Computer component conundrum
March 25, 2022 7:43 AM Subscribe
We bought our house seven years ago. Seven years ago I found a drawer crammed full of what I would call forgotten "computer stuff". Seven years ago I also forgot about it and just rediscovered it. What do I do with all of it?
In my defense, the drawer in question is a wall built-in cedar lined drawer, and while reorganizing the bedroom we wound up putting our bed in front of it. I don't think that my husband even knew there was anything in the drawer, and I just completely forgot.
It's not just cords and wires, but also some really fancy looking keyboards and mice and headphones with microphones attached. After a bit of googling "computer parts" I think that we also have some graphics, video, and sound cards, a few motherboards, and a hard drive. If you haven't guessed, I don't know what the heck I'm looking at and I don't know if it's worth anything - to either the person who previously owned the house, or to anybody really.
What should I do with all of it? Some factors:
- I do not have the resources to personally research all of this stuff. I can find a friend to help me out, but if it's just a bunch of junk I don't want to bother.
- I do have access to electronics recycling through my work so I could easily slip these items in.
- Through a weird twist of fate, I'm friends-of-friends with the guy who used to own the house. If it was important or valuable stuff, I could easily ask our mutual friend to put us in touch. I think we're long past "connect through the realtors", which is what we did with the other stuff the guy left behind.
45% of me thinks "just recycle it, it's old and it's electronics so it's probably way outdated and not worth anything to anyone."
45% of me thinks "someone might want it! The previous owner might want it! You should do some due diligence!"
10% of me thinks "hey, remember that article you read about lost bitcoin? You could have a billion dollars sitting in your cedar lined drawer, hmmmmm?"
What do you think?
In my defense, the drawer in question is a wall built-in cedar lined drawer, and while reorganizing the bedroom we wound up putting our bed in front of it. I don't think that my husband even knew there was anything in the drawer, and I just completely forgot.
It's not just cords and wires, but also some really fancy looking keyboards and mice and headphones with microphones attached. After a bit of googling "computer parts" I think that we also have some graphics, video, and sound cards, a few motherboards, and a hard drive. If you haven't guessed, I don't know what the heck I'm looking at and I don't know if it's worth anything - to either the person who previously owned the house, or to anybody really.
What should I do with all of it? Some factors:
- I do not have the resources to personally research all of this stuff. I can find a friend to help me out, but if it's just a bunch of junk I don't want to bother.
- I do have access to electronics recycling through my work so I could easily slip these items in.
- Through a weird twist of fate, I'm friends-of-friends with the guy who used to own the house. If it was important or valuable stuff, I could easily ask our mutual friend to put us in touch. I think we're long past "connect through the realtors", which is what we did with the other stuff the guy left behind.
45% of me thinks "just recycle it, it's old and it's electronics so it's probably way outdated and not worth anything to anyone."
45% of me thinks "someone might want it! The previous owner might want it! You should do some due diligence!"
10% of me thinks "hey, remember that article you read about lost bitcoin? You could have a billion dollars sitting in your cedar lined drawer, hmmmmm?"
What do you think?
tl;dr: just recycle it, it's old and it's electronics so it's probably way outdated and not worth anything to anyone.
The hard drive *could* have data of value to your friend-of-a-friend (or, I suppose, the lost key to his wallet full of dogecoin) so it might be worth reaching out about that.
For the keyboards/mice/headphones/mics - what kind of connectors do they have? Is it something "normal" and recognizable? If so, maybe see about passing them on to someone who might want to use them.
You can almost definitely recycle the sound/graphics/video cards - if they are seven years old (minimum! who knows how long they were in the drawer before you bought the house!) then they are almost certainly worthless even if they were top of the line when acquired.
posted by mskyle at 7:57 AM on March 25, 2022 [4 favorites]
The hard drive *could* have data of value to your friend-of-a-friend (or, I suppose, the lost key to his wallet full of dogecoin) so it might be worth reaching out about that.
For the keyboards/mice/headphones/mics - what kind of connectors do they have? Is it something "normal" and recognizable? If so, maybe see about passing them on to someone who might want to use them.
You can almost definitely recycle the sound/graphics/video cards - if they are seven years old (minimum! who knows how long they were in the drawer before you bought the house!) then they are almost certainly worthless even if they were top of the line when acquired.
posted by mskyle at 7:57 AM on March 25, 2022 [4 favorites]
I am not your lawyer. In most states, this likely qualifies as lost property, and you probably have some level of due diligence before you can claim it for your own. So, if it were me, I’d do my best to contact the former owner of the house with a pic and description of what was there. If nothing comes through with that, Mezzanayne’s suggestion is fine.
posted by Happydaz at 7:58 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Happydaz at 7:58 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
Especially fancy keyboards & mice might be nice ergonomic models, which are likely still usable. If you are WFH, you might want to try them out!
