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101 things to do with a dead hard disk....

A

Andre

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi group.

With all the computers being scrapped, there must be literally
thousands of useless HDD's dumped every week in the UK alone.

So, things to do with them.

1) Maglev (take off heads, use one of the actuator magnets)
2) Hard drive speakers (see Afrotech's site for this one)
3) Novelty paperweight (take off lid, fill with casting resin)
4) Novelty keyring (old Microdrives work well for this)
5) Exhibit in computer museum
6) Drive failure mode analysis
7) Send back to manufacturer and get new drive under warranty
8) Strip down for useful connectors and SMD tantalums
9) Bulk sell the PCB's on Ebay for data recovery purposes
10) Sell them on Ebay for £0.99 each as "Faulty" :)
11) Fix them with Spinrite 6.0 and sell as refurbished drives
12) Stress relief (spin up to insane RPM and hit with hammer)
13) Novelty doorbell (put button in centre of platter)
14) Doorstop
15) Pack with Thermite and light it to see how much is left of drive
16) Maglev train (same principle as *1 but a row of them)
17) Miniature centrifuge (take off platters, add tube carrier unit)
18) Time capsule (write data, seal in durable case then bury in
concrete)
19) Laser scanner (glue mirrors to the spindle motor/actuator arm)
20) Tesla Turbine (nice flat platters- might work!)
21) Spin-coating machines
22) Gyroscopes for small satellites
23) Ultra-high RPM sanding machines
24) CD Destroyer (fix CD clamp to spindle motor and pin to head arm)
25) Strip spindle motors out, and use for small R/C helicopters
26) High efficiency motors for solar water pumps
27) Attach propellors and use as wind turbines

Please add to this :)

-A
"Bother" said Pooh, as his Geiger counter went off the scale...
 
M

Mark Buckles/Harlan Labs

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hi group.

With all the computers being scrapped, there must be literally
thousands of useless HDD's dumped every week in the UK alone.

So, things to do with them.

1) Maglev (take off heads, use one of the actuator magnets)
2) Hard drive speakers (see Afrotech's site for this one)
3) Novelty paperweight (take off lid, fill with casting resin)
4) Novelty keyring (old Microdrives work well for this)
5) Exhibit in computer museum
6) Drive failure mode analysis
7) Send back to manufacturer and get new drive under warranty
8) Strip down for useful connectors and SMD tantalums
9) Bulk sell the PCB's on Ebay for data recovery purposes
10) Sell them on Ebay for £0.99 each as "Faulty" :)
11) Fix them with Spinrite 6.0 and sell as refurbished drives
12) Stress relief (spin up to insane RPM and hit with hammer)
13) Novelty doorbell (put button in centre of platter)
14) Doorstop
15) Pack with Thermite and light it to see how much is left of drive
16) Maglev train (same principle as *1 but a row of them)
17) Miniature centrifuge (take off platters, add tube carrier unit)
18) Time capsule (write data, seal in durable case then bury in
concrete)
19) Laser scanner (glue mirrors to the spindle motor/actuator arm)
20) Tesla Turbine (nice flat platters- might work!)
21) Spin-coating machines
22) Gyroscopes for small satellites
23) Ultra-high RPM sanding machines
24) CD Destroyer (fix CD clamp to spindle motor and pin to head arm)
25) Strip spindle motors out, and use for small R/C helicopters
26) High efficiency motors for solar water pumps
27) Attach propellors and use as wind turbines

Please add to this :)

-A
"Bother" said Pooh, as his Geiger counter went off the scale...


I remember seeing a website that showed plans for using parts from
dead hard drives as galvos for laser light shows.

Mark Buckles
Harlan Labs
San Diego
http://www.harlanlabs.com
 
M

Mjolinor

Jan 1, 1970
0
Andre said:
Hi group.

With all the computers being scrapped, there must be literally
thousands of useless HDD's dumped every week in the UK alone.

So, things to do with them.

