Overheard a guy at the recycling center say 'old hard drives make great phone stands'

I was dropping off e-waste and he showed me his setup with a 3.5 inch drive propped under his monitor. Has anyone else repurposed old parts like that instead of buying stands?

2 comments

2 Comments

tessa_roberts16d ago

My local recycling center actually banned people from taking hard drives because someone kept pulling them out to use as bookends and then the magnets fell off and messed with the scales. In my experience, those old drives are way too fragile for that kind of thing. A gentle bump can crack the platters and then you've got sharp bits of metal sitting on your desk near your expensive monitor. Plus the vibration from the drive still spinning up could slowly mess with your screen alignment if you're using it long term. I'd rather spend five bucks on a proper stand than risk knocking a hundred dollar monitor off my desk.

matthewperry6d ago

I used an old CPU heatsink as a doorstop for like three years before my wife finally threw it out.