Are there any names or model numbers on them? Are the plugs ordinary, flat USB? Are they genuinely weird (e.g., split keyboards, or trackballs)?
posted by wenestvedt at 8:03 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
Are there any names or model numbers on them? Are the plugs ordinary, flat USB? Are they genuinely weird (e.g., split keyboards, or trackballs)?
posted by wenestvedt at 8:03 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
I think that your mention of “the other stuff the guy left behind” is relevant here. Did the guy, after being contacted through the realtors, come get his stuff? If so, I think it’s worthwhile to connect through the mutual friend and just ask. Let them know that if they have no interest in the stuff, it’s no trouble for you to just deal with it (at which point you can do the research suggested in this thread to maybe sell what is valuable and recycle the rest).
posted by Night_owl at 8:13 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Night_owl at 8:13 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
If there was anything he wanted in there, he'd have come looking for it before now. He probably forgot it existed, long before he sold to you. But - just out of politeness - it's worth one try with the guy who used to live there, to see if there's anything that he wants. It's still his stuff, after all. If he turns it down - take anything useful & recycle everything else.
More likely to be his 90s-era porn stash than a million lost bitcoins, though
posted by rd45 at 8:17 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
More likely to be his 90s-era porn stash than a million lost bitcoins, though
posted by rd45 at 8:17 AM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
I wouldn't attach a derelict hard drive to a computer I cared about because of the risk that its dereliction was related to a virus or other malware. If you're not prepared to handle a mystery drive in a way that isolates any risk from it, you shouldn't connect it to a computer at all.
If you have a friend-of-a-friend connection to the previous owner, I'd just reach out to the common friend and have them reach out to the previous owner. Something like "we just rearranged some furniture and found this cache of old computer parts that probably belonged to $previous. Can you see if he is interested in reclaiming anything before I recycle it?" Maybe attach a photo, or at least offer to send a photo if there's any interest.
If there's no interest then you can either recycle it or find somebody who goes to computer swap meets and give it up that way*. In my experience (as a person with a box in the basement labeled "expensive adapters for obsolete electronics") by the time a component goes into the random container of parts it has probably already lost any value it started with, and that value would almost certainly have decreased even more over seven years. There's a very small chance there's something rare and valuable in the stash, but I wouldn't expect a payday.
* Or upload a picture on imgur or something and then post another Ask so people can identify things of value for you, because people do like a challenge.
posted by fedward at 8:22 AM on March 25, 2022 [6 favorites]
If you have a friend-of-a-friend connection to the previous owner, I'd just reach out to the common friend and have them reach out to the previous owner. Something like "we just rearranged some furniture and found this cache of old computer parts that probably belonged to $previous. Can you see if he is interested in reclaiming anything before I recycle it?" Maybe attach a photo, or at least offer to send a photo if there's any interest.
If there's no interest then you can either recycle it or find somebody who goes to computer swap meets and give it up that way*. In my experience (as a person with a box in the basement labeled "expensive adapters for obsolete electronics") by the time a component goes into the random container of parts it has probably already lost any value it started with, and that value would almost certainly have decreased even more over seven years. There's a very small chance there's something rare and valuable in the stash, but I wouldn't expect a payday.
* Or upload a picture on imgur or something and then post another Ask so people can identify things of value for you, because people do like a challenge.
posted by fedward at 8:22 AM on March 25, 2022 [6 favorites]
I wouldn't attach a derelict hard drive to a computer I cared about
Nor would I. You've got a box of eWaste - drop it off at an appropriate collection point, and forget about it. Seven years is way too long to contact its previous owner - if this stuff had any value to him or her, s/he would've gotten in contact a long time ago.
posted by Rash at 8:43 AM on March 25, 2022 [2 favorites]
Nor would I. You've got a box of eWaste - drop it off at an appropriate collection point, and forget about it. Seven years is way too long to contact its previous owner - if this stuff had any value to him or her, s/he would've gotten in contact a long time ago.
posted by Rash at 8:43 AM on March 25, 2022 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: The items that the guy left were some old pots and pans and a box full of cards (birthday, wedding, etc). Through the realtors, he said that he didn't want them and told us to just throw them out. So we tossed the old pans and recycled the cards (after ransacking them to see if there were any forgotten gift cards, alas there were none).
