Hard Drive Tear Down For Precious Metals! In Detail HD

Hard drive tear down in detail for gold, silver, palladium and aluminum.
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How to scrap a hard drive: • Scrapping A Hard Drive...
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All video and photography by Rob The Plumber
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[@sylenzf4748]

I drive an 18 wheeler with a 53 foot drybox. I haul many different products back & forth across the country. Some of those loads are old outdated computers which go to disassembly plants for the precious metals.

[@billd7829]

U should bring em to me and I'll take em all apart then we go to the scrapyard and split the cash lol

[@valentinobosh36]

I'm watching your 7yr old video's because there's nothing better on YT about tear'downs,scrapping etc. Excellent visuals and content! Thank you!

[@feliscatchaus]

When I was young i used to take apart electronic things just to see what was in there. This drove my dad nuts. Something about electronics fascinated me.

[@magapickle01]

I did the same thing and then joined the air Force doing repairs on microwave and satalite communications equipment . Boring ass job

[@billd7829]

I did that to and my dad would get a pissed at me also because I would never put whatever it was back together lol

[@waterman4398]

Wow! Been scrappin' for more than 50 years and always learning something new! Thanks!

[@lawsfreelancemalice1380]

I use the magnets for securing small tools and stainless rulers on the wall, as well as plastic measuring triangles (with a small steel washer siliconed to the plastic first). Powering the hard drive plater can be very useful as a miniature sanding disc by glueing wet and dry sandpaper to it for precise grinding or small blade sharpening.

[@AG-en5y]

How do you power the motor ?

[@cdos9186]

I only scrap broken hard drives or I use them as props for my house. I would never open a working and good-health hard drive. You seem like a very nice person to be around! I collect vintage hard drives myself as I love vintage technology.

[@atlantajunglepythons1744]

Given that data storage has become mostly solid state or networked, highest and best use for drives under 3TB seems to be empty + scrap. Recently I put a card in a case for 1 TB device backup. The write rate is phenomenal; tco? $50. WD black....

[@iggy151]

Any hard drives that still function normally can also be sold on eBay with the intention of data recovery specialist using them for parts. Often times many of the specific components are valuable since they're constantly changing. A very detailed listing with plenty of pictures and accurate descriptions of the different numbers on the label can yield some pretty nice sales numbers.

[@atlantajunglepythons1744]

Interesting. This apply to older models (1st half of the 90's?) Mainly Seagate + Maxtor, some working early SATA 1 IBMs

[@iggy151]

Probably

[@ryandriver3281]

​@@iggy151❤ this

[@TheBussaca]

Thank you, its so hard to know what is worth keeping and what isent. I wish you would make more of these videos for commonly scrapped items.

[@Zodliness]

My son gets knackered HDD's from work. I strip them down for the magnets only. They're fiddly to remove from their steel brackets, but I found applying a little heat to the back of the steel, holding it in pliers, then wedging a Stanley blade under the magnet to gently pry them off, without cracking the magnets brittle outer coating. It works around 75% of the time. I cover damaged magnets with some insulating tape and use them to hang metal topped jam jars under shelving.

[@JamesPond-cd3tp]

Thanks for the tip! :)

[@quintenzdeboer8121]

Thank you for breaking everything down in simple terms foe everyone. I found the video amazing.

[@caseyallen5476]

I've got about 50 older hard drives that I brought home from a scrap yard I worked at. They weren't licensed to do ecycle so they were quite pleased when I asked if I could have them.

[@lander3673]

I recently scrapped about 50 hdd. The aluminum value ended up at about 40 bucks. I haven't taken in the stainless yet. Took me about 4 hours. I knew going into it the only value was the alum. I really wanted the magnets though. They are awesome!

[@Chris-fg7me]

i could listen to you all day. well presented.

