Published April 4, 2026 at 4:30 PM EDT.
Monica J. White has been covering technology for over 10 years. Since then, she’s built and tested many PCs. She has written thousands articles on PCs and laptops as well as handhelds and peripherals. Monica is always happy to talk about all things computing, from GPUs and processors to headsets and programs. Monica is a contributor to TechRadar and other publications, including Tom’s Guide Laptop Mag SlashGear Whop Digital Trends.
She wants to make PC gaming, and computing fun and accessible to all audiences. Monica is always elbow deep in her computer case. She’s either upgrading, testing, or planning her next build. As the tech-support person for her immediate circles, she is never short of work. She loves to play video games until early morning hours, and spend time with her pet.
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It’s easy to repurpose a 2TB or 1TB SSD. You can use them for anything, including external backup drives or game drives.
When it comes to drives like 120GB SATA or 250GB HDDs, we may not seem as spoilt for choice.
Wrong! Even those tiny, old and slow (ish) SATA drives can be used in many ways. They were likely your boot drive 10 years ago. What I use mine for.
The 120GB SATA is not enough for some jobs but it’s good for others
It was a little small by today’s standards but fast enough for an upgrade.
I think my first SATA SSD had 64GB of storage or something close. It was a used hand-me down, and it made me ecstatic when I installed Windows.
It was night and day the difference between a HDD and SSD. Even if it were a slower SATA drive. How much do you know about the history of storage, from ancient clay tablets up to the modern SSDs? History Hardware Capacity Oddities Modern Tech.
Start
How much storage did the first hard drive with a commercially available disk have, the IBM 350 RAMAC in 1956?
A1 megabyte B5 megabytes C10 megabytes D50 megabytes
Correct!
IBM 350 RAMAC weighed more than a ton and stored 5 megabytes. The IBM 350 RAMAC was about the size of two fridges, and it cost $3,200 a month to lease, or roughly $35,000.
Not quite. IBM 350 RAMAC launched in 1956 could only store 5 Megabytes. It was revolutionary, even though it had a tiny storage capacity by today’s standards. The machine took up an entire room in rented for thousands of dollars per month.
Go on
Of these, which has been used by engineers and researchers as a real data storage medium?
Afrozen ice crystals BDNA molecule CSoap molecules Dtree rings
Right! The field of DNA storage has been rapidly developing. Researchers have encoded whole books, images and operating systems in synthetic DNA strands.
These strands can theoretically hold 215 petabytes of data per gram.
Not quite. Answer: DNA molecules. Scientists encoded books, movies and malware in synthetic DNA strands. The DNA storage technology is extremely dense, theoretically able to hold 215 petabytes in a gram. This makes it incredibly promising for future storage. Continue
For what does the “SSD” in SSD storage mean?
AStatic State Drive BSolid State Drive CSequential storage device DSolid Silicon Disk DSolid Silicon Disk Correct! SSD is Solid State Drive.
Solid state refers to its solid-state electronic — NAND Flash Memory Chips — and the absence of moving mechanical components, as opposed to traditional spinning hard drives.
Not quite. SSD is Solid State Drive. Solid state is a term that comes from electronic jargon, meaning it uses semiconductor components instead of moving mechanical parts.
This means SSDs are quicker, quieter and more durable than HDDs.
Go on
How many 1.44MB standard floppy discs do you think it would take to equal the 1 Terabyte modern hard drive storage?
AAround 70,000 BAround 350,000 CAround 700,000 DAround 1,400,000
Correct! A terabyte is roughly equivalent to 1,048,576 Megabytes. Dividing by the 1.44MB of each floppy disk gives us about 728,000 discs. This pile, if stacked up, would reach higher than many skyscrapers.
It’s a reminder of just how far we have come in storage.
Not quite. To match one 1TB drive, you’d require approximately 700,000. This stack would be over a mile tall if it were laid out flat. It is an amazing way to see the huge leaps in storage over just a few years. Continue
Which storage medium was used by NASA to store the data of the first Apollo moon missions during the 1960s and 70s?
AEarly magnetic disks BMagnetic tape reels CPunched paper cards and DOptical discs
Correct. NASA heavily relied on magnetic tape reels in the Apollo period. In reality, thousands of Apollo-era original data tapes ended up being lost, or were accidentally erased and repurposed.
This led to massive archive efforts years later in order to retrieve what footage was left.
Not quite. NASA stored data on Apollo missions using magnetic tape. Sadly, some of the original Apollo videos are no longer available because they were either lost, or deliberately deleted and reused, due to a tape shortage.
Go on
Which is the term for the modern NAND storage technique that uses multiple bits in each cell to increase the density?
AQLC (Quad-Level Cell) BMRC (Multi-Read Cell) CDBC (Dual-Bit Compression) DTPC (Triple-Pack Cell)
Correct! QLC (Quad-Level Cell) stores four bits per cell. It is commonly used to make high capacity, low-cost SSDs. QLC NAND offers low cost and high density, but it has slower endurance and write speeds than TLC (3 bit) and MLC (2 bit) designs.
Not quite. QLC is a NAND flash memory that has four bits stored per cell.
The newer, more dense cells like MLC and SLC offer higher storage density at a lower price, but they sacrifice durability and writing performance.