1) Maglev (take off heads, use one of the actuator magnets)
2) Hard drive speakers (see Afrotech's site for this one)
3) Novelty paperweight (take off lid, fill with casting resin)
4) Novelty keyring (old Microdrives work well for this)
5) Exhibit in computer museum
6) Drive failure mode analysis
7) Send back to manufacturer and get new drive under warranty
8) Strip down for useful connectors and SMD tantalums
9) Bulk sell the PCB's on Ebay for data recovery purposes
10) Sell them on Ebay for £0.99 each as "Faulty" :)
11) Fix them with Spinrite 6.0 and sell as refurbished drives
12) Stress relief (spin up to insane RPM and hit with hammer)
13) Novelty doorbell (put button in centre of platter)
14) Doorstop
15) Pack with Thermite and light it to see how much is left of drive
16) Maglev train (same principle as *1 but a row of them)
17) Miniature centrifuge (take off platters, add tube carrier unit)
18) Time capsule (write data, seal in durable case then bury in
concrete)
19) Laser scanner (glue mirrors to the spindle motor/actuator arm)
20) Tesla Turbine (nice flat platters- might work!)
21) Spin-coating machines
22) Gyroscopes for small satellites
23) Ultra-high RPM sanding machines
24) CD Destroyer (fix CD clamp to spindle motor and pin to head arm)
25) Strip spindle motors out, and use for small R/C helicopters
26) High efficiency motors for solar water pumps
27) Attach propellors and use as wind turbines

Please add to this :)

I made a "winder" for the kids beyblades from a laptop disc and two laptop
Ni-MH cells.
 
C

CWatters

Jan 1, 1970
0
Andre said:
Hi group.

With all the computers being scrapped, there must be literally
thousands of useless HDD's dumped every week in the UK alone.

The motors from CD drives have been rewound and used to power small indoor
RC model aircraft. Perhaps you could also do that with an HD motor?
 
S

SumGie

Jan 1, 1970
0
Andre said:
Hi group.

With all the computers being scrapped, there must be literally
thousands of useless HDD's dumped every week in the UK alone.

So, things to do with them.

1) Maglev (take off heads, use one of the actuator magnets)
2) Hard drive speakers (see Afrotech's site for this one)
3) Novelty paperweight (take off lid, fill with casting resin)
4) Novelty keyring (old Microdrives work well for this)
5) Exhibit in computer museum
6) Drive failure mode analysis
7) Send back to manufacturer and get new drive under warranty
8) Strip down for useful connectors and SMD tantalums
9) Bulk sell the PCB's on Ebay for data recovery purposes
10) Sell them on Ebay for £0.99 each as "Faulty" :)
11) Fix them with Spinrite 6.0 and sell as refurbished drives
12) Stress relief (spin up to insane RPM and hit with hammer)
13) Novelty doorbell (put button in centre of platter)
14) Doorstop
15) Pack with Thermite and light it to see how much is left of drive
16) Maglev train (same principle as *1 but a row of them)
17) Miniature centrifuge (take off platters, add tube carrier unit)
18) Time capsule (write data, seal in durable case then bury in
concrete)
19) Laser scanner (glue mirrors to the spindle motor/actuator arm)
20) Tesla Turbine (nice flat platters- might work!)
21) Spin-coating machines
22) Gyroscopes for small satellites
23) Ultra-high RPM sanding machines
24) CD Destroyer (fix CD clamp to spindle motor and pin to head arm)
25) Strip spindle motors out, and use for small R/C helicopters
26) High efficiency motors for solar water pumps
27) Attach propellors and use as wind turbines

Please add to this :)

-A
"Bother" said Pooh, as his Geiger counter went off the scale...

28) Hang platters from wire hanger: Windchime
29) Mount a battery powered clock unit to a platter: Art deco clock
30) Frisbee
31) Reflective painting canvass (leave blank areas in image to use the
reflective property...)
 
K

KevinR

Jan 1, 1970
0
Get a sheet of plywood, paint it black and glue lots of platters to it
to make a 60s style mirror.

Get a really big sheet of plywood and mount loads of platters at such
an angle that they all reflect the sun to the same spot and use it as
a solar power thingy. I suspect it might actually be cheaper to buy
mirrors though and you might have trouble keeping Bond's light fingers
off the Solex.

I have actually used some parts in real life.
I used a bearing as a cam follower in a PCB etching agitating machine
I built and I used the motor spindle thingy as a boss to allow me to
use a puller to extract a bearing from a CCTV panning gear.

I have dozens of the incredibly strong magnets, as we scrap a hell of
a lot of drives here and I always strip out the magnets, as I still
haven't got over the novelty of them yet (well I am only 40). Still
trying to come up with a use for those, they're not an ideal shape
(well, I supose they are an ideal shape for hard drives)
 
A

Al

Jan 1, 1970
0
SumGie said:
28) Hang platters from wire hanger: Windchime
29) Mount a battery powered clock unit to a platter: Art deco clock
30) Frisbee
31) Reflective painting canvass (leave blank areas in image to use the
reflective property...)

Hang from rear view mirror.

Joking aside, I use the bearing as a swivel for the follower wheel on my
robot....smmmoooooth!

Al
 
C

Clint Sharp

Jan 1, 1970
0
Damn, forgot all about this, I first did this with a Conner CP344 HDD
about 12 years ago! Mind you, I only used a portable transistor radio as
the sound source so you had to get pretty damn close to hear it, but it
did work!
 
