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Hard Drive Wind Chimes  If you like to take things apart you will have lots of fun making one of these hard drive wind chimes. It won’t cost you a dime and looks quite nice. Talk about a conversation starter when people try to figure out what it was made from.
“The original idea of making a hard drive component wind chime came from the summer of 2004, when I was working as an intern in the Amherst College IT department. I had several broken hard drives to get rid of and my fellow intern Devindra yelled out the phrase “hard drive platter wind chimes!!!”, so I started Googling for how-tos on hard drive wind chimes. Sadly, while pictures of several exist there isn’t a real guide. I eventually took them apart and made a decent wind chime with the components in a Western Digital HD. However, since I made it using cheap pink thread (the only thread/rope I had access to) it fell apart in a few weeks. The keychain I made from it is still functioning very well though.”
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April 25th, 2006
In soviet Russia….
I don’t know if it’s still being done but old hard drives platters (metal, about 8 inch in diameter) were used as a TV aerial. I think, a pair of them nailed to a ‘T’ bit of wood made a dipole: (like a pair of goggles):
O-O
April 25th, 2006
Yes Hacked Gadgets was down for a few hours today (April 25, 2006) There was some issues with my hosting service not being able to handle the volume of traffic
All seems to be back to normal now though…
April 25th, 2006
Hi Egor,
I had never hear about that before, that must be some old drive to have 8 inch platters!!
April 25th, 2006
hey, an idea for the creator of this hacked gadget…
you mentioned that the drive platter spins too fast for that single mirror… how about using
numerous mirrors arranged in a octagon or similar so that the outputed image scans repeatedly
over the same small area?
anyway, nice hack
April 25th, 2006
what about this awasome thing these people did:
http://steve.deadlycomputer.com/microwave/computer.html
they put a dead hard disk into the microwave, just to see what happens, hint, fire!
April 25th, 2006
Hey Matt,
That’s a good idea, I was thinking of ripping some small mirrors off a small mirror ball but and placing them around something in the center. That could be a version 2
April 25th, 2006
Hi Clark,
LOL, I just watched the video. I love the way the one guy keeps saying “FIRE… FIRE… FIRE”
April 26th, 2006
yea, i watched it a bunch of times, and i think i fire was said 7 times!
there are some other good things those people did too.
April 26th, 2006
Wot the Hell was the guy with the harddrive generator thinking???????
Since When does breaking a magnet inhalf give you Two POLES????
April 26th, 2006
-Since When does breaking a magnet inhalf give you Two POLES????-
since always, guess you were asleep in science class that day. the metal is magnetic all the way through.
April 26th, 2006
Electronic Goldmine sells a “14 Segment Front Surface Mirror Disk” (http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G15470) that could be mounted to the spindle of the hard drive. The only problem is that the disk is only 3/16″ thick, so it might not capture the modulated laser beam completely if the modulation is too great. Perhaps you could purchase several of the disks and stack them to provide more “dynamic range” for the modulation. This is a pretty neat hack, though.
April 26th, 2006
Another thought related to post #11. You could change the mechanical layout of your setup to have the unmodulated laser beam be swept by the rotating mirror disk attached to the hard drive spindle. The swept beam could then reflect off of the moduation mirror to the wall. The modulation mirror, if positioned closer to the rotating mirror disk should still be large enough to catch the laser beam as it sweeps. Hope this helps.
April 27th, 2006
Hi Mac,
Something like this one might do the trick…
http://forum.hackedgadgets.com/viewtopic.php?p=63#63
You have some great ideas, thanks!
April 27th, 2006
Regarding the platter TV aerial, I saw them in Novosibirsk (or rather, Akadem Gorodok) in 1995.
I suspect some academic institute must’ve gotten rid of a lot of old harddrives, which got recycled in this interesting way.
I had a look at the contraption, platters were indeed huge (around 8 inch in diameter, metal) with a bit of TV aerial soldered to both platters to make a dipole.
I wish I still had a photo because at the time I thought “no way these actually work”… but there they were, sold in street markets around town and popping at every balcony like Mickey mouse ears
April 28th, 2006
“I broke them in 2 pieces in order to have one pole.â€
That is an odd statement considering that magnetic monopoles are not very common in reality.