Go on
In Norway, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores seeds to be used for agricultural preservation. But what well-known tech company operates an ‘Arctic Code Vault” nearby that preserves software?
AGoogle BMicrosoft CGitHub DIBM
Correct! GitHub runs the Arctic Code Vault, located in Svalbard (Norway), where it stores a snapshot on film of all public repositories that are active. The vault is designed to last for 1,000 years. This project is a part of GitHub’s Arctic Vault Program, which preserves open-source software to be used by future generations.
Not quite. The Arctic Code Vault is run by GitHub, a Microsoft-owned company. They photographed each active repository on special archive film in February 2020 and then stored them deep inside a Svalbard coal mine, which is designed to last for a 1000 years.
Go on
Why were early floppy discs called “floppy”?
They were considered to be unreliable and frequently failed. BTheir coating was unevenly applied. CThe disk was flexible and thin. DThey folded flat and could fit in a wallet.
[A]: AThey often broke and they were unreliable.
BT Their magnetic layer was applied loosely and unevenly. The original IBM 8″ floppy disks from 1971 used a flexible, thin magnetic disk enclosed in a protective soft sleeve. The disk could be flipped around. The 3.5 inch versions were later available in plastic rigid cases but retained the name ‘floppy.’
Not quite. Named ‘floppy,’ the name comes from the flexibility of the disk.
IBM’s original 8-inch floppy discs, introduced in 1971, had a floppy that was incredibly limp and could be bent. The iconic name was retained by the rigid-cased, 3.5-inch disks which followed. You Score:
Thank you for playing! Try Again.
I used to squeeze every bit of space out of the drive. It was able to run Windows and my favorite game.
It’s not a good idea to fill your SSD to the maximum capacity, but it is hard to resist when you have only one drive.
Now? SSDs are the norm, so those SATA drives seem quaint. You can redirect smaller tasks to them, saving you space and keeping your old drives alive. Remember, however: you shouldn’t rely on your old drives for backups. These drives are great for storing overflow files, but you shouldn’t use them if your data is important. To sleep well, follow the 3-2-1 rule.
What’s next? Repurpose it!
You can reuse your 120GB SATA HDD in 5 useful ways
Don’t let them sit in your drawers collecting dust. How I would recommend enhancing your tech stack with them.
1. It’s a great way to test out dumb ideas without risking your main drive. A 120GB SATA SATA SSD is perfect for trying out a new beta application, installing a questionable file, testing a light Linux distribution, playing with mods or just generally messing around with software.
This SSD is large enough to run a minimal OS and do a few experiments.
It’s a good idea, because you can keep the main SSD clean, safe and secure, and let the smaller SATA drive handle the rest.
2. It’s a great emergency drive.
Rescue drives are my favorite.
These drives can be a lifesaver, regardless of whether it’s a USB drive or an older SATA. The 120GB SATA can be used to store disk cloning tools, firmware, hardware diagnostics and installers.
It also contains BIOS, OS ISO, ISO images, as well as other files. You’ll always have an alternative bootable drive in case your OS or primary boot disk fails. SanDisk Ultra Luxe Flash drive
[1TB]
[400MB/s]
This SanDisk USB 1TB thumb drive is a great option if you don’t own a SATA solid-state drive that you trust. This massive drive can be used for many purposes at an affordable price.
3. It’s a good place to store temporary files
: Not all of your important data deserves a spot on the best SSD.
For all of the temporary clutter that accumulates over time (downloads, installers ZIP archives, extracted files, transfer batches and random files), I use old, small drives. It is easy to use a 120GB SSD for this kind of temporary storage. This will keep your primary drive free from low priority junk.
4. Create a compact retro-game drive
Indie games and old school classics don’t require much space.
So why not use your SATA SSD to house them? You can get an extra bonus by using a case and making it external. If you want to play modern AAA games on your 120GB drive, it is not enough. However, this size will be enough for lightweight classics and emulators.
5. Make it an offline vault of documents
A 120GB SSD will be more than sufficient for an offline vault if you have many important files that are small. This includes tax documents, PDFs manuals, PDFs from old work at university, warranty information, house documentation, etc. Never use an old SATA SSD to backup important files.
Backup your files elsewhere to ensure peace of mind.
If you have realistic expectations, a tiny SSD can be useful
It’s still better than an HDD
Photo credit: Goran Daminjanovic/How-To Geek.
No, I won’t try to fool you into thinking that a 120GB SATA SDD is the greatest thing ever.
The jobs listed above may be small but they are perfect for the tiny drives. You can keep the SSD you bought from becoming a junk heap and still get some value out of it. Win-win!
Finding new uses for old hardware is something I am passionate about. It’s not my style to throw things away. And removing storage drives can be a hassle.
You might as well make use of it if you already have it. What if you want a brand new hard drive? Purchase an NVMe SSD.
You’ll save money by buying the NVMe SSD and saving your older drives for other tasks.
Samsung 8100 PRO
5 10
Capacity
2TB, 2TB 4TB, 6TB
Interface Hardware
NVMe M.2
The Samsung 9100 Pro will be a good choice for those who want to replace an old SSD. Upgrade your primary drive to a much faster SSD. While not inexpensive, these SSDs will last you for many years.