Man who lost 7500 bitcoin in a landfill asks gov't he wants to dig it up

[rdbase]

Everyone who is into bitcoin has heard this story before.
A guy cloned his hard drive and threw away the wrong drive in the trash and knows it was in a landfill site. Think they made a episode on the US sitcom series Big Bang Theory out of it.
But the story didn't end there as the person wants to have permission to excavate the site looking for this hard drive with over $275 million worth at today's price of bitcoin.


"A man from the Welsh city of Newport has offered his city council a 25% cut of his 7,500 bitcoins if it allows him to excavate the landfill where he threw away a hard drive containing the fortune in 2013."
source: https://www.businessinsider.com/man-offers-council-70-million-dig-up-bitcoin-hard-drive-2021-1

He is willing to give the city of Newport in the UK a cut of the bitcoin at a sum of $70 million so to be able to do this with approval of their local government.
This story has been run all around the globe at this point and has alot of people scratching their heads as to why he would need permission to rummage around a landfill site in garbage. Alot of countries allow those who want to go around their local trash site looking for pop cans for recycling or whatever they want to bring out of it. Since it is just garbage there.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/15/uk-man-makes-last-ditch-effort-to-recover-lost-bitcoin-hard-drive.html

Call it the green initiate if you want but there are many who scavenge around in trash looking for those gems.
As they say: "One man's trash is another man's treasure!"

[1715391866]

1715391866

[1715391866]

1715391866

[1715391866]

1715391866

[Flexystar]

I am not sure what he is really up to?

Do we really think that a hard disk from late 2013’s still be there just lying for his owner to get hands on! I barely doubt that he will find it. The cost of whole digging up would be one thing and his claim of 70 mln is another, just wondering what even if he finds it and unable to restore the data on it?

Imagine the nature’s fury from 2013 till today; the ice, rain, mud and pressure and what not.

Who thinks that it’s still gonna be in at least poor condition to dig it up and run smoothly ?

It’s not worth it.

[Mbitr]

There are some very strict rules regarding landfill and recycling centres in the UK. The land is owned by a local council and they will NEVER let a member of the public go looking through any rubbish. Imagine someone going rummaging and they manage to get a used syringe needle stuck into themselves - this person could then easily sue the council.
This man unfortunately, will NEVER have any chance of getting his hard drive back

[franky1]

years ago, he already got information about the truck that took his computer(garbage) and where approximately on the site, the area it was dumped. so he does not have to excavate the whole site.  as he knows roughly what area in the site to target most of the work

the problem is the good ol' health and safety
because trucks are spewing garbage onto land and then machines then level/plough it down. meaning its a safety risk to have a guy in the middle of the big machinery and dumping.. meaning they have to shut down operations in one area to allow him access to that area.

some have said 'maybe he can rent out' the trashsites staff for a few days.. but this was not accepted idea as the fear was that a trash site worker would find the hard drive and just pocket it, and pretend it was not found.. until he moves to an hawaiin sunset beach to retire.
so the guy wants to excavate it himself

[Kakmakr]

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.  

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

It is a very good offer for government but few things to consider.
- Do the local rules allow to make approval on such activities?
- Even the request is allowed by laws, is it possible to recover a hardware disk which was dumped in a landfill for about 10 years?

Landfill is very polluted and there are many harzadous materials which can make harmful corrosion and destroy the disk. I think it is a hopeless idea and government might put it into consideration. It is good if they get $70M from the offer but the chance to find the disk and be able to recover Bitcoin inside is very very low. They can not arbitrarily break or adjust laws just because of small hope for $70M.

[Easteregg69]

See if the greed turns solid evidence.

Shop is open. Toiletpaper.. Sulfo.

[ChiBitCTy]

I remember when I first started getting in to bitcoin back in 2014 and hearing about the stories of both the 10,000 bitcoin pizza and the landfill story. I remember specifically sitting a a chick-fil-a and telling my buddy these stories and him not believing them lol. I’ve lost a few thousand dollars worth of coins over there years for doing stupid shit, but I can’t imagine losing this much. Would be difficult to sleep at night !

[virtualdn]

I'd offer to help this guy find the HDD for 50 BTC (he only pays if we find it). If he can show me the location I wouldn't mind searching for it, after all, why not. He can keep the rest, it would sound like an adventure.

[Minor Miner]

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.  

Actually, the possibility of successful data recovery depends entirely on the amount of damage to certain files.

Even if you accidentally delete any data, it is possible to recover the data through forensics unless the data in that specific block where it was, has been overwritten again and again.

No problem if your HDD is old, if not overwritten then there will be a copy of your file from year to year. But once corrupted by overwritten, retrieving old data from that block is almost impossible.

