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non_ame
01-30-2012, 05:17 PM
So I bought Trent Reznor's old computer off of ebay about a decade ago when NOTHING records was selling their old stuff. It was wiped clean, but there was still a way to dig some stuff up. Here's a little of what I found.
http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r523/user_ame/?action=view&current=Comp1.jpg

screwdriver
01-31-2012, 01:08 PM
So I bought Trent Reznor's old computer off of ebay about a decade ago when NOTHING records was selling their old stuff. It was wiped clean, but there was still a way to dig some stuff up. Here's a little of what I found.
http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r523/user_ame/?action=view&current=Comp1.jpg

how did you get that? the tapeworm thing is rad...

botley
01-31-2012, 02:42 PM
So I bought Trent Reznor's old computer off of ebay about a decade ago when NOTHING records was selling their old stuff. It was wiped clean, but there was still a way to dig some stuff up. Here's a little of what I found.
http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r523/user_ame/?action=view&current=Comp1.jpg
Totally fucking creepy, especially TR's notes on his favourite tequila brands.

Kind of interesting to see the notes on work-in-progress tracks from The Fragile sessions, though unfortunately the song titles aren't terribly descriptive.

NotoriousTIMP
01-31-2012, 03:49 PM
So I bought Trent Reznor's old computer off of ebay about a decade ago when NOTHING records was selling their old stuff. It was wiped clean, but there was still a way to dig some stuff up. Here's a little of what I found.
http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r523/user_ame/?action=view&current=Comp1.jpg

So wait, is that a list of the people that were going to be involved with Tapeworm? Alan Wilder!? That would have been so awesome to see the two of them work with one another


Sent from my iPhone using tapatalk

MAD
01-31-2012, 04:40 PM
@non_ame

Please allow me to sum up what you have there in a single image:

http://imgusr.tradekey.com/p-1295102-20071213031401/gold-mine.jpg

non_ame
01-31-2012, 04:41 PM
There were a bunch of Nord files and patches and midi thingies. No pics. Lots of unused lyrics. Ripped out the hard drive and now the shiny metal disks are hanging from a string on my shelf.

scorpiusdiamond
01-31-2012, 04:52 PM
There were a bunch of Nord files and patches and midi thingies. No pics. Lots of unused lyrics. Ripped out the hard drive and now the shiny metal disks are hanging from a string on my shelf.I am getting totally and utterly freaked out by this now...One, is this legal? Two, is this ethical? Three, I have so much respect for Trent and his work and I wouldn't want people to see things he kept personal...edit: Sorry to de-rail the thread a little bit, I tried to move this to NIN Thoughts... I thought NIN-Spotting was for spots only not discussion...

non_ame
01-31-2012, 05:15 PM
Well I bought it, so it's mine. I didn't give out anything personnel. Just some song notes and junk. No ones getting the lyrics, or the phone numbers, or the bank account info. And it's now in pieces so it's not like I'm gonna be selling it or anything. It's been 10 years since I got it, so I decided I'd just let a few pics slip, and that's it.


I am getting totally and utterly freaked out by this now...
One, is this legal? Two, is this ethical? Three, I have so much respect for Trent and his work and I wouldn't want people to see things he kept personal...

non_ame
01-31-2012, 05:27 PM
I still have the screws that held it together. Maybe I could sell those on ebay to a NIN fanatic.

butter_hole
01-31-2012, 05:45 PM
the fact that he kept a lot of it blacked out seems to suggest he's aware that it's sensitive information

non_ame
01-31-2012, 05:59 PM
I could see Trent Reznor getting Lisbeth Salanders to trace my IP address back to my house, then show up at my door dressed as Travis Bickel from taxi driver, pointing his finger at me and going, "Bang!"

butter_hole
01-31-2012, 06:29 PM
I could see Trent Reznor getting Lisbeth Salanders to trace my IP address back to my house, then show up at my door dressed as Travis Bickel from taxi driver, pointing his finger at me and going, "Bang!"
i like you

Leviathant
01-31-2012, 08:07 PM
I could see Trent Reznor getting Lisbeth Salanders to trace my IP address back to my house, then show up at my door dressed as Travis Bickel from taxi driver, pointing his finger at me and going, "Bang!"

I've got to ask - did you make backups of the files that you took pictures of in Comp4.jpg? (or anything, really) A friend of mine was curious.

Torgo
01-31-2012, 08:12 PM
Well I bought it, so it's mine. I didn't give out anything personnel. Just some song notes and junk. No ones getting the lyrics, or the phone numbers, or the bank account info. And it's now in pieces so it's not like I'm gonna be selling it or anything. It's been 10 years since I got it, so I decided I'd just let a few pics slip, and that's it.