[@guillermosantana1565]

Hi my name's Guillermo from the Dominican Republic,thank you for sharing this information with us, many people and by people, I'm referring to the vast majority, do not know this information thank you again I love recycling and that's very useful information. From the Dominican Republic Guillermo keep it up. I'll follow your videos and share with my friends.

[@shaneyork300]

I've watched many hard-drive Scrapping videos and this is one of the best!! Have a Great Day!!!

[@craighansen7594]

Thanks for the great tips! I have scrapped metals for some time now, mostly steel,copper and aluminum. The electronics I saved but didn't know how to process them. Learning how to extract the precious metals is making my junk pile pay off!

[@RobThePlumber]

CRAIG HANSEN No problem! Thanks for watching and commenting. I hope you have subscribed!

[@revmpandora]

Excellent, highly detailed and captioned video. Best of it's kind that I've come across.

[@user-dj6dg7sz6n]

chicks with dicks

[@PHILG64]

I liked your video very much. the quality was excellent. I very much liked the macro close up shots. your explanation was also right on. Thanks

[@RobThePlumber]

Phil Galati Thanks, love that you notice the detail. It takes me a long time to make videos like that. I am working on several atm. Thanks for the great comment. Perfect one to leave off so I can go to sleep.Rob The Plumber

[@christinagray3735]

Thanx for taking the time to demonstrate and explain what to keep or not to keep. Seems like a nice little project to keep yourself busy and honest in between jobs.

[@williamkelton842]

Very nice video. As a scrapper I find these videos very usefull tools to help me in my daily tear downs. Keep up the great work. :)

[@RobThePlumber]

I am glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for watching.

[@llcoolpapa]

Clear and professional; great sound, light and camera work. I would like to have seen how many hours, man-hours, and the stack of 'stuff' it takes to get one ounce of gold. Also, how to melt it and recover it. Thanks for a great start to the process.

[@허운선-t6t]

Patrick Phillips

[@TheLexiconDevils]

A lot 😂 honestly I make enough just scrapping boards and selling the components to refiners by the kg. I’m a mechanic not a chemist 😉

[@altondavis4493]

Lexicon Devil do you happen to have some info material on the process? I'd greatly appreciate any info.

[@expatconn7242]

I like the close ups those help a lot . Learning of the parts what they do. Very cool

[@benchapman5247]

Nowhere did you mention the screws themselves. HDD's are an excellent source of high quality flat top torx bit stainless machine screws of varying size, usually with large heads compared to the thread, very useful for folding knife making and quite difficult to source elsewhere. The screws and the magnets are my primary target when breaking down drives.

[@pilasalerta8416]

Folding knife making?

[@williamrooth]

Very educational. I learned that I will leave the scrapping of computer components to others! Thank-you!

[@silverserpent1776]

7 years later and this video is still cool.

[@Fuq3DupPrince]

I like the vid. I scrap metal and I’m just getting into scrapping gold, I’m glad I watched this because it answered my question about gold in chips

[@rodneyjackson622]

You showed me something interested, thank you for sharing this video.

[@FlourgoldWizards]

Rodney Jackson I could show you something quite interesting regarding gold!!!!

[@coinsusa]

@@FlourgoldWizards Hi

[@metalmicky]

At last someone who knows what metals are worth bothering with, and what to discard. Good video .Keep em coming.

[@thefirstsin]

The neodymium magnets are good

[@ballparkfrank33]

Good job, this video makes it a bit more hands on for the novice- thanks Rob.

[@RobThePlumber]

ballparkfrankplus1 Thanks for watching.

[@jrb6969]

Thank you! Nice to know where to look...exactly,... for a changenof pace! Appreciate you!

[@TheOneAndOnlyMrH]

WARNING: You should wear full cover goggles when removing the platters as the older glass ones can shatter very very easily. Alternatively put the drive in a clear bag and reach inside to remove the platters. Destroying the platters for data integrity should be done inside a sealed plastic bag with a combination of a strong magnet and hammer. Believe me, having glass frags removed sucks.

