Hard Drive Platters - how to attempt recovery?

[Beirdo]

OK, first off, I am quite aware that there is only a minuscule amount of Pt to be found in the very thin layer on hard drive platters... However, dead hard drives are nearly free to me much of the time, and I like a little experiment. Sooo...

Knowing that the base metal is Al, I can see two equally useful ways of attempting this. Both would start with scoring or sanding portions of the platter to expose the aluminum. Of course, if I do this, I'd be careful to get anything I sand off to be in the reaction container as it would likely be coated as well. After that, I would think the two ways to try would be:

1) Add an aqueous solution of HCl to the reactor, and watch the Aluminum generate AlCl3 and H2 gas (plenty of it). The remaining wee bits of solid would include the pitiful Pt coating.

or

2) Add an aqueous solution of NaOH to the reactor, and watch the Aluminum generate Al(OH)3 and plenty of H2 gas. Again, the remainders would include the wee bit of Pt.

If I were to waste my time trying this, which would be the suggested method, and why? I am comfortable dealing with either lye or muriatic acid (obviously not often together, I can buy much cheaper NaCl at the supermarket, thanks) and am aware of the safety concerns for either method. Any thoughts?

Oh, I guess the same could be done with sulfuric acid... I guess that makes a third wasteful experiment to vote on

Am I overlooking a possible aluminum electrolysis option? Using aluminum foil as cathode and the platter as the anode... with what as an electrolyte? It's been a while since I calculated those electrolysis predictions...

 

[Harold_V]

Do you want my honest opinion?
Pursuing platinum from hard drives, thus far, equates to digging six foot deep holes by hand in an effort to recover a penny. The aluminum is worth far more than any traces of platinum that may be present, and it's not present in all discs. Seems to me that's one hell of a lot of work for nothing. Sell them for scrap and buy precious metals with the returns. You'll be glad you did.

At some point in time one must come to terms with the idea that you may be wasting precious time, time that could be far better used to further your cause.

Harold

 

[Geo]

ive actually digested a few to see what it would involve. the easiest way i found was a diluted hcl solution 50/50 with water. score the platters on both sides with a big cross. dont stack them. its best to hang them with stainless steel wire through the hole. no need to digest the whole platter. after about 24 hours (or less depending on how strong the acid is) the film will be loose. pull the undissolved disc and hang another.

of coarse it will be like my saying "skinning a bee for its wax" a lot of trouble for a little reward. i didnt try to to do any more than just experiment.

good luck.

 

[Beirdo]

Oh, I do agree that it primarily will be a case of futility, and an excuse for a pointless chemistry experiment. I certainly doubt I'd ever attempt to do it in any bulk. I'm just intrigued by the concept, and am thinking out loud. I can easily waste an afternoon puttering around with it just for giggles, after all...

For sure, money-wise (and other than educational value, and the occasional experiment just for interest's sakes, that's why we are all here in the end, is it not), I would be better off selling them to poor saps on ebay (which is my general plan) or to boardsort, or the like.

I guess you can think of it more of a thought experiment than anything.

 

[Beirdo]

Geo: did you by any chance take pictures of your experiment?

 

[Geo]

nope, sorry. it seemed like something i wasnt going to put much time into, so it was of little importance. i just wanted the experience.

 

[kurt]

Geo - did you process the foils & if so what kind of results?

Kurt

 

[Geo]

actually, i didnt. i removed the foils from 16 platters that were about 12" and few dozen pc hard drive platters.the film was less than a gram after incinerating. thats as far as i got. i figured that if it was just going to be that small of an amount, i was just going to concentrate on the gold and silver. im not sure what the percentage of the PM's would be in the film, but unless was a very high percentage the cost would out weigh any gain unless you were working with bulk material.

