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Why do I have so many IDE cables

ElFenix

ElFenix

Elite Member
Super Moderator
I decided to do some cleaning for the new year.

Tossing so many IDE cables, s-video/composite/component cables, VGA and DVI cables, molex to sata adapters, fan adapters, and other obsolete junk.

Keeping more HDMI and USB cables than I should (including lots of mini-B cables) along with every power cable I found (can never have too many of those), along with lots of network cable (though lots is probably CAT-5, but I don't feel like reading all the text twisting around atm).

Also have a lot of various pci cards. Anyone need a 10/100 network card?

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Neat. Good idea to keep power cables and they can be hard to find sometimes. IDE cables? As long as they 80 pin I keep them in case anyone has an old computer that needs some.

Any full size DisplayPort cables?
 
whm1974 said:
Neat. Good idea to keep power cables and they can be hard to find sometimes. IDE cables? As long as they 80 pin I keep them in case anyone has an old computer that needs some.

Any full size DisplayPort cables?
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i'm keeping a couple-few of some oldies. just in case i want to reassemble something.

might have one. somehow ended up with 2 mini-DP to DP cables. have way too many HDMI cables.
 
I got rid of all kinds of junk like that when we moved in 2012...cleared out an entire closet full of obsolete stuff...including Zip 100 and Zip 250 drives and disks, Pentium II, III, and IV's, floppy drive and disks, IDE cables, (flat and round...might still have some in a box in the garage if you need more) old routers and modems, all that crap. Hey...anyone need an old AT&T U-verse gateway? 😛
 
BoomerD said:
I got rid of all kinds of junk like that when we moved in 2012...cleared out an entire closet full of obsolete stuff...including Zip 100 and Zip 250 drives and disks, Pentium II, III, and IV's, floppy drive and disks, IDE cables, (flat and round...might still have some in a box in the garage if you need more) old routers and modems, all that crap. Hey...anyone need an old AT&T U-verse gateway? 😛
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Ha i did this recently also.Most of it was junk though.i think.
 
I have a box full of IDE cables. I kept a couple just in case.

That box will be going out soon.

I have a box full of 3 prong power cables. I found one that is a right angle job. I have no idea where that one came from.
 
I think I kept a couple at most. In terms of spares I try to maintain a general policy of "if I haven't needed it for a year, I get rid of it".

In November or December I was glad to have invested in a USB docking bay some years before that included connections for 2.5"/3.5" IDE though, I had to do a final data backup from a customer's laptop that had been sitting around for more than a decade.

IIRC I was already using SATA in 2004 for new builds, so the likelihood of touching any IDE-era hardware is pretty much zilch IMO.

NB: I am in the computer fixing business though, hence I do have some ancient bits around just in case.

re: 10/100 network card - it took me about 10 years to finally sell one of those 🙂 I had a situation where I thought a customer might need one, they ended up not needing it so I had it in stock.
 
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I used to build many computers for people. Had at least 100 left over ribbon cables. I threw out all of them except three. 2 round silver braided IDE and 1 braided Floppy. They are still packaged, and I couldn't bring myself to throw them away. I'll probably never use them.

Also have a ton of SATA cables. I think I'll throw out all but 10 or so of those.

Nobody I know wants their PC fixed anymore, they just use their phones. Probably don't even know if their PC's still boot up.
 
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I JUST came across two drawers full of bips and bobs - everything from tie strips, headsets, USB hubs, screws, cables, fucking ethernet, HDMI cables, mics - I wanted to vomit.

This is just shit I held onto, 'just in case'. Just in case what, I decide to open up a PC service and repair shop? I don't even switch hardware that often. I build every 5 years and upgrade certain parts every 3 years. So, I don't have much use for any of this shit.

I am going to spend my weekend cleaning these drawers of crap out.

Dear GOD, I even found a 1st Gen iPad in this drawer!! The intention was that would convert it into a moving picture frame. Pictures of WHAT? I don't even take pictures.
 
