# 35% of alloy on hard drive platters is platinum



## Chumbawamba (Jun 23, 2010)

Gustavus pointed me to this platinum industry website and I found this interesting datum:



> Information storage requirements continue to expand at rapid rates, fuelled by the growing use of computers for video and audio applications. Today, all hard disks contain platinum in their magnetic layers, compared with around 50 per cent in 1997. *The proportion of platinum in the magnetic alloy has been increasing steadily over time, from less than 10 per cent five years ago to over 35 per cent, on average, today.*



The link to the above:

http://www.platinum.matthey.com/applications/industrial-applications/hard-disks/

At 35% platinum in the alloy, it would seem to me, then, that modern hard drives are, in fact, worth the trouble to extract. Except for one last question: 35% of what? 

Now we just need to know the thickness of the alloy plating on the substrate. If it's anything like gold plating on connectors and contacts, and based on the price of Pt and the relatively low cost of hard drives, then it's probably minimal.


----------



## EDI Refining (Jun 23, 2010)

35 % more disc contain minor minor minor traces of Pt, compared to 5 yrs ago, where only 10% of disc contained minor minor amounts...


----------



## Chumbawamba (Jun 24, 2010)

Hi P3M.

The article clearly states that the _proportion of platinum_ in the _magnetic alloy_ has been increasing steadily over time "to over 35 per cent, on average, today."


----------



## jimdoc (Jun 24, 2010)

Its 35% of a very thin layer of the discs,and you can't tell by looking at them.So you gamble with processing them for a very small amount
of platinum.It really isn't worth the effort at this time.35% of a layer that is as thin as they can possibly make it,doesn't add up to much.
If you have your heart set on getting the platinum from hard drive disks,hey go for it.And show us the picture of all your platinum.

Jim


----------



## Palladium (Jun 24, 2010)

Jim's right. It would take a truckload to even start to equal anything. They also use rhodium for the reflectors in headlight assemblies and they use palladium as a nucleation surface somehow to plate the chrome on the plastic grills of the Ford F-150.


----------

