TSA shaving mirror out of a hard disk drive (what are those shiny platters made out of anyway)?
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From: Dave Platt on 22 Jun 2010 19:18 In article <hvrb8a$1i5$1(a)tioat.net>, Elmo <dcdraftworks(a)Use-Author-Supplied-Address.invalid> wrote: >I didn't realize these were the actual magnetic material. They are soooo >smooth and shiny. I expected concentric circular lines of something or >other like the bottom of a CDROM or DVD once it has been burned. > >These platters are so polished that you can't make out a single bit of >"thin oxide" coating. Shinier than any metal or plastic mirror I've ever >seen and more indestructible than glass. Older drives did use an oxide (like "ferric" magnetic tape cassettes). Newer drives, such as the one which donated its platters for your mirror, have a more complex magnetic recording layer. It's a complex coating of alloys, vacuum-deposited on the polished aluminum (or glass or ceramic) surface using a process known as sputtering. The resulting magnetic layer has an extremely fine "grain" structure, which allows for small magnetic domains and thus lots of storage per area. You won't be able to see the lines which make up the individual data tracks... they aren't physically carved or burned into the magnetic coating, and consist only of varying patterns of magnetism. Yes, the surface is very smooth and shiny. It needs to be - the disk drive heads "fly" over the surface, at a height far less than the diameter of a human hair. Even a particle of cigarette smoke is too big to fit between the "flying head" and the surface. -- Dave Platt <dplatt(a)radagast.org> AE6EO Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!
From: TimR on 23 Jun 2010 13:02 On Jun 22, 6:40 pm, "Rod Speed" <rod.speed....(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Elmo wrote: > > I wouldnt like to predict what some trained ape will make of them. I wouldn't take a chance. I'd put them in a protective sleeve. I'd use one of those free AOL disk sleeves you find in piles everywhere.
From: mm on 23 Jun 2010 14:14 On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:47:23 +0000, info_at_1-script_dot_com(a)foo.com (DA) wrote: >responding to >http://www.homeownershub.com/maintenance/TSA-shaving-mirror-out-of-a-hard-disk-drive-what-are-those-448822-.htm >DA wrote: > >Elmo wrote: > > > > >> What are the shiny CDROM-sized platters in an old desktop disk drive >> made >> out of? > >> I glued two of them together so that the offset covered the center hole >> to >> use as an indestructable traveling shaving mirror. > >> A friend said they won't pass TSA security but they're not sharp. They >> are >> just really shiny and really flat. > >> What are they made out of anyway? > >A bit of a strange choice of material for *traveling* shaving mirror (and >shape, too: how do you hold it while shaving?) - there are plastic mirrors >that are brighter and lighter. You'd think weight would be an important >parameter for a traveler... > >But I think TSA should definitely have an issue with you bringing it into >the cabin (why do you need a shaving mirror there anyways? Half the wall So he'll have an excuse to bring a razor! A straight razor with a blade 4 inches long. He can use is leather briefcase as a strop. >space in a lavatory not enough?) . If it's a ceramic platter, it should be >able to shutter into very sharp shards useful for well, I don't know, >slashing someone's throat to hijack a plane? > >Leave it at home. > >------------------------------------- > /\_/\ >((@v@)) NIGHT >():::() OWL > VV-VV > >
From: mm on 23 Jun 2010 14:16
On Tue, 22 Jun 2010 21:09:28 +0000 (UTC), Elmo <dcdraftworks(a)Use-Author-Supplied-Address.invalid> wrote: > >I've had glass mirrors (which obviously shatter); I've had plastic mirrors >(which scratch too easily and aren't all that reflective; and I've had even >used nicely handled old round concave (or are they convex?) Convex. Easy to remember. The other ones are like caves, and they're called concave. >Japanese-motorcycle mirrors (which eventually broke due to the glass). |