I use the platters like this as my primary long term storage solution. It just saves so much space without the large enclosures. /s
I made a wind chime once that I really loved. Had to dirty the plates because they could catch the sun well enough to vaporize your retinas
Fair, my home office is a monument to too much free time, a hoarding habit for ewaste, and a wife who works weekends and overnights.
This is just a less gross version of "DAE store their piss in jars so they can commemorate their unitary secretions"?
That's rad, and you did an amazing job keeping them whole. Recently I have been wrapping them in cloth, then the kids form clay around them for various fridge and office magnets.
That's a good idea. Yeah, the trick I discovered in getting them off the mounting bracket without the chrome plating peeling is to grab each end of the bracket with vice grips and/or pliers (after you unscrew it from the drive) and just bend it down and away from the magnet. They usually come off in one piece that way, too.
Cool, I'll try this next time. So far the least damaging way I've tried is putting the thing in hot water. The magnet and the base expand by different amounts and it is relatively easy to pry the magnet off. But the thing cools down quickly so it takes a few tries.
I've done some of that, recently I have an old putty knife and I will put it right against the crack and just hammer it which will unstick it enough that I can pull it off. Newer drives definitely have weaker magnets than some of my much older ones.
I was doing some blacksmithing in high school, mostly knifes.
When reaching 800°C steel is not magnetic anymore, it's also a good temperature to start forging the steel. So I needed a atrong magnet to know when the steel was hot enough, I used what I have available: a hard drive magnet.
It felt quite "mad-maxy" to disassemble a broken hard drive to use it as a tool to forge knifes
Good question, but I've not had that issue so far
I typically use yeti ramblers with a metal bases on them, though I've set ceramic mugs down on them too and they've not stuck. might depend on the drink a little?
Maybe but I do spill a bit every now and then. Can't speak for the regular ceramic mugs, though that's a bit of a rarity and they just have herbal tea
Yes. The magnets are ridiculously strong. Several hold screen in place on my heat exchanger, to keep leaves and lawn debris at bay.
Haven’t figured out a good use for the platters, but skeet shooting has crossed my mind.
If you wind a 2 or 3 layer pancake coil the size of the platter out of 12 or 14AWG magnet wire and dump a couple kJ through it from a capacitor bank, the platter will launch into the air. Don't try it indoors unless you want a platter embedded in the ceiling.
No, because I am worried the NSA may try to collate data from them. In fact, I zero-wipe, drill bit the drives in the platters and the PCB, and drop them off at e-waste for recycling.
I used to make clocks with the platters and give them to friends and family. Michael's used to sell inexpensive clock mechanisms that looked really cool against the platter background. I haven't seen them lately, but I'm sure someone sells them online.
I have like 30 old hard drives laying around and have been thinking about doing a cool art installation with them for a while.
Maybe shatter the platters to create a spiky landscape and epoxy them in, or something like that.
Any ideas?
As more of an artist than a techie for the most part — if you have your medium or at least part of it — the more interesting thing about art is what you have to say about it.
As an example, if you want to draw a distinction and comparison between the age of discovery and the age of technology, you could use the hard drives as a canvas on which to paint a portrait of something like Robert Scott / Lawrence Oates, or Jacques Cousteau, or Armstrong and Aldrin etc.
On that last one - if you could tie the size of the drive in comparison to the size of the code used in the moon landing that might also be interesting.
Anyway, all that to say - art is a mix of medium and message
Thanks for the artist view on things. :)
I mostly want something pretty to look at but adding a message to it is an excellent idea.
Their density makes them ring like a bell, if suspended by a wire through the center. Good wind chimes.
Will have to try that, also a good way to one-up my neighbor with those CDs hanging outside. :)