It came from the '80s: Hondo H-1 Death Dagger
This is close to as nuts as it gets.
Behold, the guitar that will absolutely never fit on any guitar floor stand, the Hondo H-1 Death Dagger.
Sometimes you see guitars that test the limits of how far you can go with a design that's actually usable, and the Death Dagger is definitely one of these.
When I say this is close to as nuts as it gets, I'm not kidding.
Getting the original case that comes with the guitar is mandatory because you are NEVER finding it otherwise.
I do find it incredible is that it has a Strat-style tremolo system on it. There is enough wood back there to where the guitar has the stability to support it.
Obviously, this guitar is meant for rock and metal. To use it for any other style of music would be insulting.
How does it sound? I have no idea, but that's not why you buy this thing. You buy it for the look. I would guess it has your typical high-output humbucker tone, because that's all you're getting with this.
Again, you NEED that case if you're going to dare own this thing. Otherwise you'd have to custom fabricate it yourself.
In all honesty, if you like wacky shaped guitars, the Schecter Synyster Gates would suit you much better. And I'm absolutely certain it's built much better than that Hondo ever was.
Hard drive DESTRUCTION
Sometimes going caveman on old technology is the only way.
There's really only three options when it comes to the disposal of an old hard drive.
Option 1: Dispose and hope nobody ever tries to recover the data from it.
Option 2: Securely erase the data first, then dispose.
Option 3: Disassemble the drive, take out platters and physically damage them to the point of being unreadable, then dispose.
The first option is the fastest and easiest but at the same time the dumbest. The second option can take up to a full day to complete, and only if you know how to do it right. The third option takes about 20 minutes and absolutely works.
Let's talk about the second method first.
Securely erasing a drive
In Windows or Linux, securely erasing a drive can literally by an all-day thing.
The Windows way since Windows 8 to present (assuming the drive letter is E):
FORMAT E: /P:3
This slow-formats the drive first with zeroes, then overwrites every sector three more times, each time with a random number. If you're really paranoid, you can increase the 3 to 4 or 7 or whatever. If it were a 7-pass, that literally could take all weekend just to format the drive.
The Linux way:
Find the path to the drive first. A quick way in Terminal is by using df. After that, you go into the danger zone with dd, which if used improperly can literally destroy your drive if the command isn't written correctly (and I'm not kidding).
sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/DRIVE-GOES-HERE bs=8192 status=progress
This means to write random data, 8192 bytes at a time, across the whole drive and show the progress while it's doing it. After it's done, the drive will have to be repartitioned (such as with gparted) to be usable again. Why? Because using dd this way will wipe over everything including the partitions.
Note to those who would ask, "Why not use /dev/zero instead of /dev/urandom? Wouldn't using zero be faster?" Yes, faster, but /dev/urandom writes random data while /dev/zero uses just zeroes. In the Windows method used above, random data is used for the additional passes. I wanted to give a similar style for the Linux method.
In either OS, this process really, REALLY should not be interrupted. If you unplug the drive or lose power during the process, the HDD, SSD or whatever you're wiping has a high probability of being damaged beyond repair, i.e. "bricked".
In both OSes, securely erasing is s-l-o-w and that's just the way it is.
Going caveman instead
If I'm not selling the drive and the thing just needs to be thrown out, I don't secure-erase. Destroying the drive is faster and easier.
Properly destroying a mechanical drive does require removing the platters.
With 2.5-inch HDDs, those platters can be physically broken apart similar to how you can crack apart compact discs and DVDs.
With 3.5-inch HDDs, you either use bolt cutters to cut the platter in pieces, or take a and cut deep lines all over both surfaces of the platter. The business end of a large slotted screwdriver will also work.
What's my reason for doing this?
In this year 2023 I've been doing a lot to get away from mechanical media as much as I can.
Earlier in the year I moved all my old data off a stack of DVDs and then destroyed the discs because I wanted them out of my life. I wanted absolutely no way to go back to those discs.
I had a small pile of 2.5" HDDs. Like with the DVDs, I copied off all the data, then opened up the drives and destroyed the platters (easy to do).
The 3.5" HDD destruction was a "when I get around to it" thing because platters in those are more difficult to get to and remove. I finally got around to it, got the platters out, scratched them all up, done.
Given the fact 512GB USB sticks are cheap and 1TB SSD is the same price, and 2TB or even 4TB SSDs are now in the affordable range, yeah it's safe to ditch those old HDDs now.
Heck, even the 1TB microSD memory card is affordable now (about the same price as a 2TB SSD).
It was the right time to finally part ways with the big 3.5" HDDs.
Tagima TG-500 has the colors you want for a cheap Strat
A cheap Strat doesn't have to look bad.
Tagima TG-500 guitars sell for very nice prices. Getting one in metallic purple is nice because it is not easy to find a really nice looking cheap purple Strat.
Again, it's a metallic purple, meaning not flat. It's the kind of purple that really pops.
