# Foil on hard drive platters



## boutselis

When you dissolve the aluminum in a hard drive platter with muratic acid, what is the foil that is left behind?


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## patnor1011

Pretty much nothing. Sorry to disappoint you. Some of them may contain some Pd but when foil weight few milligrams and Pd may account of some tiny percentage of that milligram it is way beyond any home refiner to make a profit. 
It is the same as saying There is gold in them hills. You may spend years digging and never find a speck.


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## boutselis

patnor1011 said:


> Pretty much nothing. Sorry to disappoint you. Some of them may contain some Pd but when foil weight few milligrams and Pd may account of some tiny percentage of that milligram it is way beyond any home refiner to make a profit.
> It is the same as saying There is gold in them hills. You may spend years digging and never find a speck.




But what is the metal. I know the platinum content is very small but what is the rest? Even off of a tiny clip of the platter when the aluminum dissolves there is a noticeable pice of foil left. I am betting it is layers with more than one metal because if the whole foil was palladium or platinum then it would be worth quite a lot of money. 

So what is the other layer in the foil?


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## jimdoc

boutselis said:


> patnor1011 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty much nothing. Sorry to disappoint you. Some of them may contain some Pd but when foil weight few milligrams and Pd may account of some tiny percentage of that milligram it is way beyond any home refiner to make a profit.
> It is the same as saying There is gold in them hills. You may spend years digging and never find a speck.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But what is the metal. I know the platinum content is very small but what is the rest? Even off of a tiny clip of the platter when the aluminum dissolves there is a noticeable pice of foil left. I am betting it is layers with more than one metal because if the whole foil was palladium or platinum then it would be worth quite a lot of money.
> 
> So what is the other layer in the foil?
Click to expand...


cobalt?

Jim


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## goldsilverpro

boutselis,

I would say that it's beyond any refiner to make a profit on the Pt from these disks. I can't see any refiner in the world processing them for the Pt. If they're sold as scrap aluminum, the Pt might or might not eventually be separated out as an impurity when the Al is reprocessed. The Pt is way too small an amount for anyone to treat this as a Pt proposition. It's an aluminum proposition all the way.

From what I understand, for maximum storage capability, the thickness of the Pt/Co magnetic layer is limited to about 20nm. Were it thicker, it wouldn't work as well.



Wikipedia said:


> The platters are made from a non-magnetic material, usually aluminum alloy, glass, or ceramic, and are coated with a shallow layer of magnetic material typically 10–20 nm in depth, with an outer layer of carbon for protection. For reference, a standard piece of copy paper is 0.07–0.18 millimetre (70,000–180,000 nm).
> 
> The magnetic surface of each platter is conceptually divided into many small sub-micrometer-sized magnetic regions, referred to as magnetic domains, (although these are not magnetic domains in a rigorous physical sense), each of which has a mostly uniform magnetization. Due to the polycrystalline nature of the magnetic material each of these magnetic regions is composed of a few hundred magnetic grains. Magnetic grains are typically 10 nm in size and each form a single true magnetic domain. Each magnetic region in total forms a magnetic dipole which generates a magnetic field. In older disk designs the regions were oriented horizontally and parallel to the disk surface, but beginning about 2005, the orientation was changed to perpendicular to allow for closer magnetic domain spacing.



You're beating a dead horse.


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## patnor1011

It only look like noticeable piece. In fact it is nothing. Vapour deposited non magnetic metal alloy. It may look nice and thick in fact it is only bits or coating of undissolved aluminium, surface of each platter is usually covered with a thin, protective layer made of carbon and, a super-thin lubricating layer. That is why it looks thick. 
You will never recover any Pt profitably. You may recover Pt however recovery will cost you many times more it value.

https://fscimage.thermoscientific.com/images/D01866~.pdf

http://www.agsemiconductor.com/SputterDeposition.php


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## NobleMetalWorks

The material is usually a cobalt alloy of some type. So think about this, the alloyed metals that make up the shiny surface of the hard drive platters is an alloy, laid down atoms thick. Of that alloy there will probably not be more than 30 percent in PGMs. And 30% is not the norm, it's usually more like 10%, and of that percentage only part of that will be Platinum, there is probably Palladium in the alloyed metal as well.

