. "I better get rid of them to make sure no one sees what I do on my computer."
The man uses four Chronos high speed cameras to record as he sets off the mechanism that dumps the disks one at a time into the lawn mower's blades.
The video offers multiple views and speeds of the disk destruction.
It soon becomes clear why the man wanted the disks destroyed -- they bear labels including "Windows 7 disc 1 of 2794," "Porn.jpg," and "Furry_Porn.gif."
The YouTuber reveals at the end of the video "why no one is allowed in the room" -- a piece of floppy disk was launched by the mower at a speed fast enough to embed it in a wooden board.
Are there even any computers left that have floppy drives? Outside of basements and museums?
Those look like the new floppy disk. I found that those self destroyed pretty well without human intervention.
Has he never heard of fire?
Or magnets?
Good point. If there’s nothing that will read them, they’re pretty secure.
Government still uses them
Still need to use them to update firmware on legacy server hardware
I still buy floppy disks when I see them on the clearance rack just for the above purpose
Blade on backwards?
He can name his mower “The Hillary”.
At last a use for that food processor someone gave you for Christmas years ago that you’ve never used.
He’s cutting up old floppy dicks?
I’m no real fan of Joe Biden either, but that seems kind of harsh.
While it destroyed the cases, at least a few of the magnetic media disks seem to have survived.
The magnetic media was still intact on most of the diskettes even though the plastic cases were destroyed. Cool video.
Right, because everyone stores their sensitive data on obsolete technology...
“Still need to use them to update firmware on legacy server hardware”
That means it’s time to get a new server.
The NoDak launch silos still use 8 inch floppy disks
Considering the flying debris, this is a very dangerous way to dispose of anything. Actually, it’s stupid.
There are several safer ways to render them useless.
I had a new desktop built last year and I am seriously considering installing an old floppy drive so I can load old and run old software & op systems, such as Win95 & 16 bit programs. I often reference old CAD files from the 90’s that cannot be properly read by 64 bit software (I currently use an older XP machine for that). Plus there are some old nostalgic programs that are occasionally fun to run.
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