• gmtom@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    This is cool, but honestly kind of a deranged question to ask.

  • Flixich@feddit.de
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    9 months ago

    I use the platters like this as my primary long term storage solution. It just saves so much space without the large enclosures. /s

    • BCsven@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      You joke but early 90s we had exactly this with magneto optical drives

    • nis@feddit.dk
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      9 months ago

      Ah yes. The famous write-only backup solution :D

    • surfrock66@lemmy.worldOP
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      9 months ago

      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.

      • Fuck spez@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        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.

        • DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de
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          9 months ago

          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.

        • surfrock66@lemmy.worldOP
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          9 months ago

          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.

    • BastingChemina@slrpnk.net
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      9 months ago

      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

  • kingthrillgore@lemmy.ml
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    9 months ago

    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.

  • Domi@lemmy.secnd.me
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    9 months ago

    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?

    • funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works
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      9 months ago

      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

      • Domi@lemmy.secnd.me
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        9 months ago

        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.

      • Domi@lemmy.secnd.me
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        9 months ago

        Will have to try that, also a good way to one-up my neighbor with those CDs hanging outside. :)

    • owen@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      If you have different types you could do an exploded view hardware showcase

  • Dr_Fetus_Jackson@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    I would take those and the adhesive rubber feet that you would get with switches and make coasters out of them to give away.