Introduction: Hide Passwords in an Old Floppy Disk

By 3D Portfolio

These days, everything on the internet needs an account. Most people, like me, tend to forget all their user names and passwords, then when you are asked to log in, you have to have your password sent to you. Lots of people write down their passwords on note cards and leave them lying around, easy for anybody to pick up and use to their advantage. Here's a way you can hide your passwords so that you can find them yourself, but it would be tough for a burglar or a sneaky guest to figure out where you put them.

Step 1: Materials

The only materials you will need are:

Old Floppy disk
Paper
Glue, preferably stick and bottle
Scissors
Knife

Step 2: Put Your Passwords on Paper

The passwords need to be either written down or printed. The smaller they are, the more you can fit in your floppy disk. Type it at size 7, or the smallest size that you can read. You can write them too, but if you have a printer, I advise printing them instead. You can organize them however you want, just remember that the "viewing window" is only 1 X 3/8 inch, (2.5 X 1 cm) so don't make them too big.

I organized mine by first writing what the account's for, then my username, then the password, so like this:

Instructables
Wehrdo
$vacyoum4lykes1dawgs

Step 3: Take Apart the Disk

Taking apart the floppy disk isn't too hard. Take note of the way you disassembled it so we can put it back together later.

First you need to take off the metal piece without bending it too badly. Try getting your fingers under the edges, spreading them apart, and lifting. After that's off, there will be a spring. Keep it!

After the metal piece is off and put somewhere safe, the two plastic pieces need to be split apart. At the top, there will be a spot that's open already. Put your knife into it and slide it to one of the corners. Once it can't go any farther, twist it gently. This will pry them apart. Keep doing this all the way around until it's split apart completely. Be careful and don't shatter the actual casing, because it will be put back together at the end.

Inside there's fabric type stuff to keep the disk from scratching. That's only going to snag on our disk, so just rip it out. Some floppies have a little plastic tab under the fabric. Take that off too, along with the adhesive.

Step 4: Prepare the Disk.

Take your sheet of paper with the passwords on it and cut them into lengths of about 1 inch (3cm). Take these pieces and glue them to the outer side of the disk. The reason they can't be put on the inner part is because about 1/4 inch (0.75cm) is hidden and not viewable through the window.

Be sure to leave a space of at least 1 inch on the disk without any paper on it. This is to fool anybody who slides the metal piece over into thinking it's a regular floppy.

If you have enough passwords, or if you typed/wrote them real big, you might have to put some on the other side. Just don't forget to leave that empty space, and make sure it's aligned with the empty space on the other side.

I cut some blank pieces of paper and put them on also, just in case I ever need to add more to it. That way you'll be able to manually add more without having to take it all apart again.

Step 5: Reassemble the Floppy Disk

This is the hard part, putting it all back together. If this all sounds a bit overwhelming or confusing, just follow common sense and you should be fine.

First you need to put the little plastic sliding piece back in.

Next place your disk with passwords into the groove that it used to sit in. The disk only sits one way, so make sure it's the right way. Put glue on spots of the floppy disk casing where it will hold well. Be careful not to put any on the areas where there's holes in the casing, otherwise glue will be showing. Also make sure there's none up where the spring is at. If the glue dabs are too big, they could squeeze over to the disk in the center and stop it from spinning.

Take the spring that we saved from step 3 and place it in the groove at the top of the floppy disk. The groove is only in one half of the casing. Make sure the spring is facing the right direction, with the bend pointing down. While holding the spring so it doesn't come out, place the other half of the casing on top of the one with glue. Be sure to press tight until you feel safe that it won't come apart.

The metal piece is now bowed outwards, so we need to move it back. Squeeze where it's bent at, so the metal keeps its straightness. Squeezing it just a little bit closer than it should be can be helpful so it hugs the metal nice and tight, just don't overdo it.

Start sliding the edges over the floppy disk, and when it's close enough, let the spring go inside the metal and catch on the hook. The hook is at the very top of the metal. Push it down until the other hooks catch on the sliding ridge and the metal cover moves freely. If for some reason it doesn't move freely or spring back shut, take it apart and try again.

Step 6: You're Finished!

Some tips and tricks:

-Stick a random label on it, so nobody's tempted to use it to store something on it. (Hopefully you aren't still using floppies) Something boring usually helps, such as "School Essay" or "Recovery Disk" Definitely don't write "Passwords" on it.

-Hiding it in a safe place is always fine, but if it's found, people would be suspicious why you're hiding it. Your best bet would be to shove it in a big pile of old computer junk. (Yes, we know all computer nerds are pack rats. Just kidding!)

Always follow basic security measures, such as
-Never tell anybody your passwords
-Don't use the same password for everything (That's the reason we made this!)
-Don't make your passwords and PINS something that anybody could guess, such as your birthday, name, or pet.
-Numbers are always helpful, just put some random numbers in and it increases your security greatly!
-Don't let your Internet browser store your passwords for easy login, otherwise a simple ActiveX control can steal all your cookies with your stored passwords along with it! (Tech jargon)
-The best passwords are something random.
1.Start with a stupid phrase (eg. "vacuum likes dogs")
2.Spell it wrong-"vacyoum lykes dawgs"
3.Add some numbers-"vacyoum4lykes1dawgs"
4.Throw in some odd characters-"$vacyoum4lykes1dawgs"
5.Write it on your trusty floppy drive, because I forgot it already!