 

[Beirdo]

Seems reasonable to give up at that point unless you had another platinum recovery to add the wee bit of powder to. It still sounds like an interesting experiment though, although admittedly a waste of time other than to prove to yourself just how futile it is. Heh.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[butcher]

The foils are of a very hard carbon type material, they would have to be incinerated before getting to any values, for a period of time I was cutting the disk drives into piece's with large tin snips, then a large shear, I had a very large box of these disk's (and still have many left), I was using the aluminum to treat my waste (got tired of the slimy hard to dry goo or jell the aluminum made and went back to using iron for treating waste), My thought was I could treat my waste and recover the foils, aluminum to treat waste is a pain, and I do not recommend using it, during this time I collected a large amount of hard disk foils (from maybe about 1000 or more hard drive disks), incinerated these to remove carbon compounds, and these powders were mixed with a large volume of silver chloride powders, which later was converted and melted, if I get enough silver and ever get around to making my silver cell, I may see if I will have any platinum from that experiment, or if I just wasted my time trying to dry aluminum hydroxide waste.

I have been known to dig big holes in the ground wasting my time for no reason, sometimes I found these holes in the ground could be used for something, in fact I had three very large tree stumps close to where I was going to put my house, after finally digging those stumps out, I had such a big hole in the ground, I thought I would just keep digging (by hand), I now have a underground concrete root cellar 12'X12' with concrete stair well leading down into it, and a large steel door next to my house, where those trees once were.

 

[Lou]

The real money is in the aluminum enclosure on which the platter sits when they apply the platinum. The Pt builds up there to economically viable quantities as manufacturing continues over 1000s of hard disks.

 

[MMFJ]

The real money is in the aluminum enclosure on which the platter sits when they apply the platinum. The Pt builds up there to economically viable quantities as manufacturing continues over 1000s of hard disks.

To be clear (for newbies, including myself on this topic), you are talking about a MANUFACTURING item, not something that the average Joe would run across in dismantling hard drives, right?

 

[butcher]

I do not think my computer would have that amount of platinum, Lou is talking about when they manufacture the hard drive disk, and the container in which the disk is coated, from the way I read his comment, not the hard drive case in your computer.

 

[Harold_V]

that's why we are all here in the end, is it not),

I can't speak for you, or anyone else on the board, but I certainly can speak for myself. You'll quickly come to understand that I'm pretty much a no nonsense kind of guy---one who cuts straight to the chase. In my case, which is all I can offer as evidence, I didn't do any trick stuff. I stuck pretty closely to processes that were known to yield results. For that, I was rewarded with a business that allowed me to retire at age 54. Mind you, the business was never my objective, as I was fully engaged in another venture, one in which I made a comfortable living, and was successful beyond my wildest dreams.

If my personal experience means anything, it suggests that screwing around for days on end, chasing one's tail in an attempt to extract questionable values by questionable means, makes no sense. It almost NEVER leads to anything of substance. After all, humans are very intelligent, and countless numbers of them have gone before us, trying pretty much everything you can imagine. To expect to discover anything of value is, more or less, vain, and shows considerable disrespect for those who have gone before you. Perhaps you can prove me wrong, but you can bet your last dollar, I don't think you're able. You have simply made an unreasonable decision, and no amount of effort will change that.

By sharp contrast, if you have no interest in making a profit, sure, screw around with this stuff all you like---just don't whine when, after you've spent a few years pursuing hair brained concepts, that you are penniless and discouraged.

If you hope to win, you must think like a winner. Following the course of losers is never a good idea.

Harold

 

[200%carat]

correct me if im wrong.. if you can get this amount of platinum http://youtu.be/GY2Ktrp77m8 out of 20 hdd..how much would you find in 200

 

[g_axelsson]

That video was less than 2 minutes long but I was bored long before that.

correct me if im wrong.. if you can get this amount of platinum http://youtu.be/GY2Ktrp77m8 out of 20 hdd..how much would you find in 200

Ehhh... that would be ten times as much? Was that a trick question?

Sorry, that is not platinum from 20 disks. That is a bunch of junk leftover from melting disks from 20 hdd.

Göran

 

[GotTheBug]

Just curiosity, if you melt the aluminum out, will the platinum separate at all or just be lost in the pool?

 

[alexxx]

just plain & simple, waste of time... and waste of valuable aluminum.
Even the biggest pgm refiners wont touch that material for free if it was coming in bulks of 20 tons. they would just sell it directly for aluminum...
And trust me, I have tried to work with them on bulk quantities paid on recovery only, and no one is near to interested.