[bitzizzix]

Yes, if it's a gift from God surely the hard drive will come back to him or be found even if it takes a very long time, but that's highly unlikely because it's like looking for a needle in a haystack.
And I can't imagine looking for something in a pile of trash the size of a football field that has been in a large landfill for 8 years, the question is that the trash can is a hotbed of all sorts of dirt and toxins and chemicals that can damage anything. what else it's been years.

And I don't care about that and also if it's allowed, because I think it's just a miracle to be able to find something not so big in a dumpster the size of a football field with a tall pile of trash.

but if he hires a lot of people and divides them into many blocks to search for it very thoroughly and also takes a long time, there's a good chance it will, and come back again if it's still his, and if it's not. in any way never will.

[TheBeardedBaby]

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.  

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!

[bittraffic]

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.

[NeuroticFish]

I don't know how the things happen in UK, but in my country somebody would have been already taking that drive or computer in the same day and selling it for parts or simply the metal - either somebody working there, either (more likely here) homeless people living near the dumps.

So it doesn't matter whether the HDD can withstand the pressure or the corrosion. He's not only searching for the (plastic) needle in the haystack, it's also quite likely the needle is no longer there.


Quite sad story imho. He should move on. He should have acknowledged long ago that the goddess of fortune was not on his side and should have moved on...

[rdbase]

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.

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.  

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!

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.

[Lucius]

Why are we re-discussing something that is already an old and worn-out story? Both articles from the OP are more than 1 year old, and besides, there is no evidence that this man ever had so much BTC in his possession, nor that he threw the HDD in the trash.

Someone who works in the IT industry (or has worked) must have known better that HDD is never thrown away (at least that's my rule) - because you never know if you'll ever need it or if someone will manage to extract some confidential information from disk. Who says a worker hasn't already found that HDD in a dumpster? It would have been much smarter if he had tried to find the disc without creating so much media attention - I mean the time when he discovered what nonsense he had done.

As far as I know, at first he was allowed to dig in the trash and look for a disk, but when he announced it in the media and when people started coming to the dump, the authorities had no choice but to ban further searches.

Also an interesting article on the personality of James Howells :

James Howells: The man who ‘lost’ £125m in Bitcoins now wants £250 for a quick interview + The lost hard drive also contains “the real IP address of satoshi as well as the wallet file,” adding: “not that I would dox satoshi ?”.

[2015-09-22]CCN-THOUSANDS OF BITCOINS HAVE BEEN LOST OVER TIME
[2017-11-27] That Missing Hard Drive with 7,500 Bitcoins is Now worth $72 Mln
[2021-07-08] The search for HDD worth $378 million at the landfill will continue

[fiulpro]

Even if he does find it there is no guarantee that the condition of his hard drive will be any good most of the times the electronic waste is processed which does mean that they might have crushed it long before which means the government might be sane enough to not give him permission to do so. This is something that might cause a lot of probelms because he might not only dig up the landfill but might also cause the already degrading waste to have massive smell in the local area. I do no think that this might work for real. At the same time putting it out in public just makes it a hidden treasure site and it's an old news not really important now.

[e_abrams]

That happened about a year ago. Him asking the city that is. I wonder if there has been any development since then. Have there been any news?

[Leviathan.007]

I heard another story like this days ago or maybe these are just the same case about the man who lost 7500 bitcoin and still trying to find it, many people will think why even this guy still looking for it even after all these years and why he is still hoping to find the bitcoins even if finding these bitcoins are very much hard and just like a needle in a haystack or ​even harder than it. but we should remember the number of bitcoins he lost which is a lot and if dind this amount of bitcoin he's life can be changed so maybe If I was the person who lost this amount of bitcoins I would start even digging the ground with empty hands.

[rdbase]

That happened about a year ago. Him asking the city that is. I wonder if there has been any development since then. Have there been any news?

There was a post from July of last year (thanks to Lucius for the post that stated from the last recent thread) telling of the owner of the hard drive will give himself 12 months in their campaign to find it:

Everyone already knows the story of the Briton James Howells who threw his laptop into the landfill with 7,500 BTC. After unsuccessfully trying to negotiate with the Newport City Council for 25% of the amount stored on the hard drive, "Even if we were able to agree to his request, the question arises as to who would cover the costs if the hard drive was not found or was damaged to such an extent that the data could not be restored" - the Newport City Council replied to him. James Howells claims that his ambitious plan has received financial support from a hedge fund that will claim part of the giant amount. Now he plans to start a 12 month search at a landfill containing 400,000 tons of garbage, for this purpose artificial intelligence-based scanners, X-ray scanners and other high-tech tools will be deployed. This is reported by The Sun newspaper https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15496798/james-howells-275million-bitcoin-hard-drive-search-landfill/

   

So by that deadline in search of the most valuable hard drive in the world he has July of this year til this venture expires.