# Used Computer Hard Drive Parts



## davidyat (Jun 12, 2020)

*OK, I can't be the only one thinking about this. I'm throwing out an old computer. Take out the hard drive and destroy all your data by torch, bandsaw, sledge hammer of the disks. I take it all apart and the disks and drive bearing hubs are machined beyond my capability for true spinning. I see that the hub and what it's attached to could possibly be incorporated into a project. Has anyone come up with ideas how to use these bearings, hubs and disks?
Grasshopper*


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## deverett (Jun 12, 2020)

I saved the discs for an as yet (and probably never will be) unbuilt Tesla turbine.   The hub spacers would be the spacers between the discs.
The bearings have come in handy over the years for small models' crankshafts, etc.
Put one of the magnets in a plastic bag and you can use that to pick up ferrous swarf.  Over teh bin, pull the magnet away and the swarf falls free.
Dave
The Emerald Isle


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## Tim Wescott (Jun 12, 2020)

All you need to do to destroy the data on the disk is to go over each one with a good strong magnet.  Frankly, just opening up the case and letting dust settle on everything will destroy it for all purposes other than international espionage.


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## davidyat (Jun 12, 2020)

I like the suggestion of the magnets in the bag


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## davidyat (Jun 12, 2020)

Deverett, how do you get the bearings out of their carrier?


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## SmithDoor (Jun 12, 2020)

Good to know of parts 
I use demagnetize from shop to remove the data

Dave


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## deverett (Jun 13, 2020)

davidyat said:


> I like the suggestion of the magnets in the bag



It's been quite a long time since I stopped collecting hard drives, but from memory the bearings were a 'press' fit in the holders.  I tried initially to bash them out but that of course didn't do the bearings much good!  Using a steel ring that was a similar diameter to the race and hitting that sometimes worked.  The next way was to saw through the holder almost up to the race so that the holding part can be broken open.

Good quality computer fans used to have really small ball bearings, others just oilite type bushes.

Dave
The Emerald Isle


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## davidyat (Jun 13, 2020)

Thanks Deverett


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## BaronJ (Jun 13, 2020)

Hi Guys,

There are usually two places in a HDD that have precision bearings fitted.  One of them is the head spindle.  They are usually a dual bearing pack and often will just drop out with the application of a little heat, some are retained with a tiny screw, remove the screw and they will push out easily.

The platter spindle bearings are much harder to recover !  They are usually super glued or epoxy used to secure them in place.  Not only that but often both bearings are pressed in from one end, sometimes with a spacer making it extremely difficult to get them out without damage.  I've recovered quite a few of the much older 5.25" spindle bearings without a lot of trouble.  

But techniques and methods of fixing has changed over time with adhesives becoming used much more.  You also need lots of heat to destroy the epoxy used to secure the bearings which also boils out any lubrication that was in them.

As far as data on the platter is concerned, the minute that you handle them its been damaged beyond anything but forensic recovery.


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## fabricator (Jun 13, 2020)

davidyat said:


> *OK, I can't be the only one thinking about this. I'm throwing out an old computer. Take out the hard drive and destroy all your data by torch, bandsaw, sledge hammer of the disks. I take it all apart and the disks and drive bearing hubs are machined beyond my capability for true spinning. I see that the hub and what it's attached to could possibly be incorporated into a project. Has anyone come up with ideas how to use these bearings, hubs and disks?
> Grasshopper*


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## fabricator (Jun 13, 2020)

I have always figured if these discs are just hit with some sandpaper and sent to recycling or thrown into  the the trash or sent to recycling center what are the chances that some nefarious individual would be interested in picking out random pieces of garbage and attempting to recover any data from the pieces


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## Mike Ginn (Jun 13, 2020)

Guys
Please don't use a magnet to destroy data on a HDD disk platter - it doesn't work if you know how to get around it!.
The correct method depends on the level of security associated with the data but for most purposes the following work:-
Drill 2 holes through the disk about 25mm in from the edge of the circle embossed on the cover.  Could also use a large centre punch to distort the platters.
Remove the platters (note some are made of glass) and rub with sandpaper/place on concrete floor and drag along with foot!
Bend platters.
All of these methods make the platters unusable and data almost impossible to recover but they are not 100% 
The other method (which is 100%) is to wipe the disk with specialist software which uses a US Gov approved method.
What do I do - I take out the platters and rub them on the concrete floor and then bend them.  I also mix up platters from different drives.