[@awschmittltd.9406]

wonderfully done video with no frills... thanks

[@cleangoblin2021]

So much culmination of technology and inventions that can be had for just $40.

[@aussiescraphunter7808]

Nice way to present a video mate, informative and to the point, thank you

[@frederickhoeppner7283]

Yes , i am a processor of recovering the metal from electronic stuff , nice video , thankyou ! When i scrap hard drives i burn , crush , pan out the heavys and save the sludge after evapen the panning water , the chips is where the panable gold and pgm's and a lot of silver and lead . I do it as a hobby now ! The gold plate in the sludge is minor compared to chip wire , copper is acid removed and redoxed in a different container. Great informitive video .

[@Jamesthe1]

Have a failing hard drive sitting in a junk pile that I haven't thrown out, mainly because I wasn't sure where to send it. However, after getting an idea to smelt some things, I decided to look up how to take apart an HDD and found this video. Thank you!

[@kamisama9715]

Guy with a lot of HDDs: *Sees the thumbnail* "My time has come"

[@m_i_g_5108]

😂 😂 😂

[@philliplinton6846]

This guy is pretty informative. I can really appreciate that.

[@yusufaaron5238]

sorry to be off topic but does any of you know of a way to get back into an Instagram account?? I somehow lost the login password. I would love any tips you can offer me

[@angelokylan1536]

@Yusuf Aaron instablaster =)

[@ninjabothandyman6063]

What an excellent and also finely produced, albeit straight to point matter of fact video footage you've put together in this compilation good sir !! I very much appreciate your fine details, specifically speaking to what materials are in which components, equally so true for precious metals !! That's EXACTLY what I was hoping to learn from viewing your video and you absolutely delivered !! Thanks again for sharing my friend !

[@fizzyplazmuh9024]

There's an "m" somewhere in the middle of neodymium. Like the "r" in the middle of February that well all forget. Those platters make nice windchimes too. Even the little aluminum rings tinkle nicely.

[@macrofage1551]

I've learned a few things about metals in use for hard drives, thanks.

[@davidevans9266]

I love your show, exactly what I needed to C. Believe it or not I got my hands on some 1963 circuitry. Would love a show on were asbestos or other nasties could be when we scrap so that we can all be wary and careful. Have had 2 tradie friends die of asbestos related illnesses . Anyway keep your shows coming. 10/10 from me

[@isaacrobinette2000GT]

im watching you video 10 year old and it was very useful thank you so much

[@patmcbride9853]

I had a flaky hard drive that was making me crazy, it was working, then not working, and more likely to stop working when warm. I finally replaced it and managed to copy all the files to the new drive. When I was about to scrap it, I took off the circuit board and found the contact points on the board that connect to the mechanicals were not plated, or tinned and some were corroded. I found this issue on a 2nd hard drive as well. Once I cleaned the contacts the drive worked fine.

[@enigmaticloremaster1700]

cool, I like recycling any electronics if possible. I have for most my life built many prototype projects using parts from old boards from various household products. I never throw anything Electonic or Electrical out without dismantling it first. If not just to see how it was constructed. But as you know lots of goodies in all that stuff. I used to use the hard drive disc as a chime because they have a nice ring if you suspend them right and tap them with something. But some tend to corrode eventually, could be because I live near the beach as well.

[@nounylogic169]

Really great video. Lovely photography and super clear descriptions. Very enjoyable. 👍🏅

[@thelousysloth]

I love the attention to detail of the photos. I understand better what I've thrown away before. it won't happen again. Thank you

[@RobThePlumber]

thelousysloth Your welcome. Thanks for watching.

[@liquidalloy]

damn it!! (about the magnets) I had so many of those over years from bad hard drives. I love how powerful they are. All I ever did is break them just playing with them lol

[@goldensilver793]

the MAGGNETS are good for testing silver bars and rounds....as the silver slides across the magnet it slows down because of the diamagnetic effect...it builds up magnetic resistance due to a building of a magnetic field in the silver....

