hi A G A I N... :)

[dthoreson81]

While taking apart my first hard drive today, (of 3) I found a part that had a bunch of what looked like copper between 2 magnets... is there anything other than the copper worth saving from that bit? (Silver aluminum pgms) Also, how can I tell what parts of the computers "guts" have gold, etc? Just curious, as I dont want to throw anything valuable away.

 

[tyoon21]

Hi dthoreson81,

Can you post a pic of the copper part? Was it on the arm mechanism?

Hard drives contain a bit of salvagable parts:

- The cases are aluminum. Some of them contain a bit of steel which can be sold as mixed aluminum. Take a magnet to it and see what sticks and doesn't stick.

- The arm is also aluminum with traces of copper. There is a large steel cylinder in the middle which can be removed if you can locate the small screws that hold it in. If you can get the cylinder, toss it in the scrap steel pile. The back end of it I believe is a large copper ring. I generally cut this part off and put the arm into the mixed aluminum pile.

- The platters are a story in it's own. Anything that comes from a 20gig or higher drive, or one made from 1997 or later theoretically contain platinum. I have sold those on ebay for a decent amount.

- The mechanism that the platters spin on apparently can be sold as motors. I think some scrap yards will buy these.

- The boards can be saved in a pile and sold as populated circuit boards. Get a bunch of these and sell them on ebay or scrap them for gold.

- In the corner of the case may be a couple rows of gold plated pins. Take a screwdriver and pop the whole thing out as these are worth some money too.

- The magnets apparently are glued onto a nickle backing. I don't know much about the market on these but I have seen some lots of them on ebay for sale. You can also use one to help you weed out scrapable metal.

I'll try to get some photos together if I can. Hope this helps.

- Tom