If you are thinking about selling the foils for whatever other metals they have in them, it's not even worth the time to type the question to be totally honest. On hard drives, the money is in the logic board, and the Al housing of the hard drive internal components. I know you are probably thinking that if that were the case, all those people selling hard drive platters wouldn't be doing so on eBay. But remember, eBay is all speculative, and many of those people are treating computer parts as commodities, buying, selling and profit taking. Just like stocks. The value is in what people perceive to be in the hard drive platters, not in the actual value. Just take a look at Pentium Pro's and you will understand what I am talking about.

I wouldn't waste my time, effort or energy worrying about whatever foils come off after dissolving the platters in HCl. Instead, I would toss them in with your Al scrap, and sell them to a recycler. Unless you don't worry about the time, effort and energy involved in defoiling them. But what are you going to do about the Al in your HCl now? That is worth a lot more than whatever PGMs you might glean from the platters.

Oh and one more thing, if you do plan to goof around with hard drive platters, keep in mind that it's only the more relatively recent hard drives that even used Pt.

Scott


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## boutselis

jimdoc said:


> boutselis said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> patnor1011 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty much nothing. Sorry to disappoint you. Some of them may contain some Pd but when foil weight few milligrams and Pd may account of some tiny percentage of that milligram it is way beyond any home refiner to make a profit.
> It is the same as saying There is gold in them hills. You may spend years digging and never find a speck.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But what is the metal. I know the platinum content is very small but what is the rest? Even off of a tiny clip of the platter when the aluminum dissolves there is a noticeable pice of foil left. I am betting it is layers with more than one metal because if the whole foil was palladium or platinum then it would be worth quite a lot of money.
> 
> So what is the other layer in the foil?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> cobalt?
> 
> Jim
Click to expand...

Are you asking if its cobalt or are you saying its cobalt?


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## boutselis

goldsilverpro said:


> boutselis,
> 
> I would say that it's beyond any refiner to make a profit on the Pt from these disks. I can't see any refiner in the world processing them for the Pt. If they're sold as scrap aluminum, the Pt might or might not eventually be separated out as an impurity when the Al is reprocessed. The Pt is way too small an amount for anyone to treat this as a Pt proposition. It's an aluminum proposition all the way.
> 
> From what I understand, for maximum storage capability, the thickness of the Pt/Co magnetic layer is limited to about 20nm. Were it thicker, it wouldn't work as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Wikipedia said:
> 
> 
> 
> The magnetic surface of each platter is conceptually divided into many small sub-micrometer-sized magnetic regions, referred to as magnetic domains, (although these are not magnetic domains in a rigorous physical sense), each of which has a mostly uniform magnetization. Due to the polycrystalline nature of the magnetic material each of these magnetic regions is composed of a few hundred magnetic grains. Magnetic grains are typically 10 nm in size and each form a single true magnetic domain. Each magnetic region in total forms a magnetic dipole which generates a magnetic field. In older disk designs the regions were oriented horizontally and parallel to the disk surface, but beginning about 2005, the orientation was changed to perpendicular to allow for closer magnetic domain spacing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're beating a dead horse.
Click to expand...



If you read my question, the part where I said i know the amount of platinum is very small, you might not think I'm trying to get that dead horse to stand back up. but thanks for the info just the same.


