escrap questions - Page 3

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

ok ill try to answer your questions.

1 pick a program you like to use and do the 3 pass wipe. That is the DOD standard one usualy. It will take an hour at least to do this and even longer on larger drives. The 200gb or larger drives I do before I go to bed I just set it to run and its done in the AM.

2 If your reselling the drives the waranty wont be good anyway. Generaly I dont sell drives with missing screws because this open the inside of the drive to dust.

3 Only way to test a video card that I know of is to plug it in and run testing software. For selling on ebay I just plug them into my test bench systems I have set up and if it powers up and screen comes on I call it good. Be warned that this isnt the end all test and if your selling some gaming type cards they may fail under stress testing. You may get returns if this happens. There are some programs out there for strss testing video cards as well.

I test ram the same way. Plug it in run test software on it. Or you can buy a ram tester but they run about 3000 to 5000 bucks.

Hope that helps.

Well, I definitely dont want to earn a bad reputation, so perhaps, I will see if someone local might want to purchase, and if not, then scrap it.

Thanks for that part.

I know you have your box thing on your bench, but is that what you use for the pci cards to? Or you just have a pc setup to plug it into real fast?

Not to sound ignorant but what is a 3 pass swipe?



When I hard Hard Drive Eraser, for the shredding scheme it has it as "DoD 52220-22m" and the file system as "NTFS"

Yeah, right now I am testing all my cd/dvdrw drives, and then doing the hdd since they take a while.

Originally Posted by GeorgeB

Well, I definitely dont want to earn a bad reputation, so perhaps, I will see if someone local might want to purchase, and if not, then scrap it.

Thanks for that part.

I know you have your box thing on your bench, but is that what you use for the pci cards to? Or you just have a pc setup to plug it into real fast?

Not to sound ignorant but what is a 3 pass swipe?

When I hard Hard Drive Eraser, for the shredding scheme it has it as "DoD 52220-22m" and the file system as "NTFS"

Yeah, right now I am testing all my cd/dvdrw drives, and then doing the hdd since they take a while.

Geo when I say test bench its just a couple of motherboards with the different slots on it so I can test the different cards and memory sticks.

My box thing as you call it is my drive dock. I use that to test drives I have to use test bench set up to test cards and ram till I can afford a ram tester.

3 pass wipe. Thats how many times the program writes to the hard drive. Each program is different. the one your using is the same thing.

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

Geo when I say test bench its just a couple of motherboards with the different slots on it so I can test the different cards and memory sticks.

My box thing as you call it is my drive dock. I use that to test drives I have to use test bench set up to test cards and ram till I can afford a ram tester.

3 pass wipe. Thats how many times the program rights to the hard drive. Each program is different. the one your using is the same thing.

Figured so.

I have some more PCs coming my way from family, so probably will keep them, go and get a couple of monitors and keyboards to test drive the pci cards and ram.

Regarding the first post - for the Quantum hard disk drives usually their size is always on the main label and again it's shown on the sticker next to connector pins. On this label the size is 2.1 GB

I have several PCI cards from all the scrap PC's

I was curious to know what the possibility of them selling for on ebay, if I list them there, and make it clear it is for gold recovery only, as I dont know if any of them work or not.

From my ezperience selling them on ebay you make more money sending them to a buyer. Lets just take ewasted pricing of $4.10 a pound. AFter you figure the average of 15% in fees for final value fees and paypal fees you would have to sell the same 1 pound of pci cards for $4.71 to get the same price. Personaly only things ive seen sell for good enuff money on a regualr basis is pins and gold fingers. ANything else your taking a gamble you dont need to take.

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

From my ezperience selling them on ebay you make more money sending them to a buyer. Lets just take ewasted pricing of $4.10 a pound. AFter you figure the average of 15% in fees for final value fees and paypal fees you would have to sell the same 1 pound of pci cards for $4.71 to get the same price. Personaly only things ive seen sell for good enuff money on a regualr basis is pins and gold fingers. ANything else your taking a gamble you dont need to take.

What are the pins? Only thing I have seen "pins" on is the CPU chips.

Originally Posted by GeorgeB

What are the pins? Only thing I have seen "pins" on is the CPU chips.

LOL really? Go to ebay and type in gold plated pins and that will show you what they are.

Originally Posted by PartTimeScrapper

LOL really? Go to ebay and type in gold plated pins and that will show you what they are.

Well I did that, but that brought up so many different options, that it was mind boggling lol

I am sure, that I get it though.

Originally Posted by GeorgeB

Well I did that, but that brought up so many different options, that it was mind boggling lol
I am sure, that I get it though.

See the pins?

Thanks for the cheap entertainment lately George.

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

See the pins?

Yeah, I was figuring that is what the "gold pins" was...how in the heck do you remove them? I am guessing needle nose pliers.

