Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

How to Build a Hard Drive Wind Chime For Spring

Posted by Zonk on from the beware-ninja-hackers dept.

tyrani writes "Spring is just around the corner and the front of the house isn't going to decorate itself. Build a Hard Drive Wind Chime and show your neighbors what a cool geek you really are." He's honest, too. From the article: "Many people linking this page on their blogs claim that this is a secure way of destroying your hard drive and its sensitive data. It is not completely true! The platters are never used in this HOWTO and could potentially be stolen by ninjas while you're making a wind chime and the data recovered by ninja-hackers."

18 of 197 comments (clear)

  1. Rarr by Tobias.Davis · · Score: 3, Funny

    I built a shank out of my hard drive, with the head sensor assembly. It's hard to smuggle into jail.

  2. No by Quasar1999 · · Score: 5, Funny

    This story is mis-titled... it should be how to keep your g/f occuppied... by letting her make windchimes... all the while, you go out and buy new hardware for yourself... ;)

    --

    ---
    Programming is like sex... Make one mistake and support it the rest of your life.
    1. Re:No by rob_squared · · Score: 3, Funny
      There's a joke in here somewhere; "girlfriend", "hard-drive", "wind blowing."


      Nope, got me, I can't think of anything.

      --
      I don't get it.
  3. Allow me to be the first... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...to say that this is probably the lamest "hack" ever.

    It doesn't have anything to do with harddrives, might as well have been an engine, mix master, or VCR. All he did was to string up a couple of shiny parts.

  4. Wind chimes are the tool of the devil by Neil+Blender · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not really, but they should be banned. No one wants to hear your windchime at 2am, least of all me. I have actually gone to a few nearby windchimes in the middle of the night and tied them together with fishing line to shut them the hell up.

    1. Re:Wind chimes are the tool of the devil by B3ryllium · · Score: 4, Funny

      Uh, are you a ninja?

    2. Re:Wind chimes are the tool of the devil by krbvroc1 · · Score: 3, Informative

      No one wants to hear your windchime at 2am, least of all me.

      Not only that, but this article should have been filed under YRO.

  5. So... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    would doing this void the warranty of my HD?

  6. I'm a bad person. by Capt'n+Hector · · Score: 4, Interesting

    My neighbor had a wind chime. It got to the point where I couldn't stand it anymore, so I waited until they were gone, stole it, and threw it in the garbage. Wind chimes are loud, annoying, repetitive, and no, I'm not a grumpy old man.

    --
    Quid festinatio swallonis est aetherfuga inonusti?
    Africus aut Europaeus?
  7. Already by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh yeah? Mine started making those noises already while *still* in the PC!......oh shit

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  8. Didn't have to be a hard drive.. by prakslash · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The so-called hack does not really use anything that is unique to a hard drive. He just cannibalized one to get some metal rings and some shiny metal thingies to hang them from.

    Could have used a VCR, a CD player or even a bike!

    A little lame.

  9. wind chimes are the devil by PortWineBoy · · Score: 5, Funny
    I hate them.

    I've found that cutting the string that supports the ball or disk in the center is the best method for dealing with them. The neighbor generally doesn't notice anything different for quite some time and when they do, they are usually stymied as to how to fix it.

    --

    this sig deleted by another sig

    1. Re:wind chimes are the devil by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 5, Funny

      Cops.

      --
      Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  10. That's great but... by eomnimedia · · Score: 5, Funny

    The ULTIMATE hack would be to build a hard drive from a wind chime.

  11. In other useful advises... by SlashThat · · Score: 4, Funny

    Make Scrabble out of your old keyboard!

    --
    1's and 0's should be free.
  12. Oblig... by n0dalus · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope the site isn't hosted using one of those hard drives.

  13. Pentium earrings by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 4, Funny

    I thought to myself, what a dumb story. Maybe I'll post a story on Pentium earrings. On a whim I did a search. The moral is: no matter how dumb you think your idea is, someone has actually done it before you.

    --
    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  14. Promoting Magnet Ignorance by Anemophilous+Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    From the article:
    Note that the magnet is extremely strong. Keep it away from other electronics and metal. Don't hurt yourself. Seriously, do not understand these magnets!
    Really, trust me, you do not want to understand these things. If you understand a magnet, your head might explode. Please, put it down. Leave the magnet understanding to those who can handle it.

    - AC