Metal in hard drives...

[Externet]

Hello all.
Does anyone know if the metal attached externally on top of (larger) hard drives, usually following a pattern as the platters, is mu-metal ?
I removed some, about 1mm thick, it is paramagnetic, looks like stainless steel, as the mu-metal looks.
-Or how to test it?
Miguel

[zotdoc]

Sorry, I have no idea what metal it is, but in the interest of our general knowledge, what is mu metal and what is it good for? Thanks, Zotdoc.

[Externet]

Hi.
Here are some frequent answers:
http://www.mumetals.com/faqs.html
http://www.mushield.com/faq.shtml
Miguel

[haklesup]

If it quacks like a duck, it probably is a duck.

Mu-Metal usually has a slightly goldish color to it. Not only should a magnet not stick to it, you should not be able to sense the magnetic field on the other side of it (iron filings do not stick other side like they do with paper or plastic).

To know for sure, you would need a metallurgical analysis of a kind.

[Dean Huster]

I've seen the mu-metal surrounding scope CRTs take on an appearance that looks a little like splotched plating, similar to the appearance of galvanized steel used for furnace cold-air return ducts. You can also expect it to be more gray (vs. gold) also, and more of a matte finish. There's all kinds, but somehow, I doubt that it's mu-metal. There's no point in mu-metal for the cover when the remainder is a die-cast aluminum alloy.

Dean