However, you're also going to see some additional seriously nice colors that Tagima uses. Metallic Gold, Seafoam Green, Surf Green, Olympic White, Candy Apple Red (yes, that red you miss so much), and so on.
Yes, Tagima also has the standard sunburst and black too, but why would you bother with that boring stuff when the other ritzy colors look so much better?
If for example you got the metallic gold (it's a darker gold), it totally looks like a $1,000 guitar but is priced nowhere near that.
And remember when both Fender and Squier had Candy Apple Red as regular production option, but then it vanished? You can get it back with a Tagima and it still looks as great as it ever did.
For those not familiar with that color, that red is best described as a "middle hue metallic red". It's darker than Fiesta Red and lighter than Dakota Red. Like I said, it's a middle hue with tasteful metallic flake in it.
I've watched YouTube demos of the Tagima TG-500, and it's a Strat. Looks like a Strat, sounds like a Strat and that's the tone you can expect.
You buy a TG-500 so you can get an awesome color for cheap, then mod the guitar to your liking if you wish (although it's definitely good enough on its own).
Alternative?
Yes. See Grote. Some nice color choices there too. And cheap.
Destroy my DVDs or not?
Old media can be annoying to deal with.
That used laptop I mentioned arrived. I installed Windows on it, and yep, works.
Something I didn't even think about when I bought the thing was the optical drive. The main Linux laptop I have has an optical drive that doesn't work. The other laptop I just received is the same model, meaning the optical drive can swap right in, so I thought, "Oh, nice, I have a working DVD/RW drive again". And yeah, it works.
A few months back I destroyed a pile of DVDs very much on purpose. It was all data I'd accumulated over the years. I loaded in each disc, copied whatever I thought was worth saving, then physically destroyed the optical media.
What I didn't touch however were all the DVD movies I have, which is somewhere between 50 and 100 discs.
Given I just got a working DVD/RW drive, I obviously had to test it. Since I destroyed all my data DVDs, I ripped a movie and let Handbrake get the job done there.
Did it work? Yes. But wow does it take a long time to rip a disc because DVD media is just slow.
Even if I bought a brand new external DVD drive (or external Blu-Ray drive if I wanted to get fancy), it's not any faster than what I have because of the DVD media itself.
Now I'm left with a bit of a situation.
Ripping a DVD so the image quality is retained takes a while and there's no way around that. However, if I slogged through all those conversions, all the movies I have would fit on a single 256GB flash drive (or possibly even a 128GB) easily. It's not the storing of the video files that's the problem, but rather the time it takes to rip the discs.
Alternatively, I can just say screw it and not bother, because how often am I really going to re-watch these movies anyway?
I've honestly not decided what to do yet. I spent good money on those DVDs over the years, but at the same time I just don't like dealing with optical media.
I suppose ripping the discs is going to be one of those things where I'll eventually get to it. Doing all those conversions is not exactly high on my list of priorities, but I'd like it to be done just to be done with it.
Using a computer over 10 years old as a daily driver
These things really do work.
While true new desktop PCs are under $200, new laptops are under $300 and tablets easily bust under $100, there are tens if not hundreds of thousands of old PCs and laptops out there for under $50...
...and I just bought another one because the one I thought I saved had its CPU fan once again decide to fail despite my repair efforts. Given that particular model, the Dell Latitude E6430s, has its fan in a ridiculously hard-to-get spot, I said screw it (the effort to get in there again just isn't worth it), time to get another Dell. This time I bought an E6430, which I know has a fan that is easy to get to and replace if necessary.
This is actually my second E6430. I have another, my daily driver, running Kubuntu and "maxed out" with 16GB of RAM. The main drive is a Samsung 870 SSD of the 500GB flavor.
What's my reason for getting a second E6430? It's going to be the replacement Windows 11 computer since the E6430s doesn't have long for this world with its almost-dead fan. Like the laptop it's replacing, it does meet all the minimum requirements (it has TPM and Secure Boot) so it's an easy installation.
Why do I use old laptops?
Price. That E6430 I just bought? 30 bucks shipped.
I've always hated spending money on computers ever since my 20s. I'm middle aged now and I still feel the same way. Given the price of tech always dives and everything new is obsolete before you even buy it, I made the decision many moons ago to just go with "good enough". Buy what works and get it for as cheap as you possibly can.
How long did the E6430s last for before the fan finally began to give up the ghost? Seven years. I definitely got my money's worth. And again, the only reason I didn't replace the fan is because it's too much of a hassle to get to it. Spending $30 for a complete replacement computer that will get the job done is a pretty darned good deal.
I should note that yes, there are renewed Dell Latitude business class computers for under $300 that are far newer (and therefore have faster CPUs) than the E6430 I just bought. Heck, I've seen some for under $200. I'm a dirt cheap computer user so I didn't do that, but for those willing to get one for 3 figures, yeah, good machine.
Lastly, where did I buy my E6430 from? Goodwill! And it's not the first time I've acquired computer stuff from there. If you don't have a Goodwill near you, eBay still has tons of old Latitudes too.