April 30th, 2006
Another Hard Drive speaker video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIGUhwdfqdQ&search=hard%20drive%20
May 1st, 2006
Seems to be a lot of projects using old HDs. Also must mean there are a lot of HDs going bad. LOL, i’ve had several go bad in the past year. Maybe it’s just me but it seem that drives are going bad a lot faster than before. HD maker must be doing well, i know i always recommend buying 2 drives at a time to people. I tell them to set up a raid so they have the data protected. with hd space going into the 750Gb range, that’s a lot of data to lose. Any one know any good and not to expensive raid boxes (like teraserver)?
http://www.theoffernet.com
HOT DEALS on the NET
May 1st, 2006
I dont think more hard drives are going bad, i think the internet is expanding and more people are using it so you just hear about more broken HDD’s. Also, over time hard drives are getting more used and worn, so more liable to break. I havent even noticed that many broken hard drives recently anyway.
May 1st, 2006
Hey spamster great hard drive speaker link
. Thanks!
May 1st, 2006
Hi Major(17),
I think that lots of the drives that are getting junked are just ones that are too small for anything useful anymore. All of those 1 and 2GB drives… I guess there was a bunch of news a few years ago when there was a bunch of defective drives from various manufactures but I don’t think that is the norm.
May 2nd, 2006
La reputisima madre que los pario a todos.
May 3rd, 2006
Any one know any good and not to expensive raid boxes (like teraserver)?
http://www.apple.com/xserve/
http://www.apple.com/xserve/raid/
May 3rd, 2006
Interesting hard drive video posted in the forum, go have a look:
http://forum.hackedgadgets.com/viewtopic.php?t=151
May 5th, 2006
If you’re moving the spindle by hand anyway, why not gang the coil/mirror assembly to hip-hop turntables?
May 5th, 2006
Hey Scott,
Cool idea. I was also thinking of using a second hard drive to move the second mirror… Future project I guess
May 6th, 2006
What he means about breaking the magnets in half is that
hard drive magnets have two sets of poles. If you break them
in half, each piece has one set of poles.
Whole magnet:
N | S
S | N
May 6th, 2006
Oops.
In order to generate any usable power, the magnets on the rotor
have to be arranged with the poles facing the stator alternating –
as you move around the rotor you’d have N S N S…
You can’t do that if the magnets have two sets of poles. Breaking
them in half solves that problem.
May 16th, 2006
is there a wiring schematic for the laser
May 16th, 2006
Hi Doug,
I have had lots of requests for construction details for the HD Scope. It should be done within a week.
Alan
May 22nd, 2006
More Hard Drives are going bad because too many fools think they need RAID. RAID has no relevance to 99.99% of computer applications.
Having RAID isn’t clever, it costs a lot more because it requires at least three separate HDs and a RAID controller but the capacity of one disc is lost.
Data isn’t safe and still has to be backed up since it can still be destroyed by a virus or mechanical failure, erased by a disgruntled employee, stolen.
Lower MTBF because there are more components to fail and the disks are driven harder.
When the first drive fails the others may have to be trashed because identical replacements might not be available by then.
Fault tolerance requires more than just the RAID you need a UPS, Twin PSUs, HOT Spare RAID controller, Dual ethernet cards, Virus protection, anti theft security, fire protection, user protection (i.e. no disgruntled employees), luck (in case a second drive fails before the first failure is fixed)
June 3rd, 2006
ive got a couple of dead HDDs layin around and im thinkin about building one of these, if i do ill be sure to post some pics over on the forums. im thinking about trying to rig up one of the suggested rotating mirror octogan thingies in the middle and see how that works. first id better see if i can get my sterio to move the arm tho.
June 3rd, 2006
There is now some build instructions available for the Hard Drive Scope:
http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/06/01/making-a-hard-drive-laser-oscilloscope/
June 7th, 2006
First of all, sweet hack! Simply awesome. However, I wanted to personally thank you for introducing me to my new favourite band, Five Alarm Funk.
