Old Computers

In the process of moving I’ve somehow managed to lose a computer. I know things get lost when people move, but it’s usually not a 40lb desktop computer that people talk about misplacing.

It’s not that big of a deal, because it’s a computer that I haven’t used regularly in four years, ever since I built the desktop that now replaces it (I keep a desktop PC around for videogames). But it brings up the point that I actually still have not one, or two, but five old computers that I have yet to give away or sell.

Part of the hangup is that I don’t really have a good process for migrating data from one PC to another (I know the Mac has that covered). Another part of the reason is that I’m a little nervous about parting with hardware that I’ve used for banking, taxes, and other sensitive information.

Of course, I could just open up the machines, rip the hard drives out, and then take them to goodwill. Or replace the hard drives with new ones and then sell them, but it’s far easier to just keep them around, in case I find the need to gut them for parts later, or find an old file, or set up a development server on my home network, or any other thing that realistically will never happen.

It’s an interesting kind of junk that didn’t exist a few decades ago.