[SOLVED] What is this device?

[Alexllte]

So I brought a PC case, this thing is hard glued on it, the owner has no idea what it is and it’s basically impossible to take it off.
I used heatgun/water and managed to take it off. ( slightly damaged both the case and the device while doing so)
I dissembled it and found a 500GB drive, seems like I got myself a deal.
But is this a backup drive? A streaming device? I couldn’t find a answer on the web, so I’m gonna ask the professionals here.

 

[Math Geek]

that is an external hdd enclosure. company website is here

http://www.coolmaxusa.com/extenclosure.asp?item=3.5

why it was mega-glued to the case i got no idea. but that's what it is

 

[R_1]

external hard drive. USB, needs power adapter, I did not see one pictured
looks very similar to the coolmax leather minus the leather of course and USB 2.0 not ESATA

 

[AllanGH]

It was probably used for back-up or near-line storage of files.

Five-hundred GB seems hardly worth all that (5 to 8 TB would be more like it), but the times have changed.

 

[Math Geek]

all depends on when it was made. 500 gb was top of the line not too long ago. i remember buying 320 gb external drives that were as big as i could get at the time.

 

[AllanGH]

I have to admit that I like the shiny, though.....sooooo shiiiiney!

 

[Alexllte]

Thanks a lot everyone, for context, I brought a computer setup (Keyboard, mouse, monitor, computer) for $50 (Win 7), as the guy is moving soon, and it seemed like the computer belonged to his parents.
After finding a drive in there, I ordered a SATA to USB 3.0 Adapter, and found some photos of his parents.
I decided not to explore further as there is sensitive financial information in it, after shortly chatting with the seller, he was quite shocked.
Its currently being mailed to the owner, and that should round this thread up.

 

[Math Geek]

that's very nice of you to have done. kudos to you for doing the right thing with the drive and its data

 

[hang-the-9]

First time I have heard of anyone gluing an external drive to a computer this way, but not the first time someone sold computers with personal data still on it.

There have been people that bought computers at auctions and found classified or sensitive data on the drives from government offices. Everyone talks about privacy and personal info being out there, yet they give it away all the time because of not knowing anything about technology. I have seen people post their full account information on public forums, email, phone number, account number, basically everything one needs to break into a bank account.

 

[Alexllte]

First time I have heard of anyone gluing an external drive to a computer this way, but not the first time someone sold computers with personal data still on it.

There have been people that bought computers at auctions and found classified or sensitive data on the drives from government offices. Everyone talks about privacy and personal info being out there, yet they give it away all the time because of not knowing anything about technology. I have seen people post their full account information on public forums, email, phone number, account number, basically everything one needs to break into a bank account.

Again, it belongs to his relatives and had no idea what it is except calling it a “cooling device”, here’s a image of it before I took it off. (Technically he took the picture)