In the process of collecting *waves hand* electronics stuff I have also decided to get rid of couple of Very Old hard drives.
(Why on earth did I still have a 2.5 spinny IDE drive?)
When I have to throw out a harddrive I don't trust erasing and formatting one goddamn bit, because I've seen what modern data recovery software can do and that's scary.
So I take them fuckers apart.
Which means YAY I have three new strong magnets. They look like some cyberpunk jewellery.
I also have about two dozen of tiny "exotic" screws - really put my iFixit screwdriver kit through its paces - and four new minor cuts on my hands.
A disk head tried to write its last bit in blood.
Ive had a late-90s hard drive platter as a coaster since the late 90s.
The scar from its disassembly faded a few years ago.
@SQLAllFather I tried to get the platters off, but while I had suitable six-point bits and a good screwdriver they weren't strong enough to get the platters off... I gracefully bowed out. I decided that keeping my tools unbroken was more important than a cool coaster. This time! (shakes fist)
I feel/remember older 3.5 inch drives being easier to disassemble? Still I end up with cuts on my hands every time I do *anything* 
I haven't successfully disassembled another drive since then... but I bled each time.
@SQLAllFather I saw a video of someone carving a Tim Burton style pumpkin head the other day where there was an increasing amount of bandages and blood in every frame.
I think a harddrive disassembly equivalent is long overdue 
(but that's exactly what I've got Germolene for!)
> "six-point bits"
You need torx bits for this.
To remove the magnets use two multigrip pliers, put the plate at each side and twist. The magnet will pop of the plate.
Multigrip pliers because the have long handles and allow to have a better and stronger grip to the plates.
When it comes to the costs of two multigrip pliers, they are also one of the best nutcrackers you will find!
After a while you will get this:
@coastgnu @SQLAllFather
> You need torx bits for this.
Ah yes! that is what my six-point bits are officially called. I have a big set of "all the bits" from iFixit I just don't have them labelled.
Regarding twisting magnets with pliers I appreciate the suggestion but I'm a tiny person with arms made of pudding and that sounds like an injury waiting to happen
I had "Praktikanten", interns, age 12 to 16, 50% girls, who had no problem to detach the magnets with two multigrip pliers as shown. Due to the length of the handles of at least 300mm (118") you will have extreme power.
And none of them got hurt!
I would have been in extreme trouble if …
Have a look
starting from 1:03
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCRGAROAgts
starting from 4:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=156L_QtJ_I0
@jjcelery be very, very careful where you store those beastie magnets. Those things just lurk, and before you know it you've put your wallet/purse on them and they cast their magnetic spells on your credit cards, door entry fobs, bus pass or whatever they can find. Nasty do-dahs.
@rotan I have a Special Box for them, worry not. I may or may not have learned the hard way 
The box is full of exotic screws so I get a twofer on usefulness - keeps the screws from accidentally going *everywhere*
@jjcelery ha! I do the same thing. Have a stack of those brackets in the garage
I'm curious how you got the magnets off the metal without bending them or breaking the chrome on the neodymium. I've "field stripped" dozens of drives at this point and have yet to find a good, non-destructive way to do it.
@jrconlin really? I've never had one of these bend! 
Are you The Hulk?!
I use the iFixit kit for everything nowadays. The magnets in the photo hold the picker and head assembly in a sandwich. I unscrewed the supports, and then wedged a plastic blue doodad from the kit between the two pieces, then used another magent underneath to help create repulsion. Then I just used my hands to lift the top bit.
One drive had two magnets, one had only one. Second one was obv easier to lift.
@jrconlin oh wait, I think I just understood. I leave the "magnet proper" on its metal unit. I don't know how they're fused together but I think I would need a proper mighty powerful electromagnet to get these separated.
This is fine for my needs tho. What use case do you have for separating them entirely?
Ah! I removed the magnets from the metal because I use those magnets for a lot of different things. (They're fantastic for holding tools on the wall, for instance, and my work bench has about a dozen of them holding things from hammers to locking pliers). They have a hold strength of anywhere from .5 to 3 kilos, depending on how thick / old they are.
Speaking of which, it's been my experience that the magnets are glued to the metal in most cases and don't really pry up easily. I'd go through a case of spudgers before i got one up that way. What I have learned since is that bending the metal (away from the magnet) using a good sized pair of locking pliers and a bench vise works well enough, but does kind of ruin the metal.
(Well, unless you want to make something a bit more abstract and 3D, I suppose.)
@jjcelery Good for cable management attachment points under metal desks.
@jjcelery Is it bad that I reread that post to myself with an Irish accent?
And no, 2.5 inch drives aren't that old, are they? :-)
@rhempel (PS it's acquired Irish accent via Poland so it's even more confusing! )
@drfyzziks @rhempel the older I get the closer I feel to the more ancient ones than me. We're not out of touch! It's the young people that are wrong.
@jjcelery Haha - 1999 :-) I bet that drive had some serious party music on it.
@rhempel the second one was of much more reasonable age - from 2006 
I need to do an inventory of all our "archival" 3.5 inch drives to see what lurks there, but I don't think I'll get anything older than these gems.