Hard Drive magnets account for 10% of all the neodymium produced and over 1 million Hard Drives are manufactured every day. It is estimated that over 12 billion have been manufactured to-date. 50% of the world’s neodymium magnets are currently used in computer hard disk drives (HDD) with each HDD typically containing two magnets. This video shows step by step how to disassemble an old HDD (Hard Disk Drive) and get strong neodymium magnets from it. Warning: Neodymium magnets can crush. This video shows how to take magnets (Rare Earth Magnets) out of a hard drive. Magnets have many uses, and these magnet are extremely powerful. Top selling Magnetic Hard Drive is a great quality product - buy now & save big! Find more similar products like the Magnetic Hard Drive here at wholesale price. LightInTheBox.com offers the very best in selection, comfort and affordability. 3+ Pounds Neodymium Hard Drive Magnets W/ Plates Various Sizes / FREE SHIPPING. 1 EX-Large Neodymium Rare Earth Hard Drive Magnet. Lot of 2 EX-Large Neodymium Rare Earth Hard Drive Magnet. 22 lbs Neodymium Magnets from Scrap Hard Drives.
- Hard Drive Magnet
- Computer Hard Drive Magnets
- Hard Drive Magnet Erase
- Hard Drive Magnet Eraser
- Hard Drive Magnetic Disk
Summary :
The magnets on a hard drive are great because they are very strong Neodymium which is able to hold anything firmly in place. So recycling magnetic materials from old hard drives is a useful and resource-saving move.
An important reason why a hard disk drive (HDD) can be used to save data is the magnetic materials. Well, Neodymium is used widely as the HDD magnets and it can actually hold anything firmly for a very long time. Thus, it's beneficial to recycle Neodymium, the HDD magnets. This is a good way of hard drive disposal.
As for how to recycle HDD magnets, a lot of people are working on it.
New Finding on Recycling HDD Magnets
Recently, a research team at Ames Laboratory, Iowa State University, USA has found a new process to recycle the hard drive magnets. This team is led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute (CMI). It finally finds a way to reuse the magnets (which are scarce): extracting them from the discarded hard disk drives so as to make new magnetic materials.
This is considered to be an economical and environmentally friendly action.
Hard Drive Disposal Process
Now, let me walk you through the process in brief.
In this new process, the HDD magnets are collected from the discarded hard drive HDD magnets and the protective coatings are removed. Then, they crush the magnets into a powder placed onto a substrate using a plasma spray. In this way, the coatings of 0.5-1 mm thick can be synthesized. It is said that the properties of the end product are customizable, which is decided by the processing controls.
A member of the CMI research team working at Ames Laboratory – Ryan Ott – said that this new process can be used to take advantage of the growing number of quantities of discarded electronics globally. And the very large quantities of the discarded HDDs form an important component. A valuable supply of the precious magnets can be supplied by the relatively centralized scrap source.
Benefits of the New Approach
Here we have eliminated as many processing steps as we can, and go straight from the discarded magnet to an end product, which is a new magnet. The waste reduction aspect of this process is really two-fold; we’re not only reusing end-of-life magnets, we are also reducing the amount of manufacturing waste produced in making thin and small geometry magnets out of larger bulk materials.- Ott stated said
He also explains that some other ways of extracting the magnets from drop-off electronic products will result in unwanted byproducts and a negative environmental impact.
Besides, the new magnetic material, generated by using the old magnets got from the discarded HDD, doesn’t keep the exceptional magnetic properties. This gives it the potential for meeting the market’s needs for economical solution in programs as long as the high-strength magnets are not required.
What’s more, this new process is able to offer an efficient solution for the manufacture of small and strong magnets, which could be applied to devices like hand-held electronics.
And finally, I want to say that the best way to destroy a hard drive is destroying the magnets.
I come across a lot of dead hard drives as an IT Director, I like magnets, and I’ve found a lot of creative ways you can re-purpose a hard drive magnet. They won’t be around for long since everything is switching over to solid state, but for now there’s still magnetic data hard disks going bad-so let’s re-use those magnets inside them instead of throwing them in a landfill. I wrote a tutorial on how to remove the magnets from a hard drive, which you can read here:
Since I have a lot of magnets I’ve found many alternative uses for them. I’m going to share 10 great ways you can re-use a hard drive magnet.