So you bought the computer - that's yours. However, didn't it arrive without the data files? Weren't they deleted for a reason? Did you actively restore all previous (intentionally) deleted materials that weren't ever supposed to be a part of the Ebay deal? Sure, you found a loophole - congratulations - but that stuff was never meant to be seen. These files that you're labeling as "some song notes and junk" probably weren't junk to Trent. I hate to be "that guy" - but those files definitely don't belong to you and shouldn't really be yours to flaunt about on the internet.

allegro
01-31-2012, 08:23 PM
Reznor's an old nerd and certainly knows how to permanently destroy a hard drive with a power drill or a gun. If it's out there, he allowed it to be out there.

reseen_lamenti
01-31-2012, 08:49 PM
Intriguing possibilities.

Torgo
01-31-2012, 09:03 PM
Reznor's an old nerd and certainly knows how to permanently destroy a hard drive with a power drill or a gun. If it's out there, he allowed it to be out there.

Right, because I'm sure he would have wanted his bank statements and personal phonebook to have been viewable by some random fan of his...

butter_hole
01-31-2012, 09:23 PM
This was 10 years ago and the guy is openly stating it's not going to be distributed or shared. He even blacked out sensitive stuff on the parts he did share.

allegro
01-31-2012, 10:13 PM
Right, because I'm sure he would have wanted his bank statements and personal phonebook to have been viewable by some random fan of his...
Are you implying this computer was stolen? Retrieving data from a reformatted drive isn't something just anybody can do. That being said, I've never let a discarded hard drive leave my house without physically destroying it, first. I'm assuming, given the situation, the data wasn't considered sensitive. This was somehow tagged as Reznor's computer and was marketed. My computers get destroyed and then taken to the nearby county electronic recycling dump. This smells fishy. As in, Reznor knew his old computers are somehow historic to certain NIN fans. I wouldn't be surprised if TR sold it, himself. Tapeworm info? How convenient. Oh, the intrigue.

sheepdean
01-31-2012, 10:27 PM
Any computer of his from that era will have tapeworm info on it, I think nothing sold it, thinking they had wiped it, and fucked up.

marodi
01-31-2012, 10:31 PM
So I bought Trent Reznor's old computer off of ebay about a decade ago when NOTHING records was selling their old stuff. It was wiped clean, but there was still a way to dig some stuff up. Here's a little of what I found.
http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r523/user_ame/?action=view&current=Comp1.jpg

To me, the bold part is the crux of the "problem".

There's no doubt that an old nerd like TR knows how to properly destroy a hard drive, like Allegro said. But what if he put someone else in charge of the job thinking it would be done correctly?

I'm not saying that non_ame (I like the name, by the way; "no soul" in French) did something wrong but it's leaving me uncomfortable too. I mean I would have been curious too and I would have done the same thing he/she did; trying to recuperate some data on it (if I knew how to do it, which I don't) but I'm not sure I would have shared it. The only thing I'm sure at this point is that non_ame meant no harm by posting the pictures.

Sorry about the continued derailment of the thread.

edit: sheepdean, get out of my head darn it! :D

non_ame
01-31-2012, 10:39 PM
yea but, I got em, and I did it.

So you bought the computer - that's yours. However, didn't it arrive without the data files? Weren't they deleted for a reason? Did you actively restore all previous (intentionally) deleted materials that weren't ever supposed to be a part of the Ebay deal? Sure, you found a loophole - congratulations - but that stuff was never meant to be seen. These files that you're labeling as "some song notes and junk" probably weren't junk to Trent. I hate to be "that guy" - but those files definitely don't belong to you and shouldn't really be yours to flaunt about on the internet.

non_ame
01-31-2012, 10:51 PM
Comp4? There's not much there. I redbarcensorlined stuff kinda at random on the top left and bottom right pics. I think the top right corner picture had someone's name that i redbarcensorlined out.Comp1.jpg had phone numbers which by now I'm sure are changed. The top left corner of Comp2.jpg had a name or two, and some scrambled gibberish that I thought maybe someone might be able to decode. Comp3.jpg also had some random gibberish that I was afraid some computersmartnerd would figure out how to translate. Comp5.jpg would of had lyrics.


I've got to ask - did you make backups of the files that you took pictures of in Comp4.jpg? (or anything, really) A friend of mine was curious.

non_ame
01-31-2012, 10:53 PM
I didn't keep any files. Just took pics with my cell phone. The only thing left I have that I didn't post is pics of the lyrics. Which are locked in my "specialdon'ttellmommyididthatplace".