Thanks again
David
June 9th, 2006
A laser printer has a spinning mirror in it. The older ones had three or four surfaces. The newer units may have more as they spin up much faster. It’s inside the laser scanner assembly. Check it out.
June 24th, 2006
Also odds free poker tournaments?
June 27th, 2006
Hi
Is it possible to connect it to a microphone instead of directly to the stereo?
That way it can be portable and not risk distroying the stereo.
Any ideas on this?
Mat
June 27th, 2006
Hi Mat,
Not really since you need some amplification to move the voice coil. A microphone puts out a VERY small signal. Best thing to do is use an old amp that is not worth much.
August 29th, 2006
Nice idea pal. let me try with my old hdd collection.
October 7th, 2006
This bloody rocks man i find 6 dead hdd
October 13th, 2006
To be able to work that hard disk clock mod you have to find out how to lock the motor driver after the motor reaches full speed so that the controller can’t shut it off. On Seagate U series drives it is very easily done, just by momentarily closing two contacts on the logic board after the spindle motor reaches full speed.
October 13th, 2006
[...] Read [...]
October 26th, 2006
[...] Page Summary: ?Harddisko? is an installation piece dealing with raw computer sounds. Rhythmic noises are evolving from sixteen harddrives, which are orchestrated through simple power circuits. You could change the mechanical layout of your setup to have the unmodulated laser beam be swept by the rotating mirror disk attached to the hard drive spindle. Also, over time hard drives are getting more used and worn, so more liable to break.read more | digg story [...]
October 26th, 2006
[...] Page Summary: ?Harddisko? is an installation piece dealing with raw computer sounds. Rhythmic noises are evolving from sixteen harddrives, which are orchestrated through simple power circuits. You could change the mechanical layout of your setup to have the unmodulated laser beam be swept by the rotating mirror disk attached to the hard drive spindle. Also, over time hard drives are getting more used and worn, so more liable to break.read more | digg story [...]
October 30th, 2006
[...] A clock? A laser oscilloscope? A speaker? Wind chimes? [...]
November 1st, 2006
My name is Chris. I recently found this HD laser osc. project and tried it. its cool!
But, i upgraded it, i saw another article of an X-Y- dual HD setup and was intrigued…
I tweaked my setup a little by not only using the servo arm, but using the main motor as well.
I kept the main setup (mirror on spindle) but instead of using it’s own power, i found the motor power traces and placed the audio wires on those also. Therefore using the motor in the same fashion as the servo arm. Since the motor is rotational and not linear, like the arm, i used a quick fix to keep the motor from spinning uncontrollably from the music, by putting high strength
flexable adhesive tape over the spindle (under the mirror) taping it to the hard drive floor, but still allowing it to vibrate. Overall it came out very nice. P.S. As i write this, my laser pointer broke, so until i get a new one, my cat is sad.
November 16th, 2006
[...] Que maravilla aqui la pagina del proyecto Pagina Prpyecto [...]
December 3rd, 2006
Cool
December 13th, 2006
hi my name is salman, i am new to this site , it is amazing uses of a hard drive. can someone told me more uses of hard drive.
January 13th, 2007
Hi Salman,
Hard drives can be used to magnetically store digital data as ‘bits’ – it seems like hardrives should be rated at twice their ‘listed’ capacity – because digital data is stored as ones and zeros and zeros are nothing and nothing doesn’t take up space, so you really only needs the ones.
Also old hard drives make great doorstops, not the laptop ones though. Good paper weights. Tombstones for hamsters, and the platters make dandy little mirrors.
Next week what can I use A CPU for and what is the difference between a CPU and a CPA?
January 19th, 2007
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January 20th, 2007
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January 31st, 2007
[...] This next contribution had me realizing that I should either give up this carnival or focus it more intently. Alan, at Hacked Gadgets (now if that’s not a site that should be hosting this carnival, what is?
), presents Making a Hard Drive Laser Oscilloscope. Um, this one was WAY over my head but I really enjoyed that he showed pictures of the project step-by-step. Wondering what use one would make of a hard drive laser oscilloscope, I followed the link to his post about the Top 5 Uses for a Dead Hard Drive and watched one in a video make lines “dance” to some music. Interested in what you can use an oscilloscope for? Check out How Stuff Works. [...]