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I threw out loads of them not long ago. I still have boxes of cables and connectors of various types, some of which I can't even remember what they are. So many different variations on USB connectors - why are companies so precious about using proprietary conectors just for the sake of it? It's corporate vanity, is what it is.
 
WilliamM2 said:
Nobody I know wants their PC fixed anymore, they just use their phones. Probably don't even know if their PC's still boot up.
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LOL! Too true!

I still have ... somewhere in "storage"... a whole asst. of BNIB, retail-packaged, "rounded" ATA-100/133 dual-device cables. Also, some rounded floppy cables. I guess something should have clicked in my mind, that when SVC.com was clearing something out, that perhaps, it wasn't the bargain that I imagined it was, more like, it was going to become obsolete shortly... lesson learned... I hope.

Now what to do with my myriad pre-"Wifi 6" / "AX" router collection...
 
mikeymikec said:
In November or December I was glad to have invested in a USB docking bay some years before that included connections for 2.5"/3.5" IDE though, I had to do a final data backup from a customer's laptop that had been sitting around for more than a decade.
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I've still got an Aluminum chassis "Mad Dog Multimedia" IDE 40-pin 3.5" HDD enclosure, to USB 2.0, with external power. For that lone remaining customer that might need an IDE drive put into an enclosure for continued access and safe-keeping. (I had one such customer already, I originally had two left. That was like 5 years ago.)

Bought them on clearance at Radio Shack here in the States, for $20 or so. (MSRP was $40 or $50.)

Radio Shack has been out of business for a number of years, for those outside of the States. They were a consumer-electronics phenomenon during the 80s and 90s and early 2000s.
 
lol I AT MINIMAL threw out anything wasn't a rounded IDE ~10 years ago. Nowadays I think I have ONE floppy just incase.

Also since CD drives are gone, there is simply no reason to have anything other than SATA for HDs.... and even that might go away if we go PCI eventually...

Dump all those cables off at Best Buy - my understanding is they recycle old cables and electronics.
 
ShookKnight said:
I JUST came across two drawers full of bips and bobs - everything from tie strips, headsets, USB hubs, screws, cables, fucking ethernet, HDMI cables, mics - I wanted to vomit.

This is just shit I held onto, 'just in case'. Just in case what, I decide to open up a PC service and repair shop? I don't even switch hardware that often. I build every 5 years and upgrade certain parts every 3 years. So, I don't have much use for any of this shit.

I am going to spend my weekend cleaning these drawers of crap out.

Dear GOD, I even found a 1st Gen iPad in this drawer!! The intention was that would convert it into a moving picture frame. Pictures of WHAT? I don't even take pictures.
Click to expand...

Things like Ethernet and HDMI cables never hurt.... Your WIFI can crap out for whatever reason, or you need a more secure connection, etc...

It's really the legacy cables that are never coming back (and having tons of them, not just 1).

I mean hell - it's been forever since I've done one for Windows, but how do you pre-load RAID drivers? Used to be via floppy hence why I kept a floppy drive for the longest time.
 
sdifox said:
Keep the CPUs, mount them on a board and hang on the wall.
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snoopy7548 said:
I was going to say, I'll take some of the CPUs if you don't want them. I've been wanting to buy some old x86 CPUs, expose the dies, frame them, and hang them up.
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i'm keeping the CPUs, but not mounting them. someday maybe i'll find a PCI 486 board again (swear i used to have one - left it when i moved out of an apartment. my old roommate may still have it.).

@s0me0nesmind1 i'll dump all the stuff i'm getting rid of off at westpark. have a couple of computers and LCDs that need getting rid of as well - old core2 stuff.

edit: now that china doesn't take our crap anymore, where does this stuff end up?
 
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s0me0nesmind1 said:
I mean hell - it's been forever since I've done one for Windows, but how do you pre-load RAID drivers? Used to be via floppy hence why I kept a floppy drive for the longest time.
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Last time I did that I put them on a USB drive, and pointed the installation to that. I think that requires 7 or newer, not sure.
 
what did they break to cause all these weird quote double posts that are happening now?
 
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