Pay It Forward

[proexploit]

A month or two ago, I read about about someone (maybe vibhavs?) giving away a lot of old programming books they were done with, and was impressed with their generosity. I've been working hard to live simpler.

I've got 3 extra external hard drives that are unused (but not in box) and I'm just not getting any use out of them. As pretty as they are, I know they never will from me due to my overabundance of space already. I want to give them to someone who needs them (well, probably 3 someones) and can give them a little more use than I. I don't want any money, I'll even cover shipping (in the US please). If you're thankful, or even if you're just reading this, consider doing a random act of kindness for a stranger you meet tomorrow. Pay for a coffee or buy a lunch, it'll change their day.

Details: All HD's are identical. 1TB Western Digital Green Power @ 7200RPM in a Speed Metal copper-colored case (which you can see here: http://i.imgur.com/nzcE8.jpg).

I'm going to attempt to choose randomly provided there's enough interest. I haven't considered the format and I don't want to just do "first one to see it" but I'll do my best to be fair.

[proexploit]

Unless someone has a better idea, I'll give them out in this fashion:

1) Anyone who requests one gets added to the list (I'll do this tomorrow afternoon). If it's not requested, I'll assume not, just because some people are leaving comments about "good idea" etc. 2) I'll put them in a spreadsheet and then use http://andrew.hedges.name/experiments/random/ to generate 3 random numbers and attempt to contact those people. Someone doesn't work out, new random number.

If someone has a better idea, I'm all ears.

Side note: to those who said they'll be doing a random act of kindness tomorrow, amazing! Every little thing counts. I just wanted to be clear it's not a requirement.

[proexploit]

Ok, starting to enter all names and do the randomization. If I had 50 hard drives, I'd give you all one. Additionally, some people seem really in need of these hard drives. If you are, I certainly hope that you are one randomly picked. I can't take the time to try and evaluate who needs it most etc, but I hope that whether or not you are someone who receives one, that you still do a random act every once in a while.

[niels_olson]

My home desktop is a 7 yo dell that just this morning crunked the main hard drive (the one with the OS and grub). It only boots if I open the case and tap the drive with a hammer to get it spinning. Everything is backed up to a server (an 11 yo Dell running OpenSuSE 11.3) so I haven't lost any data. I would just get another computer, but I'm moving to San Diego and our house is under contract and we're thankfully only losing $20,000 on the deal (just cleared appraisal, yay!). As it happens, just this afternoon I put 3 hard drives in my Amazon basket of about this total capacity, along with a PCI SATA controller. It's crazy random coincidence so I will happily send you my crunked drive to inspect if you want to verify my claim (maybe after I try to wipe it though -- I think there are some crypto keys on there).

Anyway, look forward to finding out how this goes. Good on you for the effort. Cheers.

edit: thanks to whomever gave the upvote.

[jonah]

I'm building up a computer to give to a starving (digital) artist friend but it only has a 40GB drive.

[ApolloRising]

Spirit like this just shows how special hacker news is when compared to other forums. (Don't need the drives just wanted to say what you are doing is nice.)

[ableal]

Not signing up either, just wanted to leave a tip of the hat to the memory of Robert A. Heinlein, a great propounder of the "Pay It Forward" idea (cf. http://www.heinleinsociety.org/ ). Philip K. Dick, a much different writer, had personal reasons to appreciate him.

Incidentally, Heinlein wrote up some good hacks in his books - including the waterbed (I seem to remember it could not be patented later when they came around to making them).

[pasbesoin]

I'm actually shopping for some much needed backup, but other comments here present greater needs and/or projects. So, put me down as simply grateful for the gesture; I'll leave mention of my own shopping just as an indication (additional data point) of how generally useful that gesture is.

Cheers!

P.S. I don't know just when my next random act of kindness will come along, but they've been known to happen. :-)

[proexploit]

This is more generous than what I'm doing. I'm giving away something I don't have much of a use for and other people need. You're choosing to turn down something you need so someone more fortunate can have it. It's good to see people like you existing.

[olalonde]

I'd like to get one... mine broke a few days ago and I lost about 500gb of data :/ I'll give some books away on HN tomorrow :)

[jamesshamenski]

I love this idea. Free swap meet for HN! A few companies have toy'd around with the idea of earning community tokens to be turned in for other forms of karma.

I have a few network devices and office equipment that i should post on here if i deem that it's not spammy.

BTW, im interested in the drive. Thanks!

[agnokapathetic]

i'm a broke college student whose running out of space on his very old 300GB HD. Will edit random act of kindness tommorrow!

[mistermann]

This is a great idea, it'd be nice if there was a formal mechanism on HN for putting stuff up for free. I'd only give something away for free to someone who had a decent presence on the site, but I've got lots of hardware laying around, sticks of excellent RAM, hard drives, etc that I'll never do anything with.

[Qz]

Put me down for one... I'm kind of isolated at the moment, so RAOK for a stranger is unlikely -- however I do have a bunch of books laying around that I've already read, mix of sci-fi and classics, hardcover and paperback. If I get selected I can mail out one or two to someone in dire need of reading material!

[proexploit]

That would be a nice idea. The results will be random, but I encourage you to be generous regardless. Or try http://bookmooch.com/. :)

[PhysicsAndYou]

Thanks for doing this.

Random acts of kindness may not make the world go round but it certainly makes people happy =)

[tremendo]

Amazing, my respect to you. I'd also love to be on the list and would gladly pay for shipping.

[erikwiffin]

I could really use one myself. My backups are spread between several 200GB hard drives, with a 1TB I could condense them all into one and pass on my smaller drives.

[dackmilliken]

I'd like to be added, thanks!

On a side note: this post has inspired me to donate all the stuff I don't need to the local thrift store tomorrow (mostly books/clothes).

[proexploit]

Great idea! Also, make an inventory of what you're taking, and get a receipt. It's a tax deduction. It may not be much depending on what you're donating (T Shirts are $1-2 for example), but it's a little extra bonus for being nice.

[dmpayton]

Please add me to the list. I've been running off of one 250GB since my 320GB had a hard disk crash, and I could really use the space.

[Mc_Big_G]

Put me on the list. I need a backup of my backups. :) Plus, those things just look cool.

P.S. - If I win, I won't let you pay shipping.

[stevoo]

i could always use more space !

It seems that helping a non-profit foundation to make some genetic calculation for college is hitting my budget hard. I have a pathetic 500gb hard disk that is getting hammered and is getting full ! If i could get two of those and raid them then i would be sooooooo happy ! :D Consider me !

[KRedfearn]

Please add me to the list. I love the concept! (And seeing it implemented) Thank you!

How would we be notified if we were chosen?

[madd_o]

I'd appreciate being added to the list. Thanks for the real life illustration of the pay it forward concept.

[dannytatom]

I'm down for one. Also, if HN hasn't done this already, a secret santa of used tech stuff would be neat.

[proexploit]

That would be very cool. Or a year-round "secret santa" of tech skills. I've had great experiences trading my design skills for experienced programming etc. There's no shipping involved in that.