March 1st, 2007
Why don’t you make a video of how to make a oscilloscope and how to use it.
March 11th, 2007
One of my favorite tricks with old HDD’s it to open the case (of course !) and unscrew the center hub fasteners > then remove the disc(s) > then scribe & make a series of cuts ( aircraft shears work just fine , does not matter if your cuts are perfect ) > then bend the disc(s) into a series of ‘vane assemblies’ > then sit the disc (unfastened) upon the drive hub & MOVE AWAY FROM THE HDD & apply power to view ‘wonderful & dangerous flying thingies’ .
You can also apply the same principle to make a killer cooling fan for you computer case – JUST MAKE SURE TO SECURELY RE-ATTACH the disc to the drive motor hub .
I hope you have fun with this & that it gives you some wonderful ideas for odd devices to construct !!!
March 23rd, 2007
[...] Most Popular: Top 5 Dead Hard Drive ProjectsPhoto Etch Circuit Board ProcessStrange Watches What to do with Blue BallsXbox 360 Tilt ControllerLaunch 20 megapixles 20 miles highErebus Scarecrow – Computer Controlled Intelligent ScarecrowTop 5 Coil GunsHack the LG LAC-M6500R MP3 Car Stereo USB port WIFIBOT – Wifi Robot [...]
March 27th, 2007
I am a retired analog electronic design engineer from days gone by. Even so, I have kept up
with digital electronic design.
Can you tell me where to look to find schematics of a hard drive? Any hard drive will
do since I would like to understand the peripheral circuits that are used.
thanks for whatever help you can offer.
marty
March 27th, 2007
Hi M. Shen,
These pages may help.
http://hem.passagen.se/communication/ide.html
http://www.faqs.org/docs/linux_admin/x1001.html
March 27th, 2007
Hard drive spring “speaker”
Brian writes – Inspired by the wealth of hard-drive recycling ideas on hacked-gadgets and the >springverb research posted at Electronic Peasant. When looking at both these pages… this hack becomes pretty obvious. It helps that i had all the…
March 28th, 2007
[...] Originally Syndicated via RSS from del.icio.us/tag/diy Play adventure games on your mobile [...]
April 3rd, 2007
[...] Tell us about yourself. I have worked in the electronics profession for many years, I also have interests in software engineering and embedded systems development. What is your blog about? Hacked Gadgets features a wide variety of things, lots of electronic related projects. But most entries have a strange twist to them, the Top 5 uses for a dead Hard Drive article comes to mind as a great example. [...]
April 4th, 2007
At first, I though this is a recycling idea. But on the second though, recycling is for environmental protection, but to run this clock 24 hours a day is not environmental friendly at all. Can anybody stands the sound of an old HD for 24 hours each day? How about the electricity bill and the energy consumption of generating such electricity?
April 4th, 2007
Hi senderj,
I never thought much about the energy cost of the device over the long haul… But this is coming from a guy that leaves my main computer on 24/7 which is drawing more juice than the single hard drive clock. But when you consider a modern wall clock can operate n a single AA battery for almost 1 year the hard drive clock is a power HOG.
April 9th, 2007
cool blog!
April 10th, 2007
Who here has not made one of the HD speakers. God, that was one of my first make: kinda projects. I was so proud of it.. *tear*
April 17th, 2007
[...] See some videos below of the unit in action or go check out Alans site for more details, pictures and construction instructions [...]
April 30th, 2007
Nice Site!!! (p)
May 4th, 2007
Dead HDDs are one of my favorite things to take apart. They’ve got a ton of cool mechanical parts to salvage.
May 5th, 2007
ohhhh, shiny clock….shiny clock……. I WANT SHINY CLOCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 30th, 2007
You can also make cool stuff out of old CDRs and DVDRs.
Use the Compact Disc Eraser for sensitive data discs before doing so. DiscEraser.com
June 20th, 2007
I am having problems. I cannot get the HD motors to spin. I am using the HDD motor and disk for the basis of a rotating mirror for an experiment to measure the speed of light. This is for the school kids next week so I would like the solution ASAP if anyone cap help. Regards
June 20th, 2007
Hi Michael,
Depending on the model, it may not spin up or only spin up for a short time since some of the drives look for data transfer as a condition of keeping the drive spinning.
