# cpu hard drives



## tj1466 (Nov 23, 2011)

hi can anyone let me no if there is any Platinum in CPU hard drives ??? thank you have a happy Thanksgiving to all


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## jimdoc (Nov 23, 2011)

Very very little platinum. Better selling them as aluminum. Not worth the time, and effort to process for the tiny amount of platinum, and not all discs have platinum.

Jim


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## tj1466 (Nov 23, 2011)

thank you have a happy Thanksgiving


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## watcher6880 (Jan 5, 2012)

Most hard drive disks have a coating over the disk and the coating itself contains about 40% platinum but you would need 200 hard drives to yield enough platinum worth your time and effort.


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## jimdoc (Jan 5, 2012)

watcher6880 said:


> Most hard drive disks have a coating over the disk and the coating itself contains about 40% platinum but you would need 200 hard drives to yield enough platinum worth your time and effort.



How much platinum have you got out of 200 hard drives?


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## Claudie (Jan 6, 2012)

watcher6880 said:


> Most hard drive disks have a coating over the disk and the coating itself contains about 40% platinum but you would need 200 hard drives to yield enough platinum worth your time and effort.



Can you verify this information?


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## tlcarrig (Jan 6, 2012)

Are any hard drive frames made of magnesium? I have bare frames that weigh very differently.


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## Geo (Jan 7, 2012)

may be diecast.


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## watcher6880 (Jan 7, 2012)

Pretty sure it's diecast. The metal seems to be magnetic in nature so I am assuming that there is some steel base to it.


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## bswartzwelder (Jan 7, 2012)

Do diecast frames have any value? I doubt there is any valuable metals in them. What do scrapyards pay for diecast?


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## Geo (Jan 7, 2012)

bswartzwelder said:


> Do diecast frames have any value? I doubt there is any valuable metals in them. What do scrapyards pay for diecast?




less than aluminum. diecast is mainly a zinc alloy, people call it diecast aluminum but this is wrong.diecast aluminum is referred to as just cast aluminum but in different grades.diecast zinc is heavier and is dull gray until cut or scratched, other common names are "pot metal" and "pewter".a simple test to check for diecast is to scratch or cut a notch and spray a little white vinegar on it, if its aluminum there will be very little reaction but if its diecast zinc there will be a very strong reaction.


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## bswartzwelder (Jan 7, 2012)

Hey Geo,
Thanks a lot for the information. I have heard of these different "metals" and often wondered how many people are throwing around a name which is basically incorrect. As it stands, I guess all my hard drive housings are pretty much worthless.


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## Geo (Jan 7, 2012)

be sure to test. cast aluminum is bringing a decent price at the scrap yard.


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## Smack (Jan 7, 2012)

bswartzwelder there are three categories you will want to separate your aluminum into: 1 sheet aluminum, 2 extruded, 3 cast. Extruded brings the most money per pound, then cast then sheet, unless it is aluminum siding which brings more. Most heat sinks are extruded, you look at the cut end head on and that is the shape of the die that the aluminum was forced through. Some heat sinks are just bent sheet aluminum though and you can see where it has been bent, it will be slightly rounded at the bend. Power supplies are a good example of this as they usually have them inside. Your eye will spot these differences easily after a while.


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## bswartzwelder (Jan 8, 2012)

Again, thanks for sharing the knowledge. I did know about the three types of aluminum, but was unaware of the value of each. I would have thought sheet aluminum would have been worth more than cast aluminum, but I would have been mistaken. In addition to the aluminum siding, you missed one other type of aluminum. BEER CANS. Now that should have the highest value of all. LOL


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## steyr223 (Jan 10, 2012)

i cant vouch for other states but good ol california, southern\
i thinl what the reference to sheet aluminum above is here called mlc or machined now they seperate it into 
many catagories 
1. painted---- mlc thats painted------49 cents
2. MLC------------------------------------51 cents
3. cast------------------------------------53 cents
4. painted 6063--painted extrusion---59 cents
5 6063 --clean extrusion---------------62 cents

understand there are others to Molybdenum -escalators-the part you stand on- usually less then mlc
diecast ----------------------------------24 cents

and as far as cans -people make the mistake at $2.20-$2.90 /lb (i do not do cans)but that's not only aluminum that's the crv
the state of california makes you pay when you purchase the drink

i dont know how experienced you are at scrap yards just a few pointers 
t
2 words you dont want to here breakage and contaminated. when you hear this 
kiss your values goodby. 4 cents to 15 cents 
its very important to make sure you receive a 100% look in the eye when you ask what there paying
for such and such metal , you will find turning a way ,not answering ,suddenly being distracted. or just plain ignoring you
i have not found a yard that is even somewhat honest after 5 years and knowing almost everyone by first name
they still try one way or another
1 more thing if your stuff is not separated or completely clean of all foreign objects glue plaster paper plastic tape even stickers
dont expect top dollar 
you could have a trashcan full of brass $1.87/lb and copper #2 $2.45/lb say 300 pounds and if not separated worth .04 cents a pound

just tryin to help with my 2 cents
steyr223


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## steyr223 (Jan 10, 2012)

oops there's also wheel356 aluminum rims and pay's near or better than extrusion


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## jimdoc (Jan 10, 2012)

jimdoc said:


> watcher6880 said:
> 
> 
> > Most hard drive disks have a coating over the disk and the coating itself contains about 40% platinum but you would need 200 hard drives to yield enough platinum worth your time and effort.
> ...



