The plunging price of the cryptocurrency Chia has flooded the international market with used hard drives and solid state drives, according to a recent report from VNExpress International. The article cites a Facebook group with more than 5,000 Chia traders....

Buying used hard drives can save you money, but “refurbished" storage media carries significant risks. Here’s what you need to know.

All electronic devices need to be connected to a surge protector, and that’s particularly true for devices that store data. Hard drives rely on controllers, which allow the drive to transfer information to (and from) your computer. A sudden surge...

If you’re building a PC or buying an external hard drive, you may have the option to decide whether to orient the drive vertically or horizontally. Horizontal orientation is more or less the de facto standard — chances are, you’re...

An improper PC shutdown probably isn’t a big deal — but it could cause a hard drive failure. Here’s an overview of the risks.

Operating a hard drive at over 10,000 feet can put data at risk. Here’s an explanation of why HDD failures are more common at high altitude.

Contrary to popular belief, the enclosure of a hard drive does not create a perfect seal (on most hard drives). One look at a flood-damaged hard drive will make that clear — we frequently receive hard drives that have been...

The VCRs of the world are breaking down. Functioning film projectors are increasingly hard to find. Tapes and film degrade with every viewing. To preserve your analog video collection — and to share it in digital channels, from Facebook to...

If your family recorded home videos between the 1930s and the 1970s, odds are they captured that vacation or piano recital on 8 mm film. (Super 8, Kodak’s hugely popular take on the original amateur film format, debuted in 1965...

You’ve got a big box of VHS tapes, Super 8 reels, or other analog video films sitting in your attic. Are they still playable? How long can you store them safely? And if they’re showing clear signs of damage, what...