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Old Hard Drives = Free Electricity

Posted by timothy on from the gotta-have-a-hobby dept.

tylernt writes "You know all those old hard drives you have laying around? (Raise your hand if you still have RLL or MFM drives... yeah, I thought so.) Well, now there's something useful you can do with them (besides my personal favorite, shooting them): make electricity! While you're at it, you could do something more productive with that old lawnmower, too."

7 of 372 comments (clear)

  1. Doh... by c0dedude · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Another post where it looks cool at first, but not really. So the guy used magnets FROM OLD HARD DRIVES (tech connection = yay) to power a standard homebrew generator. Whoopie. Of course, the hard thing, as in all electric generation, is getting the generator to spin, which isn't done with the hard drives. If he had powered up an old computer and used spinning hard drives to run a motor WHILE they were working, and powering a led from the spinning of the hard drives, that would have been cool. Sorry, not an impressive hack.

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    Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
    1. Re:Doh... by sould · · Score: 4, Insightful

      True, but the point is that hard drive magnets are very cheap for the magnetic field they produce.

  2. Pretty Cool...but by sould · · Score: 4, Insightful

    He's using a lathe plugged into the mains to supply the kinetic energyy to make the magnets rotate. (Using mains electricity to generate electricity)

    I know he's just doing that for the sake of experimentation, but it would have been nice to see some real world figures (ie using wind/water to supply the kinetic energy)

  3. If you don't like, Then you don't need to flame. by headbulb · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is slashdot, news for nerds. I think this article pass's the test. Just because its not practicle doesn't mean it shouldn't be posted.. You never know if it will inspire someone to invent something that will change the world, as unlikly as that is.. Someone will at least learn something from it..

  4. Re:Say, I use an electric lawnmower by deadsaijinx* · · Score: 3, Insightful

    that's because the lawn mower used enzymes (read: no energy required) to break apart the grass and release chemical energy. The hdd situation proposed would give most people the idea of a hdd that spins a generator that creates energy to power the hdd. which, of course, either lets entropy win and stop spinning or break the laws of conservation and thermodynamics and whatever other big words i can think of

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    YOU SUCK BALLS!
  5. physics 101 by heby · · Score: 3, Insightful

    gee, this article is really full of a hell of a lot of stupidity. i suggest taking physics 101 at the closest university/college (if this guy can get in). a little bit of knowledge about electromagnetism would save him from publishing bull... like "I have no idea yet what the effect of adding a second spinning ring of magnets to the back side of the coil will be, but I'm sure it will be significant." or "At this point, seems to me like an alternator built with 7 coils hooked either in series or parrallel-(or a combination) would perform reasonably well at low rpm."...

  6. why on earth would I make my own generator by dunedan · · Score: 4, Insightful

    when for $600 I can get one premade with the nice honda name brand on it that runs at 1/2 load for 14 hours on one gallon of gas, is quiter than a lawn mower and includes an inverter, handy 110v outlets, and premade metal frame