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[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Ok First thing first, I am in an Independent Study class where we spend the whole year making and running one unique original experiment. I was asked to do an experiment on taking the schools old computers and ¨tearing¨ the valuable metals from the computers. That being said I need to write up the steps and such to my experiment before it gets aproved by the Science fair comitte peeps.

My giant question is, what hazards are there in taking apart 1990's dell computer towers?
Are there any carsinogens, toxins, other random hazardous materials in the computers that I would be exposed to by taking the computers apart?

[10ebbor10]

Define: Taking apart.

Disassembling should do you no harm. Throwing the motherboards onto a fire to extract the copper wiring and other rare materials might however not be a healthy decision.

[RedKing]

I've scavenged and cannibalized old desktops/towers for decades and I'm just fi--



Seriously, though.
Number one risk is probably dust. Wear a filter mask (the cheap paper kind).

Next risk is to your hands. Case architecture and component design was not sleek and streamlined in the old days. I keep a pair of fingerless gloves (paintball gloves actually) handy when I'm set to go digging around in a case, to keep the back of my hands from getting shredded on pins and sharp corners.

As far as toxic materials, CRTs are the only thing I can think of, as they contain lead glass. So don't eat that. Actually, eating any part of your PC is probably unwise.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

I will be taking the computers apart and extracting the valuable metals from them

I will not be using fire to melt or extract the metals from the computers

The experiment is to see if it is economic to environmentally and safely ¨dissect (would that be the right word?)¨  the computer to get the metals out of it?

Another question, Can you use a utility knife to cut off the plastic/rubber coating on wiring in the computers to get to the copper wire, or is there even copper wire in the old computer wiring?


The computers are late 1990's dell computers
any information will be useful

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Yet another question

Are  there any full proof ways to destroy the hard drives, that is the schools number one concern is that the hard drives are destroyed

If at all possible please give links to as much information as you can

Thanks guys

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

Hard drives?

Get a metal bucket, throw in some magnets, wood, paper, stick the hard drives next to the magnets then burn it.

Seriously, if a hard drive has anything personal on it, try magnetising and burning the thing. Magnetising helps to scramble everything on it, burning makes sure it's unrecoverable. Just don't inhale the fumes.

No burning that ruins the environmental part of this
Ive heard that using a hammer and punching a nail through the disks works

[10ebbor10]

It all depends on how determined people are to hack the hard drive. In most casing reformatting, overwriting and optionally smashing would help.

On a side note, I'm not certain how you're  going to extract valuable metals from the computer system without releasing toxins.

[RedKing]

[Insert obligatory ICP magnets joke]

I doubt there's much of value on those hard drives.
To get the wire out of the insulation, use a wire stripper. That's what its for. Stripping wires. Hence the name. 

[alway]

On a side note, I'm not certain how you're  going to extract valuable metals from the computer system without releasing toxins.

Pretty much this. "Wires" are only a tiny component of a computer, and many of them are more valuable intact anyway. Circuit boards are basically just runes inscribed into a tablet to let the magical energies flow from one tiny component to another, while the actual valuable metals are locked up inside said tiny components, and would essentially require a refinery to get them out. Also keep in mind some of those materials are hazardous to your health. Cadmium, mercury, lead. And of those, most can be found distributed throughout your computer. This stuff is considered hazardous material for a reason.

Here's some details though: http://www.mdpi.com/2079-9276/3/1/152
In short, to get anything actually of any real value out, you need an integrated smelting plant capable of refining out the various materials while processing the toxic gasses you're producing in the process.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

[Insert obligatory ICP magnets joke]

I doubt there's much of value on those hard drives.
To get the wire out of the insulation, use a wire stripper. That's what its for. Stripping wires. Hence the name. 

Do you have a picture of that
Im a total newb when it comes to tools

[Frumple]

Just, uh. Google wire stripper. It'll immediately get dozens on dozens of hits. They're not exotic tools.

Your school's IT department should have a few laying around. Maintenance or whatev' probably will, too. Much of your fellow students will have families with some form of wire stripper hanging around. They're kinda' common. IT uses 'em, anything dealing with vehicles use 'em, anyone dealing with electrical wiring, obviously, pretty sure folks dealing with fencing use 'em, I think I've seen them used for cooking before... things are all over the place. Useful buggers. And if you can't find a dedicated one, most pliers have this little hole-thing in them with sharp bits that work about as well.

And yeah, if you can't burn, a grinder is probably your best bet for hard drives if you're looking to actually make them a physical non-thing. Burning would be the quickest, easiest, and most sure means, though. Iirc, it's pretty easy to whip up some thermite equivalent from household stuff, to get it done quick and fun.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

I think my dad has a few lying around

Would it be worth the time to use said wire strippers to get copper from the wires?

[Vector]

.

[Cryxis, Prince of Doom]

There's two ways to nuke your hard drives!

Option one: Active Killdisk or Darik's Boot and Nuke. Both are programs dedicated to wiping a hard drive clean with several passes and does so or can do so to the standard used by the US Department of Defense. Your hard drive is still useful after that, and if you want to take an abstract perception of the precious materials inside a hard drive, it'd still be worth precious metals if you sell it.

Option two: Industrial grade grinder that turns your hard drive to a fine powder.

Don't breathe the powder.

I do not have the time to turn all *estimated* 100 computers on and install hardware to delete the info on the hard drives
and I do not have an industrial grinder

Would directly smashing the disks in the hard drive be effective enough?

[Telgin]

For any practical purposes, yes.  If you want a small extra layer of assurance, just wipe a magnet over them before hammering.  It would take the FBI or other government agency to get data off of them after that.