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## boutselis

SBrown said:


> The material is usually a cobalt alloy of some type. So think about this, the alloyed metals that make up the shiny surface of the hard drive platters is an alloy, laid down atoms thick. Of that alloy there will probably not be more than 30 percent in PGMs. And 30% is not the norm, it's usually more like 10%, and of that percentage only part of that will be Platinum, there is probably Palladium in the alloyed metal as well.
> 
> If you are thinking about selling the foils for whatever other metals they have in them, it's not even worth the time to type the question to be totally honest. On hard drives, the money is in the logic board, and the Al housing of the hard drive internal components. I know you are probably thinking that if that were the case, all those people selling hard drive platters wouldn't be doing so on eBay. But remember, eBay is all speculative, and many of those people are treating computer parts as commodities, buying, selling and profit taking. Just like stocks. The value is in what people perceive to be in the hard drive platters, not in the actual value. Just take a look at Pentium Pro's and you will understand what I am talking about.
> 
> I wouldn't waste my time, effort or energy worrying about whatever foils come off after dissolving the platters in HCl. Instead, I would toss them in with your Al scrap, and sell them to a recycler. Unless you don't worry about the time, effort and energy involved in defoiling them. But what are you going to do about the Al in your HCl now? That is worth a lot more than whatever PGMs you might glean from the platters.
> 
> Oh and one more thing, if you do plan to goof around with hard drive platters, keep in mind that it's only the more relatively recent hard drives that even used Pt.
> 
> Scott




Ok. so its cobalt. that is all I wanted to know. I have no plans to do anything with them. I was just asking what the metal was. 

thank you.


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## jimdoc

boutselis said:


> jimdoc said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> boutselis said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> patnor1011 said:
> 
> 
> 
> Pretty much nothing. Sorry to disappoint you. Some of them may contain some Pd but when foil weight few milligrams and Pd may account of some tiny percentage of that milligram it is way beyond any home refiner to make a profit.
> It is the same as saying There is gold in them hills. You may spend years digging and never find a speck.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> But what is the metal. I know the platinum content is very small but what is the rest? Even off of a tiny clip of the platter when the aluminum dissolves there is a noticeable pice of foil left. I am betting it is layers with more than one metal because if the whole foil was palladium or platinum then it would be worth quite a lot of money.
> 
> So what is the other layer in the foil?
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> cobalt?
> 
> Jim
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> Are you asking if its cobalt or are you saying its cobalt?
Click to expand...


It doesn't matter.

Jim


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## patnor1011

boutselis said:


> goldsilverpro said:
> 
> 
> 
> boutselis,
> 
> I would say that it's beyond any refiner to make a profit on the Pt from these disks. I can't see any refiner in the world processing them for the Pt. If they're sold as scrap aluminum, the Pt might or might not eventually be separated out as an impurity when the Al is reprocessed. The Pt is way too small an amount for anyone to treat this as a Pt proposition. It's an aluminum proposition all the way.
> 
> From what I understand, for maximum storage capability, the thickness of the Pt/Co magnetic layer is limited to about 20nm. Were it thicker, it wouldn't work as well.
> 
> 
> 
> Wikipedia said:
> 
> 
> 
> The magnetic surface of each platter is conceptually divided into many small sub-micrometer-sized magnetic regions, referred to as magnetic domains, (although these are not magnetic domains in a rigorous physical sense), each of which has a mostly uniform magnetization. Due to the polycrystalline nature of the magnetic material each of these magnetic regions is composed of a few hundred magnetic grains. Magnetic grains are typically 10 nm in size and each form a single true magnetic domain. Each magnetic region in total forms a magnetic dipole which generates a magnetic field. In older disk designs the regions were oriented horizontally and parallel to the disk surface, but beginning about 2005, the orientation was changed to perpendicular to allow for closer magnetic domain spacing.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> You're beating a dead horse.
> 
> Click to expand...
> 
> 
> 
> If you read my question, the part where I said i know the amount of platinum is very small, you might not think I'm trying to get that dead horse to stand back up. but thanks for the info just the same.
Click to expand...


