Garbage reward-Part 2

[Donkbaca]

only in Texas....

[geomartin]

Best garbage deal I ever had going was at work.  The company next door was the IT support building for a large supermarket chain.  For about three years, periodically pallets of computers and monitors would show up next to the shared garbage bins.  I asked about them and was told they were fair game, so I made several thousand extra dollars from ebay and garage sales during that time period.  Because they were free to me, I marked them to sell quickly and always had pocket cash!

[DillonFoulds]

Was clearing out my basement, took a hatchback loaded with crap computer parts to the dump, circa early P4, and maybe S939. Came back with a Q6600 with 4gb ram, Radeon 3650 and a 1tb hdd. Replaced three capacitors on the motherboard, good as new computer.

[DillonFoulds]

That's kind of creepy that you would pull hard drives and snoop on your neighbors. Do you peek in their windows (punny), as well?

[geomartin]

Yeah, I don't know why, but they quit putting things out after a while.  Could be they hired a recycling company to come get the stuff, or started selling it themselves.

[HaRuMaN]

That's kind of creepy that you would pull hard drives and snoop on your neighbors. Do you peek in their windows (punny), as well?

Every time I find a discarded computer, first thing I do is look through the hard drive...

[flashiv]

I'm with HarumaN, discarded hard drives are like little mini treasure chests.   

[DillonFoulds]

no, i'm all for turning it on, but I'm not gonna snoop through it, just toss in the XP, 7, linux, what have you and do a format, it's a bit inconsiderate to just go snooping through someone's hard drive, just because they're too naive to keep it. might as well go snoop through their mailbox because they don't have a mail slot.

[Donkbaca]

+1 on the mailbox idea, never thought of it that way! Off to snoop...

[HaRuMaN]

Mailbox snooping is federal offense.  Looking at a discarded hard drive is not.  The two are not equal.

[DillonFoulds]

Okay, then allow me to correct myself, it's like snooping through their garbage and reading discarded mail.

Just as seedy, and perhaps even moreso.

[HaRuMaN]

How to get rid of your old hard drives:   

http://hackaday.com/2008/09/16/how-to-thermite-based-hard-drive-anti-forensic-destruction/

[Donkbaca]

If you were going to snoop through garbage, why would you do it for discarded mail, when you could be snooping for discarded hard drives?  I don't understand your snooping strategy.....

[ChadTower]

I tried to get rid of the evidence by dumping the hard drives.  I would have gotten away with it too if not for those rotten kids!

[DillonFoulds]

No kidding, DillonFolds is acting so suspicious it makes me want to start checking his trash cans.

WHAT ARE YOUR CRIMES, DILLON?!

 

My crime is tossing silent vowels in to last names 

[Edgedamage]

I dunno, man, finding a hard drive in the dumpster is like finding one of those mythical garbage bags full of porn and the contents are frequently the same.

 

  WINNING! 

[NightGod]

Your best bet for permanently destroying a hard drive (without resorting to thermite, of course) is a 3/8" drill press. Run straight down through the spindle, it destroys the data beyond even the most advanced forensic recovery techniques. Something about the drill bit setting up micro-vibrations that essentially shatter the platters at a molecular level. This was the method chosen by the DoD when they were testing to learn how best to dispose of sensitive data.

[crashwg]

I just wanted to share my latest score.  I figured I'd post it in this thread since the morals of dumpster diving should be out of the way, I mean, who wants to have that conversation again...

TJ Maxx is the wasteful company that decided they'd trow out one of those "kids" projectors because it has a "bad bulb."  No seriously that's what it said on the tag explaining why it was being discarded.  Turns out it uses a fairly standard bulb that you can buy at a local hardware store for track lighting.  The bulb indeed looks like it's burned out and I did a "play test" with a flashlight to try and spot any other obvious flaws which I could find none.  By the way, moving a flashlight around inside a projector to light up parts of the screen while playing Ms Pac-Man adds a new level of difficulty.    In the same dumpster was a "full" size Aerobed which is now inflated in my living room.  That didn't have a sign stating why it was discarded but I found a tiny pinhole in the bottom which can easily be fixed with a patch.  $65 price tag on the projector, $60 on the bed.  Not the best dumpster find in this thread (the ATV takes that cake) but altogether a pretty good haul!

P.S.  I've bought a bulb and it's working fine now.  I've got it up on ebay here: New Discovery Wonderwall Entertainment Projector

[Edgedamage]

I just wanted to share my latest score.  I figured I'd post it in this thread since the morals of dumpster diving should be out of the way, I mean, who wants to have that conversation again...

TJ Maxx is the wasteful company that decided they'd trow out one of those "kids" projectors because it has a "bad bulb."  No seriously that's what it said on the tag explaining why it was being discarded.  Turns out it uses a fairly standard bulb that you can buy at a local hardware store for track lighting.  The bulb indeed looks like it's burned out and I did a "play test" with a flashlight to try and spot any other obvious flaws which I could find none.  By the way, moving a flashlight around inside a projector to light up parts of the screen while playing Ms Pac-Man adds a new level of difficulty.    In the same dumpster was a "full" size Aerobed which is now inflated in my living room.  That didn't have a sign stating why it was discarded but I found a tiny pinhole in the bottom which can easily be fixed with a patch.  $65 price tag on the projector, $60 on the bed.  Not the best dumpster find in this thread (the ATV takes that cake) but altogether a pretty good haul!

P.S.  I've bought a bulb and it's working fine now.  I've got it up on ebay here: New Discovery Wonderwall Entertainment Projector

Nice find, WHEW!!! after three months of the forgot password link not working it finally worked today I am back.