Still waiting for an answer to this question.

Jim


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## johnny309 (Jan 10, 2012)

@SMACK ....has gathered 2500+ .....he would be courios too.....40% of what?....
Total weight or from weight of platting ,which I undestand is below 20 microinches.....


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## watcher6880 (Jan 11, 2012)

Oh I am sorry... I didn't see the follow-up to my answer... here is one of my sources... I tried to track down the other one but couldn't find it... I knew that I had read it somewhere... I hope this is helpfull... http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_platinum_in_a_hard_drive


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## jimdoc (Jan 11, 2012)

watcher6880 said:


> Oh I am sorry... I didn't see the follow-up to my answer... here is one of my sources... I tried to track down the other one but couldn't find it... I knew that I had read it somewhere... I hope this is helpfull... http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_platinum_in_a_hard_drive



According to that article 200 platters would be $20. Figure your time and chemicals, how is that worth your time and effort. I would just sell them for the aluminum and be done with it.

Jim


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## watcher6880 (Jan 11, 2012)

This is what I am paraphrasing from the URL I just listed:

" Improve


It's taken me just about forever, but I've finally found some way to answer the simple question "How much platinum is in these hard drive platters showing up on Ebay for salvage?" "The Chemistry of Computing" over at extremetech.com (article2/0,2845,1946290,00.asp) has all the facts: surface layer of Co-Cr-Pt alloy is 40-50% platinum, and the layer is ~30 nm thick. I don't have a hard drive platter in front of me, so let's just forget about the hole in the middle for a moment, so one platter from a 3.5" disk is 3.14*(3.5/2)^2=10.4 sq inches or 67.2 cm^2 ... times the 30 nm thickness (3x10^-6 cm) is 2.0x10-4 cm^3, times the (optimistic) 50% Pd, times the density of Pt (21.45 g/cm^3) and I estimate one platter has at most 2.2 mg Pt. As of 08/29/2008, the platinum spot price was 1470.00 USD per troy ounce, or more usefully, 4.73 cents per miligram. So, congratulations, you've just spent an hour of time and three cents of chemicals (just a guess, probably high) to reclaim 10 cents of platinum, probably still contaminated with cobalt and chromium depending on your recovery method. I hope you bought a whole bunch of platters cheap and rode a bike to pick them up because I doubt you'll be paying for gas let alone the shipping with the platinum. Or hope those early hard drives used a much thicker layer....



Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_platinum_in_a_hard_drive#ixzz36M9tbBOM"


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## Smack (Jan 11, 2012)

That's just for one side right? I didn't see where you figured in the other side, just checking.


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## watcher6880 (Jan 11, 2012)

I'm pretty sure it's the whole disk... seems like both sides look identical in nature so... I guess one would assume the entire disk is coated that way... I may be wrong but it is a guess.


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## Smack (Jan 12, 2012)

bswartzwelder said:


> Again, thanks for sharing the knowledge. I did know about the three types of aluminum, but was unaware of the value of each. I would have thought sheet aluminum would have been worth more than cast aluminum, but I would have been mistaken. In addition to the aluminum siding, you missed one other type of aluminum. BEER CANS. Now that should have the highest value of all. LOL



That's true on the can, but not just beer, anything with a 10 cent deposit is worth more here in Michigan. Once you get the gold out of the beer cans they are worth a little less to most of us.


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## watcher6880 (Jan 12, 2012)

Gold in beer cans? That wasn't a joke I assume??


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## Geo (Jan 12, 2012)

http://goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=60&t=12195&hilit=beer

lol.


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## Smack (Jan 12, 2012)

haha maybe I should have said amber.


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## kuma (Jan 13, 2012)

Teeheehee :mrgreen:


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## goaldspektre (Jan 14, 2012)

Don't aim for Pt when the Ag is easier and the Au even more so.Gold is everywhere, easy to get if you think hard enough.And don't bother with mis givings and nay sayers.BTW tons of Pt in ram chips that they won't tell you here.Refining is easy,a monkey could do it!I have refined for twenty years and the bs i've heard here is sickening.Harold,Steve,GSP and a few others know what they're talking about.The rest I would question because I've never heard some of the crap i've heard here! I posted some bs and got some stupid responses that justified my two cents.Patnor has a great way of doing chips of all types,awesome technique in my books.Steve's methods always work, ask GSP a question about scrap refining/reclamation and there's an answer.Everyone else thinks they know it all with "have you read Hokes book?"Uh yea I did and in todays world Hoke isn't the definitive answer.Harold is King in the world of refining,listen to him.Incinerate , fume hood....etc.Most of this forum is obviously scrap reclamation.If you want more money sell E-scrap to China.If you want to refine gold buy karat scrap,dental,eyewear,or even plated!Btw when I stated there was Pd in Ram chips...you need a tonne to get an ounce so I would say keep working at your day job like the Hoffmans should have!


Rob in Canada


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## Geo (Jan 14, 2012)

ummm.... ok.


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## Smack (Jan 14, 2012)

Gosh he's so open minded.


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## joem (Jan 14, 2012)

where the heck did that come from? :shock: 
i know personally what members of this forum can do to help each other and i have seen almost every topic discussed by the most knowledged and the least, your comment has not brought any helpful information to this topic.


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## Claudie (Jan 15, 2012)

One ounce of PT per one ton of RAM chips (I assume you mean packages), is this your personal yield or did you get that information second hand? :|


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