I replied to your other post on the forum. It is all here. If you just used search function on forum and skim through threads about hdd platters and foils your question would be answered without you even posting it here. 
Every month or so somebody sometimes few people come asking all the same around, again and again. Why not to nuke everything in AR? How much platinum in HDD? How much gold in CPU? 

Please I do not wish to offend you but do yourself a favour. You claimed you want to learn things so start to learn and study instead of cluttering forum with threads posting endless questions which can be answered with little effort from your side. You are not the first one who was advised to read Hoke (read till it makes sense) or search on forum, in fact everyone is advised to do so.


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## NobleMetalWorks

boutselis said:


> Ok. so its cobalt. that is all I wanted to know. I have no plans to do anything with them. I was just asking what the metal was.
> 
> thank you.



Not actually, it's an alloy of cobalt. Also, if you deal with laptop hard drives, you might run across some made of out glass. Just be aware that they exist, and process accordingly.

So the plating on your hard disk platters is most likely made up of some proprietary cobalt alloy that might contain small amounts of Pt or Pd or both, or none. The alloyed mix of the cobalt could not be answered by anyone in this forum, unless you knew the manufacturer, the date they were manufactured, and held in your hand the exact spec sheet for those exact hard drive platters. Your question is a little more complicated than you might think, and most people skip over answering questions that don't really hold any value for anyone reading the post after. There are a lot of posts on this exact subject.

A lot of times people who post questions almost seem to act like they are entitled to an immediate answer, add to this the attitude that people looking for precious metals often display, that undying belief that what they have, has untold amounts of precious metals, and thus do not listen to what more experienced people say, makes for a very exhausting read for people who know better. It's hard for people who have already satisfied their curiosity, and learned, to stand by and watch another person waste their time speculating on what might be. They would prefer to just simply be able to say that there is no value in it, and dispense with the conversation in a thread that will eventually be buried and die because of the volumes of information on the subject that have been discussed prior to this post.

Anyway, I'm off my soapbox now. I hope you don't get defensive and start posturing as if people are ganging up on you. That's how you are going to feel, and you might want to lash out. Before you do so try to remember that this forum is exceedingly unique in the fact that there are volumes of information that refiners might call proprietary. If you end up leaving here never to come back, you will have missed out on the single most important accumulation of information regarding recovering, refining, mining heck doing ANYTHING at all with precious metals. Some have made that mistake, please take our criticism well because I would really hate to see another person make the same mistake. To loose this resource would surely hurt any future endeavor you might be planning to take.

Scott


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## SFC

At URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_crash

It states the following about what is on the top layer of a hard drive platter:

A head normally rides on a thin film of moving air entrapped at the surface of its platter (some drives of the mid-1990s used a thin liquid layer instead). The topmost layer of the platter is made of a Teflon-like material that acts like a lubricant. Underneath is a layer of sputtered carbon. These two layers protect the magnetic layer (data storage area) from most accidental touches of the read-write head.[1]

Charles


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## goldsilverpro

If I were to make a guess, according to the chart at the bottom of the 1st link given by patnor, I would say that the foil left over after dissolving the Al would mainly be tantalum and a polymer.


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## samuel-a

goldsilverpro said:


> If I were to make a guess, according to the chart at the bottom of the 1st link given by patnor, I would say that the foil left over after dissolving the Al would mainly be tantalum and a polymer.




I have done several tests with all sorts of platters.... Though, i was not able to find evidance of PGM's, i did get on occasions a silver colored needley foils left after boiling AR... I thought it possibly be Ru, but now i'm more convinced it is really Ta.


