I drive an 18 wheeler with a 53 foot drybox. I haul many different products back & forth across the country. Some of those loads are old outdated computers which go to disassembly plants for the precious metals.

I'm watching your 7yr old video's because there's nothing better on YT about tear'downs,scrapping etc. Excellent visuals and content! Thank you!

Wow! Been scrappin' for more than 50 years and always learning something new! Thanks!

Thanx for taking the time to demonstrate and explain what to keep or not to keep. Seems like a nice little project to keep yourself busy and honest in between jobs.

i could listen to you all day. well presented.

I've watched many hard-drive Scrapping videos and this is one of the best!! Have a Great Day!!!

Excellent, highly detailed and captioned video. Best of it's kind that I've come across.

Hi my name's Guillermo from the Dominican Republic,thank you for sharing this information with us, many people and by people, I'm referring to the vast majority, do not know this information thank you again I love recycling and that's very useful information. From the Dominican Republic Guillermo keep it up. I'll follow your videos and share with my friends.

When I was young i used to take apart electronic things just to see what was in there. This drove my dad nuts. Something about electronics fascinated me.

Thank you, its so hard to know what is worth keeping and what isent. I wish you would make more of these videos for commonly scrapped items.

Very nice video. As a scrapper I find these videos very usefull tools to help me in my daily tear downs. Keep up the great work. :)

Thank you for breaking everything down in simple terms foe everyone. I found the video amazing.

You showed me something interested, thank you for sharing this video.

I liked your video very much. the quality was excellent. I very much liked the macro close up shots. your explanation was also right on. Thanks

thank you for all the details and tips show in your video.

I use the magnets for securing small tools and stainless rulers on the wall, as well as plastic measuring triangles (with a small steel washer siliconed to the plastic first). Powering the hard drive plater can be very useful as a miniature sanding disc by glueing wet and dry sandpaper to it for precise grinding or small blade sharpening.

Good job, this video makes it a bit more hands on for the novice- thanks Rob.

Any hard drives that still function normally can also be sold on eBay with the intention of data recovery specialist using them for parts. Often times many of the specific components are valuable since they're constantly changing. A very detailed listing with plenty of pictures and accurate descriptions of the different numbers on the label can yield some pretty nice sales numbers.

Great vid bud . It's about time some detailed info was put up like this. Nice job. Happy holidays

thanks for sharing , it's a good video and was worth watching , i do scrap as a living income and have a lot of these hdd units and circuit boards in storage for the strip down purpose

Nice way to present a video mate, informative and to the point, thank you

I like the close ups those help a lot . Learning of the parts what they do. Very cool

Very educational. I learned that I will leave the scrapping of computer components to others! Thank-you!

My son gets knackered HDD's from work. I strip them down for the magnets only. They're fiddly to remove from their steel brackets, but I found applying a little heat to the back of the steel, holding it in pliers, then wedging a Stanley blade under the magnet to gently pry them off, without cracking the magnets brittle outer coating. It works around 75% of the time. I cover damaged magnets with some insulating tape and use them to hang metal topped jam jars under shelving.

Great video. Great job explaining various parts and where the value is. Thanks .

Thanks, learning this and was fortunate to come across large amount of computer/server scrap!

great video lots of valuable info, Have a GOLD DAY!!

This video is really well made, thank you good sir :)

I like the vid. I scrap metal and I’m just getting into scrapping gold, I’m glad I watched this because it answered my question about gold in chips

Really great video. Lovely photography and super clear descriptions. Very enjoyable. 👍🏅

I like it, I have like 5 hard drives bought at a gov auction on a pallet with some darkroom equipment so it was a bonus. Good practical info, so thanks!!

Great presentation. Very informative. Thank you. Quality video.

Educational - well thought out and described. Thank you

At last someone who knows what metals are worth bothering with, and what to discard. Good video .Keep em coming.

I've got about 50 older hard drives that I brought home from a scrap yard I worked at. They weren't licensed to do ecycle so they were quite pleased when I asked if I could have them.

7 years later and this video is still cool.

damn it!! (about the magnets) I had so many of those over years from bad hard drives. I love how powerful they are. All I ever did is break them just playing with them lol

Clear and professional; great sound, light and camera work. I would like to have seen how many hours, man-hours, and the stack of 'stuff' it takes to get one ounce of gold. Also, how to melt it and recover it. Thanks for a great start to the process.

Thank you for the info, that was very helpful.

Thanks for the great tips! I have scrapped metals for some time now, mostly steel,copper and aluminum. The electronics I saved but didn't know how to process them. Learning how to extract the precious metals is making my junk pile pay off!

I only scrap broken hard drives or I use them as props for my house. I would never open a working and good-health hard drive. You seem like a very nice person to be around! I collect vintage hard drives myself as I love vintage technology.

im watching you video 10 year old and it was very useful thank you so much

wonderfully done video with no frills... thanks

Yes , i am a processor of recovering the metal from electronic stuff , nice video , thankyou ! When i scrap hard drives i burn , crush , pan out the heavys and save the sludge after evapen the panning water , the chips is where the panable gold and pgm's and a lot of silver and lead . I do it as a hobby now ! The gold plate in the sludge is minor compared to chip wire , copper is acid removed and redoxed in a different container. Great informitive video .

