What a waste....

[The Tardis Trio]

My dilemma (which there isn't much I can do about)...

I saw some old hard drives in the I.T. department the other day and asked if I could have them to rip the magnets out. Sadly the answer is no because they all get sent off to be destroyed securely.

A few days later they came back to me and said I can pull them apart at work, recover the magnets and return all the other parts so the remains can be destroyed (we have some sensitive data, but you'd have to be real keen to try and get some of that data of an opened, half destroyed HDD).

So my dilemma is this: being excited to possibly get a few magnets, I saw the IT guy again today, he then took me past the few drives I had been looking at and took me to a wheelie bin full of 100+ (probably triple that) hard drives. "Oh my" I said, so many magnets, however it's about to be sent of to secure disposal "soon". I don't know how many days away is "soon" - IT aren't sure either.

I've love to have a working bee where a few people could all pull them apart, but these drives cannot leave the premises (unless in secured bin) and I can't get anyone else on the premises either. Such a waste I'm out of town for a few days, so I'm really hoping they are still there when I get back, so I can at least recover some magnets from some of the drives.

Thanks for letting me vent my spleen. I knew people here would understand such a waste of good magnets. Other people at work think I'm crazy.

[noikmeister]

My dilemma (which there isn't much I can do about)...

I saw some old hard drives in the I.T. department the other day and asked if I could have them to rip the magnets out. Sadly the answer is no because they all get sent off to be destroyed securely.

A few days later they came back to me and said I can pull them apart at work, recover the magnets and return all the other parts so the remains can be destroyed (we have some sensitive data, but you'd have to be real keen to try and get some of that data of an opened, half destroyed HDD).

So my dilemma is this: being excited to possibly get a few magnets, I saw the IT guy again today, he then took me past the few drives I had been looking at and took me to a wheelie bin full of 100+ (probably triple that) hard drives. "Oh my" I said, so many magnets, however it's about to be sent of to secure disposal "soon". I don't know how many days away is "soon" - IT aren't sure either.

I've love to have a working bee where a few people could all pull them apart, but these drives cannot leave the premises (unless in secured bin) and I can't get anyone else on the premises either. Such a waste I'm out of town for a few days, so I'm really hoping they are still there when I get back, so I can at least recover some magnets from some of the drives.

Thanks for letting me vent my spleen. I knew people here would understand such a waste of good magnets. Other people at work think I'm crazy.

I did exactly this at my workplace. With practice and a few cuts I could do about 10 drives (i.e. 20 magnets) in my lunch hour. 20 of those magnets is a LOT! If you are going to go it you will need a variety of Torx bits, but most of mine used Torx 8 from memory. Also keep in mind that some drives have screws hidden under the label on top. You don't need to peel it off, just feel for a depression and jam the screwdriver into it. It will go straight through.

[nibbler]

what is teh best technique for removing magnets. I have tried before and it was mighty challenging

[noikmeister]

what is teh best technique for removing magnets. I have tried before and it was mighty challenging

It depends on the brand, but in general:
Remove the circuit board and discard
Remove the screws holding the top cover on, paying attention to screws under the label
Inside there is a pivoting head mechanism the has fingers between the circular platters and a coil between the magnets. There is usually a screw holding this at its pivot point. Remove this, it may be accessed from below and may be under a label or sticker.
Remove any screws holding the magnets in place, once again they may be from below and may be covered by stickers.
Remove the magnets, including the "shoes" they are attached to. I usually try to store them in a pair in the way they were aligned inside the case.

[covert]

Fastest method I have found for pulling apart HD to get out the magnets is a drill press.

[Rigger64]

The Best way i have found to get the thing aprt requires 1x Hammerable flat blade screwdriver the type that has the steel that goes through the whole screwdriver & a hammer & a foot & a bit of BFI.
Then once you have pryed the lid off find the screws that hold the the magnet pry it loose all done i have goten it down to about less the five mins a drive.

BTW: BFI = Brute Force & ignarance. in other words just rip bloody thing apart. the Hard disc it's Self will be pretty Stuffed like a few good size gouges in if you lucky & maybe even bent depending which side the screwdriver went in.
Just take a little care with the magnets but not to much.

[Papa Bear_Left]

Two of the joys in a maker's life are 1) having exactly the right tool for a job on hand and 2) having the wrong tool entirely but making it work anyway.

In the case of dismantling HDs for the magnets, I lean toward the former in terms of efficiency.

Some years ago I picked up a kit of unusual screwdrivers from (IIRC) Jaycar, which has some Torx and two-prong and other weird tools in it, as well as a couple of sizes of Phillips and slotted drivers. Invaluable for HDs, since it covers all the screws in all the brands I've tried and makes it a quick and fairly painless job.

I have a box full of 2.5" drives (mostly 20GB) that I got from the mob who make video surveillance gear for buses. When the warranty period is up, they swap the drives since it's cheaper than paying the penalty fee if one fails in operation, so they throw away a LOT of drives.
I offered to throw away some for them, and they were happy with that. The data on them is in a strange proprietary format and is mostly of people sitting quietly in buses, so security's not a problem for them.

[noikmeister]

If you want to do an eclipse tin under a bench I would never bother with HDD magnets when you can get little rare earth magnets that will do the job for next to nothing. Just buy $20 worth and you have enough magnets to last you a lifetime.

[WazzaAndWenches]

Once you've pulled the hdd apart a ratted the magnets, try grabbing a couple of the platters for coffee coasters - they look pretty all right sitting on my office desk in a stack about 8 platters high (a few mates sometimes drop in for a bundy on a friday night )

[noikmeister]

Once you've pulled the hdd apart a ratted the magnets, try grabbing a couple of the platters for coffee coasters - they look pretty all right sitting on my office desk in a stack about 8 platters high (a few mates sometimes drop in for a bundy on a friday night )

They are the parts his company wont let go!