[@JT-he8xi]

Great video. Great job explaining various parts and where the value is. Thanks .

[@savylace1197]

thank u for the info i learned alot i have like 9-11 hard drives from the 80s /90s...thank u again

[@darylsimons1111]

Awesome, just took7 hard drives apart, glad I watched, oh, I love the magnets but you told me alot. Thank you

[@goononthego9378]

How much gold would you receive after 7 of them thinking of getting involved please let me know and thanks

[@ScrappingwithGrandpa]

I like your light I have to get one so I can bring it in my shop and people can see what I’m doing better great video

[@TimHortonsAddict]

I have a recycling company.... I throw away thousands of HDD's and other components right into the tin pile every year... didn't know they contained so much cool stuff. I'll have to start boxing them up and take some time to get them apart. The earth magnets are a super bonus for a guy who's into recycling too lol Thanks!

[@RobThePlumber]

Ill pay you 2x tin price for them :O Thanks for watching.

[@TimHortonsAddict]

Tin price is... 205.00 a ton. So that's about 0.20 cents a pound. (Canadian) Crazy how much aluminum is in there. And it's weird those magnets are inside, I was literally looking up the earth magnets on eBay about two days prior... they are worth some bucks. Shame you're not in BC, I'd invite you to my shop to grab some cool stuff. If only I could figure out the chemical process (or have time for it I guess) for all of my ram and computer boards etc I get... I save crap loads of that stuff for eBay! Basically my shop is a disneyland for grown ups! (Hence the reason I'm giving away silver in one of my videos... and more cool stuff to come!) I'll subscribe to you... do the same? Cheers!

[@RobThePlumber]

TimHortonsAddict Are you on the island or mainland?

[@behnamameri233]

Hi,your descriptions were exellent.i like your voice and you are great.Am Iranian but i like you man.Thanks

[@judahelisha6637]

I love the informativeness and I know you can improve on it, I learned things that would help you in other products as well that's a thumbs up, my goal is to safely extract, even the micro, rare and valuable materials in their purity for the best value and to please my eye. its not something I plan to do for a living, but just something I can build up as time passes more like a hobby.

[@TheAussieRepairGuy]

Many of the drives I have dismantled have a 9 carat gold ground screw on the flex board connections.

[@droolerdork]

This was pretty neat to watch. It does pain me though when older hard drives are scrapped, such as those with the SCSI interface. They're getting rare these days!

[@disgusted4708]

What's good about them droolerdork? I'm interested

[@droolerdork]

@@disgusted4708 they're good for vintage computers

[@disgusted4708]

Nice..email me [e-mail]

[@droolerdork]

@@disgusted4708 sent you an email

[@fredcdobbs162]

how about smelting the whole thing less the magnets ... and then breaking apart the layers? Not sure I understand how it works but notice on "placer gold" that is how we can separate the black sands and the gold without painstaking panning.

[@payamnet]

Great Description and Simple.. Thx for not wasting times. every second useful.. Like it

[@RobThePlumber]

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment!

[@RedeyeCountry]

Very informative thank you, I'm in New Zealand, not sure where to sell over here our scrap yards dont buy E waste. I have just stripped about 60 of them, I still have about 30 laptop drives to do. Dummy, I checked google after instead of before

[@positivepower4947]

Look for a refinery mate thats how I cracked it in the UK as you say scrap yard don't know or won't pay top money😊

[@jimmyspark]

Meet me on ''Google +'' didn't age so well. Great video Rob.

[@whateversmurfette]

If you remade this video today, would you remember the rhodium at the tip of the reader? I think THAT'S the best part these days.

[@ericswain4177]

It's all about volume and efficiency in processing + consistency, minus overhead cost and time. Most if not all the profit is in the video.

[@patriot9455]

I used to collect newspapers for scrapping ... when the price was 200.00 a ton. I made a decent living until the price went down to under 20.00 a ton. I scrappws computer paper, which was still fetching a good price. I moved to an area where there were noi recycling facilities and had to get a "regular job".

