Quote from: bittraffic on Today at 03:03:53 PM

If someone greedy enough for money, hed found it already and never told James about it. Taking it all. 7500 BTC is just heck of riches, a person who knows the landfill by the back of his hand could find it easy as its been logged all the time. Dead bodies are even exhumed precisely where if they just knew the timeline.

If James only kept the private key he wouldn't be digging garbages.

Excellent point!
Would of gave it atleast a couple of merits if there were any available. Hopefully somebody else does.

Quote from: TheBeardedBaby on Today at 02:51:58 PM

Quote from: Kakmakr on Today at 01:35:19 PM

I seriously doubt that the data will still be there to be retrieved, because under ideal conditions, hard drives are predicted to be able to retain their data for 9 to 20 years. So I should say... a landfill are less than ideal conditions and his hard drive has been there for almost 8 years now.

We have not even consider that corrosive fluids will hasten the deterioration of the physical disc and also rust and the pressure that was placed on this hard drive with material that was placed on top of it. Roll Eyes

I cannot agree with you here.
First, the hdd is not operational so the life is much longer than only 9-20 years.
Second, the important thing here is the data stored on the platters, the condition of the platters is crucial not the drive itself.
Third, the HDD cast body is from Aluminum Alloy A380, used in the aviation, hard and corrosive resistant, the same valid for the top cover, rust free and reinforced plate and the rubber gasket on the plate has more than 10 years of life.

There is a small ventilation hole on the top cover with filters, so the HDD can "breath" when the air pressure changes like on higher altitudes but even if there's corrosive fluid leaking into the drive which is highly unlikely, the platters are made of aluminum or ceramics covered with magnetic "dust" which is coated with extra layer of carbon.

There are probably mechanical damages from the transportation to the final point, but since the drive was not in operation the heads probably hit only at one specific spot on the platters, creating physical damage.

I assume the guy threw his whole computer with the mounted HDD inside, if that is the case then the chances to recover the hdd are much higher.

If I was him I would Dig!

I would too.
Also was thinking since it was 10 years ago, ssd drives were in existence then so it might be one of those that have their data collected on the drive differently and I think last longer and in harsher conditions than one with moving parts.
If he had said what kind of drive it was (brand, type, year made) then it would of been more helpful in determining if it could be still salvageable.
Maybe in the countless other sources of this very same story he did but I only referenced the two I found the most recent even if a year old.
The hard drives in those army-grade laptops (tough books) which are used by the military and police officers should have drives that are more resistant to the elements or even a bullet & electrofrequencies.