I actually thought that people just snipped the ends off like that, and shipped just the ends?

Originally Posted by KZBell

Thanks for the cheap entertainment lately George.

Some entertainment, is better than none at all.

Now, I think I know just about what everything else in ewaste, to a point. From PC's anyway lol.

Just need to work on board classifications now.

2 I have confirmed that 2 of the desktops from the 8 do fully work.

I got 1 issue, and 1 question.

For the issue: Neither my keyboard or mouse will work with either PC. They dont light up or anything. They are USB.

For the question. Is there a way to erase the hard drive, as they haven't been erased, without removing the hard drive from the PC, and taking the chance on messing something up?

Originally Posted by GeorgeB

2 I have confirmed that 2 of the desktops from the 8 do fully work.

I got 1 issue, and 1 question.

For the issue: Neither my keyboard or mouse will work with either PC. They dont light up or anything. They are USB.

For the question. Is there a way to erase the hard drive, as they haven't been erased, without removing the hard drive from the PC, and taking the chance on messing something up?

A lot of times you have to have the keyboard (and mouse) plugged in before you fire the computer up or it may not recognize it.
There is a way to reformat the H.D. in the computer. Now on mine here I went to the start menu, went up to computer clicked, right clicked on the C drive (which is my main H.D.) and in the menu there is a function that says "format".

Originally Posted by Mechanic688

A lot of times you have to have the keyboard (and mouse) plugged in before you fire the computer up or it may not recognize it.
There is a way to reformat the H.D. in the computer. Now on mine here I went to the start menu, went up to computer clicked, right clicked on the C drive (which is my main H.D.) and in the menu there is a function that says "format".

I did that. I have had it happen before on other computers, where I would also just restart the PC, and then they would work to, but that isn't working on either one.

They are not old computers either. They have XP and both are compatible with VISTA according to their stickers, so I am at a loss. PC's and accessories I have a variety of, but as far as keyboards and mice, not really.

I will try again sometime today and see. I would like to get them fixed, so I can resell them!


Not to sound ignorant, but by doing your suggestion on the reformat, does that totally format the drive, or is it the same as installing a fresh copy of windows, and it leaving a file with all the old content?

Thanks for the info on it.

Okay ladies and gentlemen, I have some great news for my company!

For those of you, who have been following or a part of my "Email Marketing" thread: http://www.scrapmetalforum.com/elect...marketing.html it is working better and better!

While on yellowpages.com, and searching for "pc repair", a few companies kept showing up, that I knew was a bit bigger than a simple mom and pop place. Now, since there is a few members near me that belong to this forum, and since they are my direct competition, then I won't mention names. However, they are a pretty big company, and I am surprised I even heard back from them.

Anyways, the President of the company, is in search of someone closer to them to dispose of all their electronic/computer equipment. Best part of it is, they are not looking to be paid for any of it!

She wants me to send her more information on my pricing for pickup and disposal, as well as destruction method, etc.

The destruction methods, I have covered, but I never thought what to charge anyone for pickup, disposal, and destruction.

So here is the question. For those of you who deal with commercial clients who give you large quantities to pickup, disposa, and destroy confidential data, what kind of prices do you throw out there?

Great thing is, their computer is about 10 minutes from me, so my pricing can afford to be extremely low! In fact, I was thinking of charging them nothing for pickup and disposal, and just charging them for destruction. None the less, I am not sure what to charge.

Other thing is, they of course want me to provide them a COD, which I can do (have to recreate it, as I accidently deleted it a while back)....however, if I charge them for it, do you guys charge and get paid on completion of pickup, or do you get paid after providing them the COD?

Originally Posted by freonjoe

If there is going to be a consistant volume of material, I would do the COD's for free and maybe kick them back a little. Just depends on volume.

I will be finding out when I speak to her. I am just trying to get some ideas in my hand, so I know how to make the conversation go.

The thing is, depending on volume, if it is little here and there, then I can do it all for FREE. However, if it is a lot (like a pallet or two), then I would need to charge something, as I am the only one running the show right now. So the time I am taking to destroy all the data, trying to resale, or just plain scrap (depending on what I am getting), is time I am not out there making any money to support my family.

I mean quick turn arounds is one thing, but if it is taking me a few days to break down, and destroy, another few days to ship the stuff (unless I use someone local), and then another few days to get paid, we could be talking about almost 2 weeks there.

I would offer them a kick back, but honestly, since I dont even know what I am getting and on what kind of basis, it might not be profitable for me to offer a kick back. Plus, judging from the way their company is, I don't think that is one thing that they are worried over.

She is just looking for someone who is a lot closer, so that will cut down on their fees for having it hauled and disposed, and who can provide COD's.