Your best bet would be to crack open an older drive, they tend to have less additional features like that.
June 20th, 2007
havent read this in detail but seems like i can probably use this to maek my first wind turbine.
June 27th, 2007
I have got so many old hard drives sitting around that I may have to try on of those mods
August 9th, 2007
Hi everyone! I too have had my fair share of Hard Drive troubles and was in the habit of trashing my defunct storage devices and buying new ones.
I have had 7 hard drives crash in the past 3 years and they’ve all been good brand names. Thank god for Computer Giants and their website, http://www.computergiants.com. I buy from them every single time I have a crash. If one of your media storage (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Data_storage_device) devices bites the dust, check out their site. You can find just about anything there like SCSI, ATA, servers, Hard Drives, and Enclosures (http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Disk_enclosure). Good luck everyone!
September 17th, 2007
[...] Y’en a qui ont vraiment beaucoup de temps à perdre… au point où ils découvrent comment transformer un disque dur en haut-parleur. Les résultats sont quand même étonnants. [...]
October 1st, 2007
Dead hard drives can live again – as really really fast optical shutters: http://optics.ph.unimelb.edu.au/atomopt/shutter/shutter.html
October 11th, 2007
[...] I recently suffered through that terrible sinking feeling that you only get when you slowly come to the realization that something has gone horribly wrong. Louise went into the office to use our old desktop computer and found only a black screen. Melanie had been playing a game on it earlier that day and it had been working fine, so this was very odd. I naturally assumed that it was a minor issue that could be quickly resolved. Reboot once or twice, maybe a couple of kicks, worst case open up the box and jiggle some cables to make sure they were seated properly. No dice. After doing all that, and more, I figured out that I had a dead hard drive. I even resorted to taking it into work to get the IT guy to check it out, and he confirmed that it was dead. Totally dead. Completely failed. Not recoverable. No data. Ouch. [...]
October 23rd, 2007
[...] 1) Hard Drive Laser Oscilloscope (page 2) [...]
December 22nd, 2007
Cool
December 26th, 2007
Can a spindle motor be used as a generator? With the nice bearings and platter, it could be used to illustrate wind power with a pringle can wind vane.
December 26th, 2007
HI HH,
I don’t think so since it isn’t a typical DC motor. There may be a way though…
December 26th, 2007
I’ll chuck one into an electric drill and see if makes any voltage/wattage/amperage.
January 20th, 2008
[...] put together. It is using one of my favorite pieces used computer hardware, that is of course the hard drive! Of course he is also using my favorite color of LED, that being the Blue LED! Dave has a schematic [...]
February 2nd, 2008
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February 11th, 2008
i like the video
February 25th, 2008
Yes, hard drive platters are still being used as TV aerials, and are even being sold as ones =) That’s in Bulgaria though, and i haven’t seen one for sale here in a lot of time =)
May 16th, 2008
[...] Fibra from Belgrade has created an interesting drum system. It uses old hard drive read/write arms as drum hammers. The original hard drive voice coils are used to move the arms. The picture above is the new system which doesn’t seem to be documented yet, have a look at the video for a demonstration of the first version. If you need a larger hard drive project fix have a look at these hard drive projects. [...]
June 20th, 2008
Hello! I read this guide to online backup and must admit it’s great. Complete, thorough and not too complicated. Download the Pdf file
August 9th, 2008
The creativity of this website is awesome! Glad to see people expanding their minds, no matter how ridiculous. lol. Great Site!
October 9th, 2008
[...] Vieni vyrukai sukÅ«rÄ— audio sitemÄ… iÅ¡ panaudotų kietųjų diskų. Sukompletavus bet 16 kietųjų diskų galima ekspermentuoti su neįtikÄ—tinais garsais. Video, instrukcija ir garso pavydžius rasite Äia. [...]
October 28th, 2008
[...] – Kewl or crazy ideas? Hacked Gadgets shows 5 things that you can do after your HDD goes RIP. [...]
