This video animates the inside of a hard drive (HDD) and explains the basic parts and operations. I would love comments on both artistic quality and technical content. Thanks!
Production time: 2 weeks off and on
Render time: ~45 hours
10/10 on the technical part. For the artistic part. Nice modelling and animating, but i don’t like the llok of the BI-render. This rendered i cycles would be amazing, but time consuming.
Nice job 
look up a sata drive for more, it contains a motherboard made for hdds specifically, so the drive understands how to write data, also many wires and a pin system for it to connect to a computer
Thanks Monsaki - this was rendered in cycles. What makes it look like a blender internal render?
The models and animations are really good! Personally, I think the lighting looks a little bland. Maybe use a stronger light source with more contrast, maybe also a little from the side? You could also try mixing in (subtle) glossy shaders for the grey parts, and maybe add textures and a displacement map with slight bumps or scratches to make it feel more authentic overall. Right now, the surfaces look a little too “perfect” in my opinion. The disc itself looks a little too glossy to me, on the other hand. As for the content, it’s easy to understand and very interesting, great job!
Also, I think that a light source that creates a strong glow on the disc when it faces the light would look great. Just for that “oooh…so shiny” effect.
Nicely done.
I do agree that the lighting was a little flat.
Maybe take everything but the hard drive down a notch, so it fades in importance. On the hard drive itself, I think the actuator arm is the only thing that needs work. If the shadows were stronger and highlights higher it might help. Good work on the disc.
You could also maybe use an anisotropic shader on the disc to make it look more convincing, but I’m not entirely sure whether an actual disc looks like that (like a CD).
I subscribed to your channel 
Informative and very nicely done in my opinion. I’m no Cycles guru but I was just wondering about using a HDR and unchecking camera in Ray Visibility which would throw everything but the subject in black. Just a thought.
After watching your video again my comment needed to be edited. Of course the color of the case couldn’t be black with a black background. But, since it’s obviously a hard drive it could be bright red for that matter. And, the right HDRI with maybe the strength jacked up would give your metal parts a much needed reflection. It’s a information video which gives you carte blanche to go over the top.
Also I just watched your clip on appending and linking. Young man you have this animation and motion graphics to impart information down. Just outstanding IMHO. It’s a mindset required which I don’t have and not everyone does. I created a link to your site and intend to watch more when I sober up. Catch up say next Tuesday.
Thanks for complement! If I get the time - I’ll be posting a lot more videos 