Things you can do with 20 hard drives

Img 4966 Chris is looking for things to do with 20 old hard drives "I have twenty 3.5 inch hard drives collecting dust in my garage (10Gb and all working) and I will use them to do things. What things I haven't decided yet, but I already have a couple of ideas. We have 20 nice shiny discs, as many read/write heads complete with arm, 40 very powerful magnets, and so on. It's actually only the imagination that sets the limits. In this first part we go through the, maybe trivial but vital, task of taking the drive apart in its components without damaging anything." Link.

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Dec 7, 2005 03:26 AM
DIY Projects, Electronics | Permalink | Comments (9)

Recent Entries

Comments

Oldest comments listed first.

  • The magnets are the most useful part. I used the magnets from (15) 4GB Seagate SCSI drives to hold the window screens on my school bus camper conversion..

    I have also though about using the magnets to build a high torque hub motor for bicycle power assist, the head positioning coils might be useful for this but I suspect heavier gauge wire would be needed.

    Hmm . . . the disks could be arrayed in a parabola and used to to collect solar energy - there was a floppy drive to heliostat project over at Hackaday.com on 11/29 that could make your mirror track the sun. Boil water with the heat and drive a generator made with the magnets and the head coils, hmmm . . .

    Jake.

    Posted by: vonSlatt on December 7, 2005 at 8:56 AM

  • I would say the most useful thing you could make with 20 usable 10 gb drives would be...20 usable computers. If any of you guys are like me, you routinely come across that garage sale find that all it needs to be up and running for grandma/donation is a working hard drive, and 10gb is more than enough for a base installation for web browsing / paper writing / email, etc.

    Better to create than destroy.

    Posted by: The_Lotharian on December 7, 2005 at 9:35 AM

  • I would say the most useful thing you could make with 20 usable 10 gb drives would be...20 usable computers. If any of you guys are like me, you routinely come across that garage sale find that all it needs to be up and running for grandma/donation is a working hard drive, and 10gb is more than enough for a base installation for web browsing / paper writing / email, etc.

    Better to create than destroy.

    Posted by: The_Lotharian on December 7, 2005 at 9:37 AM

  • Sorry about the repeat, site bugged out. It might be a good idea to put a (please hit this button only once) descriptor on the buttons.

    Posted by: The_Lotharian on December 7, 2005 at 9:39 AM

  • make a whole surround sound array of HD speakers. thats what I would do...

    Posted by: n3ldan on December 7, 2005 at 11:40 AM

  • I'm with n3ldan: Can you say Hard Drive-Orchestra?

    Posted by: Zev on December 7, 2005 at 12:38 PM

  • Platter roller-skates?

    Motorized ones, maybe?

    Posted by: CaptSnuffy on December 7, 2005 at 6:20 PM

  • DIY raid array?

    Posted by: Luc1972 on December 9, 2005 at 3:58 AM

  • how do you make speakers from hard drives?

    Posted by: steven on January 2, 2008 at 3:22 PM


Your comment will be posted in the background and may take a few minutes to appear on the site; you do not need to re-post.

Allowable html: a href,br/,p,b,strong,em,i,ol,ul,li,blockquote,pre

Name:

Comment:


Please enter the security code you see here

Subscribe to MAKE!Subscribe to MAKE Magazine!

Subscribe today, save 42% and get web access to MAKE free. MAKE Digital Edition is available only to subscribers.

$34.95 / 1 year
(4 Quarterly Issues)

Subscribe now

How-to videos for Makers and Crafers!


Void your warranty, violate a user agreement, fry a circuit, blow a fuse, poke an eye out... Welcome to the Make Blog!

Features and more @ MAKE!

MAKE @ The NYC Toy Fair 2008 - Covering DIY!
HOW TO - Build the arms of assistance.

MADE in Japan - Part I.
MADE in Japan - Part II.
MADE in Japan - Part III.

Make store - Blinky bug kit - Blink!
Make store - Loud Objects Noise Toy Kit

Makers - MAKE Flickr pool contest. Win cool stuff!
Makers - Join the MAKE Facebook page - Meet other makers.
MAKE on Twitter - Tweet! Tweet!
What you're reading in MAKE - Data!
Add MAKE to your RSS reader - Real simple.


Advertise here with FM.

Why advertise on MAKE?
Read what folks are saying about us!

Click here to advertise on MAKE!

Subscribe to MAKE Magazine!


Phillip Torrone.Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
Tel: 707-827-7311


Gareth BranwynGareth Branwyn
Robot Maker


Jonah Brucker-Cohen Jonah Brucker-Cohen
Researcher

Suggest a Site!

Natalie Zee DrieuNatalie Zee Drieu
Senior Editor
CRAFT


Becky Stern Becky Stern
Culture jammer


Collin CunninghamCollin Cunningham
Sound Maker


Marc de Vinck Marc de Vinck
CNC Maker

Current Podcast

itunes_p.jpg AHAB High Altitude Ballooning - Best of Weekend Projects mp4|mov|hd|3gp|3g2|itunes This week on Best of Weekend Projects, we look back at part two of the AHAB (High Altitude Balloon Adventure). In this epic Bre & Co. travel to Eastern Washington to launch a GPS and camera enabled balloon... More...

Get the Make blog sent via email

Enter your email to receive the Make blog each day:



WOW! Thanks to everyone involved with Maker Faire Austin: attendees, makers, exhibitors, sponsors, volunteers, and crew...it was AMAZING! Over 350 Makers and 20,000 attendees! Be sure to check out the photos @ Flickr, and our Maker Faire posts for all the action! Next year, scheduled Maker Faire's are: Bay Area: May 3rd & 4th, 2008 - San Mateo County Fairgrounds and Austin: Oct. 18th & 19th, 2008 - Travis County Expo Center!

Make Categories

www.flickr.com
photos in MAKE More photos in MAKE Flickr Pool
www.flickr.com
photos in Craft More photos in Craft Flickr Pool

Advertise here.
Why advertise on MAKE?
Read what folks are saying about us!

Click here to advertise on MAKE!
Subscribe to MAKE Magazine!

Recent Projects

From the Instructables MAKE group


Important please read

Recent Posts from the Craft: Blog

Recent Posts from the Hackszine Blog