My friend broke down tvs and on an old projection tv he found hard drives with those magnets and he give them to me and they are incredibly powerful.

[@holdenboy1960]

thanks for sharing , it's a good video and was worth watching , i do scrap as a living income and have a lot of these hdd units and circuit boards in storage for the strip down purpose

[@andrewsmail8307]

Nice one. I got about 20 of old HDD's all 10GB to 80GB old IDE 3.5" drives; found yesterday they contain neodymium magnets that I plan to take out and change into a metal detector. After watching your vid I will be keeping the more valuable elements too. Cheers. A vid I watched said there is a 3rd smaller Nd magnet behind where drive actuator sits to hold it in place when off and in transport. Smart vid, learned some cool stuff in 7 minutes. Cheers Rob.

[@robplotts9412]

Great vid bud . It's about time some detailed info was put up like this. Nice job. Happy holidays

[@BrettBringardner]

Many people think the brackets are a nickel superalloy called permalloy or MUmetal in fact magnet brackets are low carbon steel. Pure iron is one if the best flux carrying materials to use. Cold rolled low carbon steel is a trade-off for manufacturability. The brackets are plated in a nickel alloy and the unique dual polarity of the magnets allow for one direction magnetic field.

[@RobThePlumber]

Thanks for the info.

[@franciscofortunato1864]

Excelente fotografía, muchas gracias por compartir tus conocimientos!!

[@lovemeifyoucan26]

Very informative video, however, I used to work at a metal recycling yard, and just want to make a correction. At the end of your video, where it said the front plate is stainless steel and not being very valuable. Stainless steal is worth more, pound for pound than aluminum... generally $0.40-0.60 per pound.

[@RobThePlumber]

Yep you are right. Although I also said in the video that I use the alum to make parts. I do keep a bin for stainless and it all adds up. SS is not something I focus on. If it is not worth at least $2 a pound I really do not care about it. Thanks for watching.

[@LandStrykeVidz]

Rob The Plumber a penny saved is a penny earned.

[@mgurnick8534]

Thanks for This Very Informative Video!!!

[@Smajchl]

that hard drive motor is fine to play with you can spin it using a microcontroller and a driver :) you can make a nice little grinder for example it is not very strong but it can do quite a lot of rpm

[@mandelorean6243]

Makes me remember tossing out(shooting range), seeing many obsolete, people,jobs where they're sitting around waiting to be tossed.... ..feel like I can get 10 or so, and start this process... But prolly feel too much burden and effort,give up before getting one thing merited down..

[@paulklare4546]

Explained very clearly Good work!

[@jeffbrooks7246]

Hey - I agree with Spinoblood21 when he says you did a great job on this video and the information is very useful. One more correction though - the cases are die cast aluminum not forged. Thanks for presenting!

[@RobThePlumber]

Jeff Brooks Was a minor fumble. Meant to say cast... I work with metals in many different forms and often make that mistake. Thanks for watching!

[@AlibinAbbas-bk8xs]

The information was quite valuable. Thanks

[@grahamjables]

Great I just subscribed and hit liked thanks it was great I've never watched this kind of show but I was helping my 78 year old mother clean up her place after renters left and there is a lot of older computers still together after watching your show we will see I might price some of them because it might be better to sale as is but I might do them this way thanks

[@TerribleShmeltingAccident]

Excellent video, short and sweet, well done👌

[@DracironSmith]