E

exxos

Jan 1, 1970
0
Andre said:
Hi group.

With all the computers being scrapped, there must be literally
thousands of useless HDD's dumped every week in the UK alone.

So, things to do with them.

1) Maglev (take off heads, use one of the actuator magnets)
2) Hard drive speakers (see Afrotech's site for this one)
3) Novelty paperweight (take off lid, fill with casting resin)
4) Novelty keyring (old Microdrives work well for this)
5) Exhibit in computer museum
6) Drive failure mode analysis
7) Send back to manufacturer and get new drive under warranty
8) Strip down for useful connectors and SMD tantalums
9) Bulk sell the PCB's on Ebay for data recovery purposes
10) Sell them on Ebay for £0.99 each as "Faulty" :)
11) Fix them with Spinrite 6.0 and sell as refurbished drives
12) Stress relief (spin up to insane RPM and hit with hammer)
13) Novelty doorbell (put button in centre of platter)
14) Doorstop
15) Pack with Thermite and light it to see how much is left of drive
16) Maglev train (same principle as *1 but a row of them)
17) Miniature centrifuge (take off platters, add tube carrier unit)
18) Time capsule (write data, seal in durable case then bury in
concrete)
19) Laser scanner (glue mirrors to the spindle motor/actuator arm)
20) Tesla Turbine (nice flat platters- might work!)
21) Spin-coating machines
22) Gyroscopes for small satellites
23) Ultra-high RPM sanding machines
24) CD Destroyer (fix CD clamp to spindle motor and pin to head arm)
25) Strip spindle motors out, and use for small R/C helicopters
26) High efficiency motors for solar water pumps
27) Attach propellors and use as wind turbines

Please add to this :)

-A
"Bother" said Pooh, as his Geiger counter went off the scale...


Big fat washers come to mind, ive got a few of um now, very large and
strong, im sure they will come in handy which I need a big fat washer for
something someday..........

Chris
 
C

Chaos Master

Jan 1, 1970
0
It was written by KevinR[[email protected]] in message
<[email protected]>:

[what to do with dead HDD]
I have dozens of the incredibly strong magnets, as we scrap a hell of
a lot of drives here and I always strip out the magnets, as I still
haven't got over the novelty of them yet (well I am only 40). Still
trying to come up with a use for those, they're not an ideal shape
(well, I supose they are an ideal shape for hard drives)

The magnets, if strong enough, could be used as "hangers" for tools.
Just don't put it near a working HDD.

I have a 2GB hard drive here that is dead. ah, if I was able to open it without
breaking it (really tight screws)....

[]s
 
C

Clint Sharp

Jan 1, 1970
0
exxos said:
Big fat washers come to mind, ive got a few of um now, very large and
strong, im sure they will come in handy which I need a big fat washer for
something someday..........
Some of the platters are glass though. IIRC IBM have some glass platter
drives.
 
E

exxos

Jan 1, 1970
0
Clint Sharp said:
Some of the platters are glass though. IIRC IBM have some glass platter
drives.

Not seen any of those, only the metal types.

Chris
 
A

Andre

Jan 1, 1970
0
exxos said:
Not seen any of those, only the metal types.

Took apart a Gatwicked (i.e. bounced around in luggage handling) hard
disk, 500MB. That had glass platters :)

The newer miniature laptop disks use them because they provide much
more stable surfaces for the sputter coating of media onto.

-A
 
W

Watson A.Name - \Watt Sun, the Dark Remover\

Jan 1, 1970
0
Andre said:
"exxos" <[email protected]> wrote in message

Took apart a Gatwicked (i.e. bounced around in luggage handling) hard
disk, 500MB. That had glass platters :)

The newer miniature laptop disks use them because they provide much
more stable surfaces for the sputter coating of media onto.

-A

I took apart a 2.5 inch HD to see what was inside, and I left the single
platter on the desk, thinking it was metal. I set something heavy on it
and heard a crunch, and yep, it turned out to be a glass platter, broken
into a bunch of splinters. :-(
 
A

Andre

Jan 1, 1970
0
Watson A.Name - \"Watt Sun said:
I took apart a 2.5 inch HD to see what was inside, and I left the single
platter on the desk, thinking it was metal. I set something heavy on it
and heard a crunch, and yep, it turned out to be a glass platter, broken
into a bunch of splinters. :-(

I did find a use for broken HDD platters. Cut the glass into suitable
pieces (wear goggles!!) and then glue onto a hard disk spindle motor.
Instant rotary mirror for laser projection :)

-A
 
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