1. Find a wall stud.
Don’t buy a stud finder–make your own. Wrap your magnet in electrical tape or it will leave grey marks on your wall. What you are really doing is locating the screws that were used to attach the drywall to the studs. If you find a screw head then you know there’s a stud directly behind it! These magnets are so strong that they will stick to the screw head through the drywall mud. I have used my hard drive magnets to hang shelving on the wall, to hang up my table saw on the wall…
Hard Drive Magnet
| Use hard drive magnets wrapped in electrical tape to find the location of wall studs |
2. Store paperclips in close reach.
When I need one, I need one! I put the magnet in packing tape and then tape it to the top cover of my cubical wall:
| Use old Hard Drive magnets for paperclip storage |
3. Keep your stapler handy.
Beware of cubicle surfers because they like to lean over your cubicle and knock off your stapler (so don’t put it right above your laptop).
| Tape a hard drive magnet to the bottom of your stapler to hang it up at an arm’s reach |
Here’s how I have the magnet attached to the bottom, with packing tape around the rubber cover on the bottom of the stapler:
| Here’s how I taped the magnet to the bottom of my stapler–around the rubber cover on the bottom |
4. Store your stapler remover.
Don’t break a nail, use a staple remover and now you can have one handy at your desk. Since the stapler remover is made out of steel you can just tape the magnet up and stick the stapler remover to it:
| Store your staple remover with a magnet |
5. Add a mailbox latch.
Our postal worker would shove our mail in the outside box and the back door would pop open sometimes and the mail would dump out in our yard, behind the locked gate.
| Create a magnetic latch on your mailbox with an old hard drive magnet |
I solved this problem of the back door opening up with a hard drive magnet. At first I wrapped it in electrical tape, but because of the summer heat it gets all sticky. To solve this problem I just slipped the magnet inside a piece of heat-shrink tubing, which is then held in place by the magnet. DO NOT shrink the tubing on the magnet with your heat gun because the heat you apply to the magnet will cause the magnet to loose its magnetism. If you don’t wrap the magnet in something it is almost impossible to open (which my wife wouldn’t appreciate). And yes, I’ve thought about putting a lock on it but the lock Home Depot had didn’t fit right and I didn’t care about locking it that much, I just wanted it to stay shut.
| Hard drive magnet in a piece of heat shrink tubing |
10 Creative Ways to Re-Purpose Hard Drive Magnets
Don’t get locked out again and DO NOT buy a key holder–make your own with a recycled hard drive magnet!
| Hide a key under your car with a recycled hard drive magnet |
Tape the magnet to the key with electrical tape:
| Tape the magnet to the key with electrical tape |
Attach it somewhere discretely, and no, this is not where I keep my key: Noteburner free full version.
| Key attached to bottom of car with a hard drive magnet |
7. Retrieve something metal you dropped in a hard to reach place.
I’ve dropped a screw driver behind my gas oven and I didn’t want to move out the refrigerator just to get it–time for magnets on a string! Be careful because the magnet sticks to stoves too 🙂
| Retrieving a dropped screw driver in a tight place with a recovered hard drive magnet taped to a cord |
8. Find a tiny screw you dropped in the carpet.
Computer Hard Drive Magnets
Lost an eye glass frame screw? You can find it with a powerful recycled hard drive magnet!
| Find a dropped screw with a re-purposed hard drive magnet |
Found it, with a magnet:
| Easily found with a magnet! |
9. Super powerful refrigerator magnet.
Hard Drive Magnet Erase
If you are one of those people whose kid’s artwork stacks up on their refrigerator, you can hold it ALL with one of these. Be careful to keep these up out of reach of children because they are not at all toys.
| Use a recovered hard drive magnet as a super powerful refrigerator magnet–hold ALL your kid’s artwork |
10. Clean up spilled messes.
I’ve used hard drive magnets to clean up a box of spilled penny nails. They work great to clean up any mess of metallic parts that are spread out over an area when you don’t want to pick them up one at a time:
Hard Drive Magnet Eraser
| Clean up spilled metal messes with recycled HD magnets |
Hard Drive Magnetic Disk
Amazon Associate Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means if you click on an affiliate link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. The price of the item is the same whether it is an affiliate link or not. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe will add value to Share Your Repair readers. By using the affiliate links, you are helping support Share Your Repair, and I genuinely appreciate your support.