Usually the screws are stainless. Only on the really odd brands are they regular steel. Takes a lot of them to make a difference, but I save steel too. If I'm going to the effort to pull stuff, I might as well get every penny. No more time or effort to throw them in SS pile as to throw them in steel pile or away. Some of the retainer brackets I've found are mildly magnetic. I've been putting them in SS pile, while the ring I put in the Aluminum pile. The old hard drives take 1 or 2 whacks with a punch. This reveals copper windings. I just pry them off with a screwdriver. I NEVER leave them in. In the yards around here, if there is ANYTHING magnetic at all, it goes into dirty aluminum and the price is halved. The top cover sometimes is 2 ply, aluminum and Stainless. They can be separated. I haven't tried this, but recently read a tip that if you boil them they separate easily. I've pried some apart manually and it's not a huge ordeal. There's Rodium on the tips of the actuators somewhere, which is why I watched this video. I'm trying to find out exactly where the rhodium is, . I'm curious if anybody is getting anything for the ribbons that come off the actuators? I've got a small pile of them and would love to get rid of them somewhere for more than it costs to ship them.

[@TreasureByMeasure]

It's all around us! LIKED your video

[@agentsmart9360]

I make wind chimes out of old HDD's they make awesome tones here in OK

[@bantalee2002]

somewhere tucked away in my shop, i got a box of the magnets i took out of hard drives from scrapping computers in the early 2000's. So I had no idea they are worth that much.

[@kyliepierson8718]

Very informative I like to learn you made it simple thanks

[@thiagofeltrin9841]

You're a master! Congrats!

[@dadrules714]

Thanks so much! I normally don't deal w/ hard drives. But I found a bunch of 486' & Tandy's on side of road ( It was a good day). So I'm down to HD"s and M boards.( I usually buy scrap from local repair shop RAM CPU ect). I find slicing ribbon cables containing gold into fine cross section pieces (acid eats from both sides in hot aqua regia solution) easier than incineration. The temps have to be monitored too closely for the average scrapper. Metals are way too thin. end up w/ plastic B-B.

[@RobThePlumber]

Great find and thanks for the info on the ribbon cables.

[@lllMithrandirlll]

An easier way to extract the gold from the ribbon cables and traces would be to just drop them into some hydrochloric acid (diluted for safety). It will dissolve basically everything except for the gold.

[@timdunk7278]

Educational - well thought out and described. Thank you

[@hyperhektor7733]

i also collect the - Aluminium case for melting (DIY furnace propane or electric) - the Discs are exelent surface-mirrors good as laser reflectors - the sata connector , good for producing own sata-adapter - and the magnets offcourse - the top cover can be usefull as sheetmetal i didn't know that there is also mumetal and goldwire in it but i think you made an error 5:49 in electronics components labeled with c are capacitors, resistors are labeled as r and usuall are black with a white font on it.

[@carlsapartments8931]

That was interesting, I also watched a vid on YT of a guy that took a bunch of computer scrap and stripped all p-metals by treating it several times over the course of a week to get about $1500 in metals using about $200 in chemicals. So if you can collect enough computer junk you could make a living doing this.

[@unbearifiedbear1885]

Did this for a few years in the 2010's - it is profitable but its incredibly dangerous overall and unless you have a solid supply of *a lot* of material, its pointless. Most bigger reclaimers _buy_ their scrap material in bulk (at a huge cost) - margins can be _very_ tight, unless you already have gear and the connex.. Lots of secondary and tertiary gear needed, P.S.E, hotplates, Vacuum hoods/venting, Chambers, Containers for the processing, "cutlery", Chemicals (and depending where you are, you might not even be allowed to have some of them in quantity), a way to store all of that safely (and legally), a way dispose of all of _your_ (legally Toxic) waste... not even to get in to local, national and international law, legislation, licensing and regulation when discussing chemicals and toxic waste and the associated expenditure It sounds and looks straightforward when you watch a video but irl you burn, suffocate or explode easily - and take your neighbours with you.. its a literal minefield and definitely not a side hustle or something a regular person could just "start doing"

[@rabidlorax1650]

@@unbearifiedbear1885 ☝️🤓

[@mcqueenx75]

Wrong. What precious metal are you talking about? There's too many inconsistencies with this. I know because I am a scrapper who deals with all kinds of metal from shred steel to extruded aluminum, silver to lead. Fill me in.