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## capjak (Jun 13, 2020)

Another source of fine materials are old printers and scanners. The shafts have been polished and are very easy to turn or machine. The one downside is that most of them are metric.


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## payner (Jun 13, 2020)

The other thing you may want to keep is the fans intact for cooling electronic projects, the power supply gives you 5 volt and 12 volt DC for powering LED lights or maybe a power feed for a mill etc .


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## propclock (Jun 13, 2020)

O.K. science guy here the spindle bearings are precise  as are the head pivot bearings.
So they are pre-loaded  , and are a bit stiff by design.  The platters themselves are 
good first surface mirrors.  I was thinking one day of how to align 
  my  edge finder quill mounted camera to the knee / vice  .  axis. My first attempt 
was to drive the knee up and down , and I did looking at the change of cross hairs
as the knee traversed . This worked but didn't do much good to my knee motor. 
So them I realized i needed a first surface mirror , then I thought hard drive platter
Yep I have those. So with the camera looking down at the disk  placed flat on the vice base and the camera looking down it should be easy to align the camera to look perfectly back at itself. Yea I know science guy , And this doesn't make much sense
to most but they are almost perfectly flat first surface mirrors . Think lasers. 
Once you have the platters in hand , unless you have million dollar secrets on them
recovery of data is near impossible.  Just my 1.414 cents worth


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## bluejets (Jun 13, 2020)

davidyat said:


> *OK, I can't be the only one thinking about this. I'm throwing out an old computer. Take out the hard drive and destroy all your data by torch, bandsaw, sledge hammer of the disks. I take it all apart and the disks and drive bearing hubs are machined beyond my capability for true spinning. I see that the hub and what it's attached to could possibly be incorporated into a project. Has anyone come up with ideas how to use these bearings, hubs and disks?
> Grasshopper*



All that is required is to write all zeros to the disc...finished.


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## stanstocker (Jun 13, 2020)

Using a usb to sata adapter you can use a linux live boot disk and the shred utility to overwrite the entire disk surface.  If you aren't doing stuff where the legal requirement is to physically destroy the disk shred will zero out a disk.  As others have already said, unless your life is very "interesting" once the platters are out of the drive housing they are basically useless from a data recovery perspective.


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## cl350rr (Jun 14, 2020)

The discs are just the thing for building a boundary layer turbine, thank Tesla


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## barry.hawker (Jun 14, 2020)

if you use a government approved wiping program you can bet the govenment can still read it!


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## cadsculptor (Jun 14, 2020)

Save those super-strong magnets!!


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## lohring (Jun 14, 2020)

I built a small brake dyno with hard drive parts.

Lohring Miller


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## plipoma (Jun 15, 2020)

cadsculptor said:


> Save those super-strong magnets!!


I'm into small model stationary steam engines and in addition to all earlier comments about parts, material and fasteners found in old computers, hard drives and printers, there is a multitude of various size prmanent magnet stepper motors that make good AC generators that can be driven by small steam engines. The addition of rectifiers they make good DC generators.


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## peter2uat (Jun 15, 2020)

Tim Wescott said:


> All you need to do to destroy the data on the disk is to go over each one with a good strong magnet.  Frankly, just opening up the case and letting dust settle on everything will destroy it for all purposes other than international espionage.


we had a big open transformer to do such deleting in our service - don't know who brought that in, but the disks were perfectly readable after "deleting" with this device, so I don't know


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## SailplaneDriver (Jun 15, 2020)

Anyone have any success removing the magnets from the brackets without breaking the magnet? The ones I've tried to remove must have one heck of an adhesive because I can't get them to budge.


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## SailplaneDriver (Jun 15, 2020)

barry.hawker said:


> if you use a government approved wiping program you can bet the govenment can still read it!



