How to remove a hard drive board FAST!

[aurum]

How is the board actually processed ? Heres my 3 assumptions ( lol )

Usually, none of the above.



Boards are shredded, sometimes blended with other materials, to get the copper content higher.
The shredded boards are smelted and copper cathodes are poured. The copper acts as a collector of all the precious metals. Iron, aluminum, etc go in the slag.
The copper cathodes are placed in an electrolytic cell, and current is applied. The copper will dissolve and get deposited on the cathode as pure copper (99.99% or so).
All the precious metals and other impurities fall to the bottom of the tank, called anode slimes.
The anode slimes are further processed to separate the various precious metals and purify them.

This would be basically the same process for all ewaste on a large scale. Companies like Umicore, Boliden, Metalor, etc use some variation of this process.
Depopulating boards and separating components is usually only done by small scale or home refiners.