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## boutselis

SBrown said:


> boutselis said:
> 
> 
> 
> Ok. so its cobalt. that is all I wanted to know. I have no plans to do anything with them. I was just asking what the metal was.
> 
> thank you.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Not actually, it's an alloy of cobalt. Also, if you deal with laptop hard drives, you might run across some made of out glass. Just be aware that they exist, and process accordingly.
> 
> So the plating on your hard disk platters is most likely made up of some proprietary cobalt alloy that might contain small amounts of Pt or Pd or both, or none. The alloyed mix of the cobalt could not be answered by anyone in this forum, unless you knew the manufacturer, the date they were manufactured, and held in your hand the exact spec sheet for those exact hard drive platters. Your question is a little more complicated than you might think, and most people skip over answering questions that don't really hold any value for anyone reading the post after. There are a lot of posts on this exact subject.
> 
> A lot of times people who post questions almost seem to act like they are entitled to an immediate answer, add to this the attitude that people looking for precious metals often display, that undying belief that what they have, has untold amounts of precious metals, and thus do not listen to what more experienced people say, makes for a very exhausting read for people who know better. It's hard for people who have already satisfied their curiosity, and learned, to stand by and watch another person waste their time speculating on what might be. They would prefer to just simply be able to say that there is no value in it, and dispense with the conversation in a thread that will eventually be buried and die because of the volumes of information on the subject that have been discussed prior to this post.
> 
> Anyway, I'm off my soapbox now. I hope you don't get defensive and start posturing as if people are ganging up on you. That's how you are going to feel, and you might want to lash out. Before you do so try to remember that this forum is exceedingly unique in the fact that there are volumes of information that refiners might call proprietary. If you end up leaving here never to come back, you will have missed out on the single most important accumulation of information regarding recovering, refining, mining heck doing ANYTHING at all with precious metals. Some have made that mistake, please take our criticism well because I would really hate to see another person make the same mistake. To loose this resource would surely hurt any future endeavor you might be planning to take.
> 
> Scott
Click to expand...


Thank you for the info. I have constantly wondered what it was exactly I had been selling all these years. 

I never felt like I was entitled to an immediate answer or even any answer. I'm not sure if I'm entitled for people take the time to respond by saying it doesn't matter or telling me I'm beating dead animals. I have no idea why people do things like that. If no one wants to answer then fine. but why take the time to tell me my curiosity is a waste of time. If they have satisfied their curiosity then why put down mine? If they don't want to answer they why on earth would some one post derision? it seems it would have been quicker to either say nothing or say the correct thing as you did. 

Again. Thank you very much for the info and the advice. And don't get me wrong. People quirkiness has never bothered me. I find it fascinating. And I did try the search function. I didn't get anywhere. Maybe I used it wrong.


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## patnor1011

boutselis said:


> Thank you for the info. I have constantly wondered what it was exactly I had been selling all these years.
> 
> I never felt like I was entitled to an immediate answer or even any answer. I'm not sure if I'm entitled for people take the time to respond by saying it doesn't matter or telling me I'm beating dead animals. I have no idea why people do things like that. If no one wants to answer then fine. but why take the time to tell me my curiosity is a waste of time. If they have satisfied their curiosity then why put down mine? If they don't want to answer they why on earth would some one post derision? it seems it would have been quicker to either say nothing or say the correct thing as you did.
> 
> Again. Thank you very much for the info and the advice. And don't get me wrong. People quirkiness has never bothered me. I find it fascinating. And I did try the search function. I didn't get anywhere. Maybe I used it wrong.



You may not realize that but people actually try to help you. When they realize that you want to satisfy your curiosity by posting questions instead of doing something yourself - like using search properly, then you will have all the time to study as your questions remain unanswered. Things you asked so far are considered as general knowledge over here and can be easily answered by just reading forum for several days. 

Your curiosity is mainly waste of your own time. It will just put you in position of somebody who want others to do his homework.

There is no point to help somebody if he does not want to help himself.


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## Harold_V

boutselis said:


> I never felt like I was entitled to an immediate answer or even any answer. I'm not sure if I'm entitled for people take the time to respond by saying it doesn't matter or telling me I'm beating dead animals. I have no idea why people do things like that. If no one wants to answer then fine. but why take the time to tell me my curiosity is a waste of time. If they have satisfied their curiosity then why put down mine? If they don't want to answer they why on earth would some one post derision? it seems it would have been quicker to either say nothing or say the correct thing as you did.