November 8th, 2008
[...] has been working on some interesting projects but as some of you know I have a soft spot for hard disk drive projects. By removing the drive motor and platters there was room to install a shutter in the center. The [...]
November 27th, 2008
[...] http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/04/25/top-5-uses-for-a-dead-hard-drive/2/ shit i was watching this video again and just noticed..!! hey its vancouver’s own five alarm funk playing in the background.. wikked stuff! whut up spenny g! http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/04/25/top-5-uses-for-a-dead-hard-drive/3/ http://www.engadget.com/2008/11/13/a-hard-drive-hack-for-turntablists/ [...]
December 30th, 2008
More hard drive fun:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Twitchy_Your_E_waste_Friend/
March 9th, 2009
[...] and you could put it outside or you could hang it in the office. Hacked Gadgets also has a top 5 list of things to do with an old hard drive, one of their suggestions is a wind [...]
March 24th, 2009
Even more hard drive fun, the sequel to Twitchy, Your E-Waste Friend:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Twitchy_II_Dancing_Wireman/
April 10th, 2009
[...] sure they were seated properly. No dice. After doing all that, and more, I figured out that I had a dead hard drive. I even resorted to taking it into work to get the IT guy to check it out, and he confirmed that it [...]
April 17th, 2009
[...] some talented people. Jason Amsel and Konstantin Klitenikfrom from Cornell University came up with this hard drive clock version (2nd on page), they added a nice touch screen that can be used to set the time. Ian Smith developed [...]
April 17th, 2009
[...] some talented people. Jason Amsel and Konstantin Klitenikfrom from Cornell University came up with this hard drive clock version (2nd on page), they added a nice touch screen that can be used to set the time. Ian Smith developed [...]
June 29th, 2009
a company called debrace is selling a hard drive color built from recycled hard drive with housing. It actually looks quite nice.
June 29th, 2009
here is the link http://www.debrace.com/home.php?cat=2
June 29th, 2009
Hi Stanley,
Thanks for the link, that is actually a very cheap price for the custom clock!
September 9th, 2009
http://www.lotusinvention.cn/ART/arm/RotatingColorWheel.htm
September 24th, 2009
[...] podrán ver que éste aparatito es digno de ser comprador ¿a cuánto?, eso ustedes dÃganlo. En este enlace pueden ver otras cosas realizadas con ayuda de un Disco [...]
October 28th, 2009
Wow there are some really talented and creative people out there. Great inventions all done with hard drives.
November 27th, 2009
This is a nice proyect. Those magnets have two poles per side. So, it is necessary to cut them in 2 pieces with a stone cutting disk.
December 15th, 2009
[...] Mikey Sklar has put together an interesting wallet, it is made out of hard drive platters. As you know we have a soft spot for anything made from Hard Drives here at Hacked Gadgets. [...]
December 19th, 2009
Hey guys could any1 tell me more abt dis I damn wanna hack my hard disk but donno where to strt frm pls pls pls lemme know like steps for my Samsung HD!!!! pretty PSL!!!!!
mail me d steps at saniks88@yahoo.com
May 10th, 2010
Great ideas! I usually just smash them and pour water over them.
July 21st, 2010
Wow, pretty tech!
July 31st, 2010
[...] have featured the work of Afrotech here before, remember those cool hard drive speakers? His speakers were a big inspiration for the Hard Drive [...]
September 16th, 2010
this reminds me of that Radiohead contest where the first place dude used all old hardrives for the video. Geeh wish I could find it, you would all really appreciate it
June 13th, 2011
[...] Source:Â http://hackedgadgets.com/2006/04/25/top-5-uses-for-a-dead-hard-drive/3/ [...]
October 26th, 2011
[...] check out Alans site for more details, pictures and construction instructions [...]
June 20th, 2012
You can use the magnets from inside your HDD and a 75 cent reed switch to get that stepper motor spinning super fast.
Here’s the video tutorial: http://jaytube.org/share/PueF3b3XXBo
April 1st, 2013
[...] have upgraded your hamster wheel if you still have a few hard drives left have a look at some other Hard Drive Hacks that you can [...]