I do have an ancient laptop in the basement that I wouldn't mind plugging the hard drive into. It's on the way to the technotrash scrap heap itself.
Our common friend is through Facebook - I noticed former homeowner commenting on something our common friend posted. I have no idea how the two of them know each other. I will be seeing the common friend in a few weeks - I could ask him then.
posted by Gray Duck at 8:47 AM on March 25, 2022
I do have an ancient laptop in the basement that I wouldn't mind plugging the hard drive into. It's on the way to the technotrash scrap heap itself.
Our common friend is through Facebook - I noticed former homeowner commenting on something our common friend posted. I have no idea how the two of them know each other. I will be seeing the common friend in a few weeks - I could ask him then.
posted by Gray Duck at 8:47 AM on March 25, 2022
If it's that old, it's only of interest to retro computing guys.
Personally, I'd just dump them on e-waste recycler lest you have interest in these historical stuff.
posted by kschang at 9:06 AM on March 25, 2022
Personally, I'd just dump them on e-waste recycler lest you have interest in these historical stuff.
posted by kschang at 9:06 AM on March 25, 2022
My hobby is vintage computers, mostly stuff at least 30 years old. Some old sound cards, video cards, and motherboards from the 80's and 90's are worth quite a bit to collectors. For example, an original 1987 Adlib Sound Card will go for $500 and up. Anything for a non-PC computer is usually worth more than IBM-compatible parts, which are much more common. Old mechanical keyboards can be valuable, and really rare ones go for big money. Unless they are real vintage early mice, they are probably worthless.
But most of that kind of stuff is just so much techno-junk and not worth bothering with. If it is anything from this millennium I would just recycle it.
posted by fimbulvetr at 9:11 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
But most of that kind of stuff is just so much techno-junk and not worth bothering with. If it is anything from this millennium I would just recycle it.
posted by fimbulvetr at 9:11 AM on March 25, 2022 [3 favorites]
In skimming through my tech detritus boxes, I've found a few things from around 2000 that have (some) value for retro-computing people: old PCMCIA cards, dongles, types of RAM that are now harder to find, etc. But that requires a little bit of time to jot down part/model numbers and check eBay completed listings to see if there are any takers. But like others have said, it's doubtful there's anything of significant value, and time is money.
posted by holgate at 9:46 AM on March 25, 2022
posted by holgate at 9:46 AM on March 25, 2022
Response by poster: Alright, I think that it's all going to technotrash. Thanks for setting my mind at ease!
Follow-up question: Should I smash the hard drive or otherwise damage it so that, if there is any information on it, it won't be readable by someone down the line?
posted by Gray Duck at 10:22 AM on March 25, 2022
Follow-up question: Should I smash the hard drive or otherwise damage it so that, if there is any information on it, it won't be readable by someone down the line?
posted by Gray Duck at 10:22 AM on March 25, 2022
Generally a recycler will do that, "just to be sure", unless they run into something truly ancient.
I worked for 2 weeks at a recycler and I saw some weird like... like first gen Mac Powerbook. Yes, it still powers up. You can imagine it uses a SCSI HD, unheard of in modern days.
posted by kschang at 10:31 AM on March 25, 2022
I worked for 2 weeks at a recycler and I saw some weird like... like first gen Mac Powerbook. Yes, it still powers up. You can imagine it uses a SCSI HD, unheard of in modern days.
posted by kschang at 10:31 AM on March 25, 2022
The headsets probably still work. I'd be loath to toss those, for genuinely practical reasons, unless they don't plug into any of your devices.
posted by praemunire at 10:49 AM on March 25, 2022
posted by praemunire at 10:49 AM on March 25, 2022
Response by poster: Addendum: I'll put the keyboards, headphones, and mice up for grabs on my local Buy Nothing group. It's the computer innards that will be recycled.
posted by Gray Duck at 10:51 AM on March 25, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by Gray Duck at 10:51 AM on March 25, 2022 [2 favorites]
FWIW, I see plenty of obsolete cables and connectors for sale at my local thrift store... stuff that only a motherboard could love, but someone must be buying it.
posted by credulous at 1:01 PM on March 25, 2022
posted by credulous at 1:01 PM on March 25, 2022
it me, I buy it, I run a tiny data-rescue op
That sounds perfectly reasonable, OP.
posted by humbug at 1:08 PM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
That sounds perfectly reasonable, OP.
posted by humbug at 1:08 PM on March 25, 2022 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by mezzanayne at 7:54 AM on March 25, 2022