From all indications, you have a pattern of asking questions that, to those in the know, are meaningless. Then you prefer to fight than to accept replies that don't live up to your expectations. That doesn't fly here. That has a way of taking the valuable time of those of us who keep watch over the forum. Read the forum, and do research on subjects in which you wish to learn more. The answer to the question concerning disks has been beaten to death on this board. If you can't find posts related to the subject matter, you're simply not trying very hard. I also highly recommend you do not present arguments for those who provide answers with which you do not agree. You are quickly wearing out your welcome here. If you don't like the fact that the majority of readers have responded in a way you don't enjoy, perhaps you should look inward to determine if, maybe, you're out of line. 

I'm going to give you a little friendly tip, and if you value your presence on this forum, you're going to take it to heart. 

Do research instead of chastising those who tell you you're wasting time with given subject matters. While we're here to help others learn the art of refining, we are NOT here to be your baby sitter, nor to school you in all subject matters. Here, we discuss the refining of precious metals---and we try to avoid materials that contain so little that there is no economical way for the novice to recover them with any degree of success. When a consensus has been established, that there is little of value for which a refiner should spend his time, we agree, and move on. To explain in fine detail to everyone who demands greater knowledge is not a part of the purpose of the board, in particular when the subject has been well documented, as this one has. 

Take note that I readily ban readers who are troublesome. I can not, in clear conscience, stand by while one individual disrupts the decorum of the board. Start reading and stop talking. Don't post until you have reasonable questions or comments. If you continue the course, you won't be here much longer. 

Harold


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## craigmotyka

i had 20 different platters tested with a metal analyzer this past week at a scap yard in philadelphia it is nickel a very small amount he test tested it hit it wit a grinder than tested again only two metals came up nickel and aluminum


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## zzz

Platinum in hard drive is a lie.


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## goldsilverpro

zzz said:


> Platinum in hard drive is a lie.



Although it's too little to recover (from 1 to 5 cents/disk), I believe that some disks (maybe, most modern ones) contain Pt. I am going by what I believe to be authoritative articles on the internet.
http://www.goldrefiningforum.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=58&t=15092&hilit=hard+disk 

Maybe the XRF at the scrap yard wasn't programmed for Pt.


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## voeckel

Hi Forum,

although this is an old thread, below is a link that seems to give proper information on it. It is very detailed and you might learn a lot about what platters consist of.

http://www.extremetech.com/computing/77316-the-chemistry-of-computing/5

(edit)
Here 2 more links which will provide all answers.
1. http://www.techradar.com/news/computing-components/storage/how-the-humble-hard-drive-is-made-667183
2. (condensed version of the first link with all calculations) http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_platinum_in_a_hard_drive

If you calculate on 60% of the calculated results, you should be on the safe side.
(end edit)

enjoy reading. 


[EDITED for better overview, added more links]


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## kjt124

Just wanted to jump in a bit... Since we know that the platters are obviously aluminum scrap unless you want to wade through feebay (in which case they are the motherlode with endless amounts of undiscovered platinum!!)...

Has anyone started ripping open the solid state drives yet? Has anyone found anything interesting? I am predicting they are boring inside as I imagine it is some static storing polymer or something that holds the data, but I haven't gotten my hands on any. I guess they take quite a while to fail / go obsolete...

I didn't see anything on a very cursory search on the forum, but I imagine they have been around long enough now that we might start seeing them show up in our scrap grabs.

Thanks,
Kevin


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## shmandi

Hello refiners.
As I don't want to open new thread, I thought to post a question in this one.
I opened an old Fujitsu HDD model M2613ET and found 3 weird platters, none like I have ever seen. Disk has 3 platters and 6 heads, which seem to have colored gold wire.
Platters also have coated edge with some metal going from light brown to silver color.
Any idea what material could this be?
Is my assumption about gold wire in heads correct? I apologize for picture quality as it was taken under microscope.


