[PLUG] Unhappy hard disk disassembly
Russell Senior
russell at personaltelco.net
Fri Dec 22 06:22:16 UTC 2023
In my year-end tidying, I've been sorting out my various hard disk
stockpile accumulated over the last couple decades. They went into separate
boxes: IDE/PATA, SATA, SAS, and DEAD. This afternoon, I got around to
taking apart the DEAD ones, partly for data security, partly for magnets
and partly for curiosity and maybe harvesting precision bearings or motors.
I had a stack of maybe 15-18 hard disks in the DEAD pile, mostly SATA, but
a few IDE/PATA. Of those, about half had significant disk platter damage. I
took some photos, which I have shared in the album linked here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/1MGJqAm7TdgixP5F6
I didn't bother to photograph the pristine-looking platters, so these are
just the ones that took some damage. Some damage more dramatic than others.
One side of a damaged platter was pretty much intact, so that's the only
clean one you'll see in this batch. I handled them, and even washed/dried
them off (with a lint-generating towel) so don't mind the specs. The disks
look yellow due to the incandescent bulbs over the dining room table where
I took most of these. The last couple pics are with some magnification,
ether 10x or 30x, under my stereo dissecting microscope. One of those shows
a particularly egregious gouge.
"I'm sure it will buff right out"
Be careful out there, and remember your backups!
--
Russell Senior
russell at personaltelco.net
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