Optical Drives, Hard Drives, and Floppy Drives, Ohhh My!

I broke down a small stack of PCs this afternoon but I couldn't feel real good about myself because of the elephant in the garage that is my overflowing box of drives that need to be broken down. So I started on those and, as expected, got pretty board (see what I did there?) pretty fast. So I decided to time myself for 30 minutes to see what I could knock out and it's value. Of course, I managed to pull the absolute toughest drives out of the box - hidden screws, philips head & star on the same unit, etc. - but I got through it. Here are the results:

5 optical drives (one laptop version), 4 hard drives, and 3 floppies

Dirty aluminum - 1 lb 12 oz - $0.26

Aluminum - 2 lb 8 oz - $1.13

Small motors - 7 oz - $0.12

Steel/shred - 9 lb 8 oz - $0.76

Floppy boards - 2 oz - $0.16

Optical boards - 11 oz - $1.65



HDD boards - 5 oz - $3.09

There were also HDD platters and magnets that I'll eventually sell, but I don't have prices on those. Also a wee l'il bit o' copper and probably something else I forgot, but that was the bulk of it. Grand total - $7.17. Times 2 = $14.34 per hour. That makes me feel a little bit better.

Well done and thanks for your results
The 4 hard drive covers should be either stainless or plated brass, might be worth testing with a magnet and file to add a bit more to your totals.

Floppies can be a pain to break down, so many tiny screws. Enough to drive one nuts. At lest the 3.5s are that way. I don't get many of the big floppies.

I still have a bunch I can't bring myself to breakdown yet. Heh.

Good break down.

Sirscrapalot - Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact.- William James

Our ewaste industry isn't as advanced as the US one. Consequently, we just chuck the 3.5" and cd/dvd drives in the light gauge bin as most of the refiners here regard boards from those devices as low grade.

Originally Posted by Goatrutar

Our ewaste industry isn't as advanced as the US one. Consequently, we just chuck the 3.5" and cd/dvd drives in the light gauge bin as most of the refiners here regard boards from those devices as low grade.

Floppy boards don't, but CD/DVD boards here usually go at about the same rate as motherboard grade. If you have the time and the room, it could be worth your while to save them in hopes the industry there might eventually change to accommodate them