[@jasmineeeTV]

@@unbearifiedbear1885 🪦

[@Blue.star1]

Tell Greta Thunderberg to recycle leds . Billions of leds and too many precious metals in it

[@mopar1465]

I like drinking beer and then cashing in the cans, much more fun. The more I drink, the more I recycle and save the planet.

[@off-gridhillbillystyle3735]

So true. Thanks for recycling 😂

[@donovanburkhard]

Mopar

[@m_i_g_5108]

😂

[@Romegyptian]

Aluminum recycling is a scam

[@SouthEastGreenFarms]

I’m going to be that guy but you seen how much co2 alcohol makes, is nothing compared gas consumption

[@crobinson7005]

Thank You , You Are First Class .

[@miltonjimenez67]

thank you for all the details and tips show in your video.

[@MikeC19100]

Nice video; very concise and informative. I have been able to remove the gold leaf at the end of HDD connectors using a sharp chisel to get it started and then use a pair of pliers to remove it. Then I cut the gold leaf portion off and add it to an ever-growing pile of similar connector wires. There are a couple videos on how to remove the plating using household chemicals, and some nasty stuff too, but it seems worth the effort if you can get enough collected to do a big batch.

[@ewasteprospetor5235]

I screw the magnets , brackets and all to the wall and hang my tools up . Its real handy .

[@RobThePlumber]

What a super idea. I may have to do that. Thanks!

[@boobam3648]

i screw lots of things. i’m open minded

[@specfever2]

I was thinking of doing this, too. They make some nice knife holders for the kitchen as well. Trace the magnet shape into the wood, remove that thin layer to countersink the magnet and boom. Sweet stuff. I don't know how strong the magnets are but a thin veneer of wood laid over top may make it awesome.

[@shanesminingandadventures6297]

Make an inset on back of knife holder, then hot glue magnet inside. They are plenty strong to penetrate through the wood

[@m_i_g_5108]

@@boobam3648 😂

[@TheWadetube]

If I had a continuous supply of these I would go for the gold just to say I have some. I could find more in a rocky mountain stream in one day, though. What I really want to know is how to make the motor work with the components already in the hard drive. Where do I hook up wires to get the thing to work without having to buy an esc off hobbyking? These are fairly powerful for their size and could be used for simple tools or RC devices. The magnets make great wall hooks if you have steel walls like in a ware house or a big fridge. They are also good for attaching things to old heavy cast iron machinery like my old Jointer or bandsaw table for extending the table or holding a square or even a can on the side with water for grinding and cooling or mineral spirits for putting rusty tools in so they can shake while a machine is running.

[@statusenterprise49]

the casing on the front of the harddrive does NOT ONLY come as steel some are in fact Aluminum so check them guys!

[@luckygen1001]

Rob the plumber you should not believe everything that is written in Wikipedia. Here is an experiment you can try, grind the backing plates for the rare earth magnets and leave them in the rain for a couple of days. They will rust very quickly where they are ground and will not rust where it has not been ground as they are nickel plated. Nickel alloys ( MU metal ) do not rust.

[@danielhauber6546]

I have been scraping these for a while and I found something very unique and I can't tell I haven't tried to put them in the acid yet because I don't have the proper acids to appropriately test to see how much could be there and I'll be but need enough of them however if you look underneath where the ribbon runs on the actuator Where the ribbon goes to that little small plate will that plate will come off and underneath that plate There will be 2 to 4 Little rod pens now these pens are a little bigger underneath underneath that Tiny little pins taken upI have reasonably believed that that is 24 character gold or plated

[@danielhauber6546]

If there is a way to send you a picture of it I could show you you did a very good fine detail of breaking down the hard drive but I've been looking through a bunch of of them Explain that part And I've come to the conclusion I don't believe that anybody's discovered it yet

[@TheFrog767]

Great idea thanks looking for more now👏👏👏🥂