Great video. Thank you for the details.

greta vids,and clear directions, Thanks ROB.

thank u for the info i learned alot i have like 9-11 hard drives from the 80s /90s...thank u again

Fantastic break down. great Stills. Never knew there was that much value in the hard drives. most ppl just say the toss them. will be looking forward to watching your other vids.. and +1 sub for you here. Keep it up.

Have a failing hard drive sitting in a junk pile that I haven't thrown out, mainly because I wasn't sure where to send it. However, after getting an idea to smelt some things, I decided to look up how to take apart an HDD and found this video. Thank you!

It's all around us! LIKED your video

I've learned a few things about metals in use for hard drives, thanks.

that is a very useful & formative video. thankyou

I love your show, exactly what I needed to C. Believe it or not I got my hands on some 1963 circuitry. Would love a show on were asbestos or other nasties could be when we scrap so that we can all be wary and careful. Have had 2 tradie friends die of asbestos related illnesses . Anyway keep your shows coming. 10/10 from me

Good info Rob, thanks!

You're a master! Congrats!

Excelente fotografía, muchas gracias por compartir tus conocimientos!!

Thank You , You Are First Class .

Cheers Rob. An older post but just been thrown at me by the tube. Easy watching and informative thanks and yes nice seeing those macro shots. Now, do I want to trash my old drives!? Lol

Excellent video, short and sweet, well done👌

It is really interesting . Thank You for the information .

Very informative and i appreciate your time

Very helpful. Keep it up. Thanks.

Amazing, thanks for the video, very useful.

Explained very clearly Good work!

Nice one. I got about 20 of old HDD's all 10GB to 80GB old IDE 3.5" drives; found yesterday they contain neodymium magnets that I plan to take out and change into a metal detector. After watching your vid I will be keeping the more valuable elements too. Cheers. A vid I watched said there is a 3rd smaller Nd magnet behind where drive actuator sits to hold it in place when off and in transport. Smart vid, learned some cool stuff in 7 minutes. Cheers Rob.

I like your light I have to get one so I can bring it in my shop and people can see what I’m doing better great video

Thanks for the great informative video! I'm looking forward to more, keep on taping (or whatever they call it these days - I know they don't use videotape any more)

The information was quite valuable. Thanks

This guy is pretty informative. I can really appreciate that.

Nice video; very concise and informative. I have been able to remove the gold leaf at the end of HDD connectors using a sharp chisel to get it started and then use a pair of pliers to remove it. Then I cut the gold leaf portion off and add it to an ever-growing pile of similar connector wires. There are a couple videos on how to remove the plating using household chemicals, and some nasty stuff too, but it seems worth the effort if you can get enough collected to do a big batch.

a lot of valuable information, thanks!

Very informative I like to learn you made it simple thanks

So much culmination of technology and inventions that can be had for just $40.

WARNING: You should wear full cover goggles when removing the platters as the older glass ones can shatter very very easily. Alternatively put the drive in a clear bag and reach inside to remove the platters. Destroying the platters for data integrity should be done inside a sealed plastic bag with a combination of a strong magnet and hammer. Believe me, having glass frags removed sucks.

Hi,your descriptions were exellent.i like your voice and you are great.Am Iranian but i like you man.Thanks

Great video!!

Thank you for your information.

Thanks again, I really have been looking for a HDD parts breakdown ;-)

Great Description and Simple.. Thx for not wasting times. every second useful.. Like it

Thanks for good info, bro!

Thank you for the informative video, I've saved for future reference.

I love the attention to detail of the photos. I understand better what I've thrown away before. it won't happen again. Thank you

Guy with a lot of HDDs: *Sees the thumbnail* "My time has come"

Cool thanks for showing this breakdown of the hdd

Pretty interesting, Thanks for the information!!

Thank you. Very well done. Great video.

What an excellent and also finely produced, albeit straight to point matter of fact video footage you've put together in this compilation good sir !! I very much appreciate your fine details, specifically speaking to what materials are in which components, equally so true for precious metals !! That's EXACTLY what I was hoping to learn from viewing your video and you absolutely delivered !! Thanks again for sharing my friend !

Thanks for This Very Informative Video!!!

I appreciate the in depth info

It was a very nice video with a lot of good info. Thank you ;)

Awesome, just took7 hard drives apart, glad I watched, oh, I love the magnets but you told me alot. Thank you

Very informative, thanks!

There's an "m" somewhere in the middle of neodymium. Like the "r" in the middle of February that well all forget. Those platters make nice windchimes too. Even the little aluminum rings tinkle nicely.

Thanks for the tips

Awesome! Thanks for the inspiration and how to... Blessings! :)

Great Video! Appreciate you!

Great video, thank you!

Great details!

awesome tips! great video

Thank you Rob great information ,thanks.