Most of us don't lead interesting enough lives for people to go to the effort of recovering data from our disposed of hard drives. Smashing the drive or drilling holes through them is more than enough to stymie most data recovery. For you criminals and terrorists out there with data they don't want the government to ever recover, here are the recommended methods:









						How to Destroy a Hard Drive—Permanently
					

Were the San Bernardino suspects smart to toss theirs into a local lake?




					www.scientificamerican.com


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## BaronJ (Jun 16, 2020)

SailplaneDriver said:


> Anyone have any success removing the magnets from the brackets without breaking the magnet? The ones I've tried to remove must have one heck of an adhesive because I can't get them to budge.



The magnets are usually super glued in place, though I found a few that are not glued at all, simply relying on magnetic attraction and some pips on the surface of the backing plate.

A warning though !  Do not use any heat to try and destroy the super glue !  The magnets will immediately loose their magnetism.  Soak in acetone overnight.  Even that isn't a sure way to loosen them.


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## ytrose2 (Jun 16, 2020)

Apparently, with laptops and tablets in the military, not only are they protected against rough handling and dropping, but there is a target on the back side. That is where you put a bullet through the memory to prevent the enemy extracting data if it falls into their hands.


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## phred (Jun 16, 2020)

I have found that wedging a large  non magnetic screwdriver ( the non sparking kind ) between the magnet and a nearby fulcrum will mostly dislodge the magnets from their support brackets without damage.
Overwriting data to a drive using the drive electronics will not guarantee that data is not recoverable if enough time and money is thrown at it.
I ( sometimes successfully )  recover data from failed disk drives as part of my business.


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## Noitoen (Jun 16, 2020)

To remove the magnets, I clamp the assembly in the vise with one jaw on side of the magnet (facing down) and the other on the plate and tighten slowly. It usually slides off. There are usually 2 little dimples on the holding plate to center the magnet.


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## Misterg (Jun 16, 2020)

SailplaneDriver said:


> Anyone have any success removing the magnets from the brackets without breaking the magnet?



I've done a couple by putting one end of the bracket in a vice and bending it back to peel the magnet off. YMMV


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## Kasual (Jun 17, 2020)

SailplaneDriver said:


> Most of us don't lead interesting enough lives for people to go to the effort of recovering data from our disposed of hard drives. Smashing the drive or drilling holes through them is more than enough to stymie most data recovery. For you criminals and terrorists out there with data they don't want the government to ever recover, here are the recommended methods:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


When I was tasked with destroying hard drives when in the military, we used thermite grenades.

But now, I poke a couple holes in the case with a drill and drop the drive in a bucket of PURE battery acid. Works a treat and NOBODY  is gonna wanna fish em out.


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## Noitoen (Jun 18, 2020)

Every now and then, some sensitive data devices are destroyed in one of our shredders at our recycling plant. They come with some security guys and film and wait until everything comes out in little pieces. This is not very good for the smaller shredders because the pieces of magnets stick everywhere inside and cause some problems.


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## BaronJ (Jun 18, 2020)

Noitoen said:


> Every now and then, some sensitive data devices are destroyed in one of our shredders at our recycling plant. They come with some security guys and film and wait until everything comes out in little pieces. This is not very good for the smaller shredders because the pieces of magnets stick everywhere inside and cause some problems.



An easy way to get rid of those small bits of magnet is to give them a blast with a blowlamp.  The heat rapidly destroys the magnetic attraction.  The bits will just drop off.


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## Richard Hed (Jun 18, 2020)

BaronJ said:


> An easy way to get rid of those small bits of magnet is to give them a blast with a blowlamp.  The heat rapidly destroys the magnetic attraction.  The bits will just drop off.


That's what I've been wondering--why not just heat them up to glow temp?  that for sure would destroy any info.


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## Swift752 (Jun 22, 2020)

Deverett:  I'm the guy you offered help to on the Mogens Kilde side lever engine.  PLEASE send me the plans!  Very grateful.  Really need a project these days!!  Bob

[email protected]


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