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## shmandi

kjt124 said:


> Just wanted to jump in a bit... Since we know that the platters are obviously aluminum scrap unless you want to wade through feebay (in which case they are the motherlode with endless amounts of undiscovered platinum!!)...
> 
> Has anyone started ripping open the solid state drives yet? Has anyone found anything interesting? I am predicting they are boring inside as I imagine it is some static storing polymer or something that holds the data, but I haven't gotten my hands on any. I guess they take quite a while to fail / go obsolete...
> 
> I didn't see anything on a very cursory search on the forum, but I imagine they have been around long enough now that we might start seeing them show up in our scrap grabs.
> 
> Thanks,
> Kevin


I don't think that inside SSD is anything else that some flash chips and other small electronic components.


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## shmandi

I made a scratch on platter and it looks like aluminium inside.
but still have no idea what this dark brown/black coating is.
Anyone has any idea?


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## alvaschein

You can remove the brownish coating with conc. HCl. In the first moment it looks like it would dissolve the metal but if you get a nearer look to it you can see that its only dissolving the outer coating but not the metal.
You can test it slightly connecting an ohm-meter on the untreated surface. You will note that the meter indicates no value. After treating the platter with HCl the ohm-meter clearly shows 0 ohms.
The carrier-metal itself is something like an aluminum-magnesium alloy which easily dissolves in HCl leaving the outer foil.
I tried once to dissolve an entire platter (cut into pieces) in HCl and treated the remaining folils with HNO3. Everything dissolved and the PM-test (stannous chloride) was always negative.
So far my experiences with HDD platters. I still have about 300 platters and I guess I will sell them for handicraft work.

The coating material itself, as found on wikipedia, is called a diamond-like carbon overcoat.

Roy


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## shmandi

Thanks for information. I haven't seen this type of platters before, so I thought that they are something special. lol.
but anyway there is at least some milligrams of gold wire from heads


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## solar_plasma

> at least some milligrams of gold wire from heads



Are you sure? Did you test it? They always looked like copper to me.


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## shmandi

I havent tested the wire yet. but on some disks there is gold printed on plastic sheet like a flat cable. I have peeled many of them. This looks like an insulated gold wire. It is very soft and yelow under paint


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## patnor1011

It was reported by some members way back that some hdd do have tiny gold wires close to read/write head. It is here on the forum somewhere.


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## shmandi

I actually found that most of hard drives do have gold wire. I need to check to confirm that is really pure gold.
few hard drives I found had wire grey color and also soft like gold. But I have no idea what that metal is.
Here is a picture of half of hard drive head from laptop. And next one is a close up of head.
One can clearly see 4 gold wires on the whole lenght of arm.


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## solar_plasma

Once I read a thread in here, that they are not worth proccessing, but I guess,I will examine all my read/write heads under a microscope soon 8)


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## patnor1011

It is hard to decide what is worth and what not, it all boils down with individual person and his decision. I would rather recover them wires than bother with plating under green mask on motherboards, ram or sound cards.
But like I said, you are the one who need to decide whether it is worth to do it or not. 
No pain, no gain.

My views can look sometimes strange. I look at everything from perception of hobbyist refiner and sometimes I do stuff which is a net loss but I do it as I like doing it. Sometimes I will skip and dismiss it as perhaps I do not have time to do certain thing which I enjoyed a while ago. And who knows maybe I will go back to it in a future again.
That is why I never throw anything away. I can afford to hoard stuff as I have space where to put it. I do this as hobby and do have job which feed me and my family so I am not pressed to do shortcuts and compromises. I still have all my platters, several kilograms of them and while I know they do not have any attractive amount of precious metals in them I simply refuse to sell them for price of aluminium. I may figure out something better tomorrow or next year...


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