Torgo
01-31-2012, 11:29 PM
Look - my name isn't Trent. This isn't my stuff and I'm not speaking for him in any way. But...

If someone ACTIVELY recovered data of mine that was purposefully erased and THEN that person posted pictures of said files - I would be:

A.) creeped the fuck out

...and...

B.) really fucking pissed.

How would you like it if some random guy (who - I might add - spent a significant amount of his/her time trying to recover YOUR stuff for their personal viewing pleasure) decided which of your files should be censored and which could be posted to the internet for all to see?

Whatever. Do whatever you want. I can't be the only one who would be a little pissed right now if they were in Trent's position. It's - overall - an incredibly questionable situation.

P.S. What's the point of posting a picture of his phonebook with censored bars at all other than to say "look what I dug up?" It's fun to have secrets and to want to tell them, but this one should have definitely been kept to yourself.

non_ame
01-31-2012, 11:55 PM
Meh. I'd be flattered. The phonebook was just a fun tease. You can avoid the trashyness of it all by not looking.

theruiner
01-31-2012, 11:56 PM
I'm with Torgo on this. Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should. This is just all kinds of creepy.

non_ame
01-31-2012, 11:59 PM
Obsessive NIN fans are a creepy bunch. The computer was only $40, and I bid on it partially to have something to put my video games on. Wasn't really expecting anything to be there. I didn't do it because I could do it. I did it because I wanted to. Also, I am kinda creepy.

I'm with Torgo on this. Just because you can do something doesn't necessarily mean you should. This is just all kinds of creepy.

butter_hole
02-01-2012, 12:23 AM
Trent's fault, or should I say the intern in charge of doing this. don't sell a computer knowing full well you can recover information easily, especially to such an nerdy fucking fanbase.

Get down off your fucking soapboxes, jesus christ. call the cops if you're so upset.

MAD
02-01-2012, 02:06 AM
Ask Trent on Twitter if he's okay with sharing the lyrics. He'll probably say no but hey! You tried! For me that's the only thing that matters.

On another note, is this worthy of a split?

non_ame
02-01-2012, 06:49 AM
^MAd
Nah. We all know he'd say no. Besides, most of the lyrics didn't rhyme, so they were probly just ideas. I already burned the pics of the lyrics unto a cd and deleted them from my computer in case Skynet is a NIN fan and it hacks into my computer looking for them. Not worthy of a split I'd say since there's nothing else for me to share and nothing incredibly exciting was posted. Even the Tapeworm file with the list of all those singers was probly just some people that Trent was considering asking. The only people I've heard comment about doing vocals on that album was Phil Anselmo from Pantera who said he sang on one song called, "Steel Rain".

BenAkenobi
02-01-2012, 07:13 AM
"Steel Rain"
mmmm....one of my favourite Chris Cornell's songs

Leviathant
02-01-2012, 08:26 AM
This smells fishy. As in, Reznor knew his old computers are somehow historic to certain NIN fans. I wouldn't be surprised if TR sold it, himself. Tapeworm info? How convenient. Oh, the intrigue.

Christ, are you serious? I can't tell if you're being full-throttle sarcastic, or if somewhere in your mind you actually believe that Trent would purposely, knowingly sell a computer with retrievable personal information with the intention of having a fan unearth his contact list or unfinished lyrics and song names. If there's anything to gauge this against, I guess you could look at his reaction to when people were posting in-ear-monitor recordings that were captured via radio in the parking lot of shows. He was pissed, because that's not representative of nine inch nails, and is actually invasive of a fairly private system. And there's almost never been a mingling of his personal life with 'nine inch nails' - it's pretty fucked up that you're actually presenting this as a "maybe he meant to leak this information guys!" scenario.

non_ame, although your methods are very strange, you did the right thing in the end. It can be really hard to keep to yourself when you've learned something really interesting. I'm very glad you didn't, for example, use this board as a venue for posting the actual Word docs you found. I'm also glad that as soon as this started, it was over. So weird.

allegro
02-01-2012, 09:11 AM
Christ, are you serious? I can't tell if you're being full-throttle sarcastic,
9 mm Sarcism.

Although, seriously, I don't know why the hell computers containing hard drives ended up in the "auction" pile at Nothing. For a lousy 40 bucks. At LEAST remove the fucking hard drives.


http://images.q4music.com/content/q/theqdaily/80x80/trent_500.jpg

TR interview to Q magazine (http://news.qthemusic.com/2012/01/trent_reznor_ive_tried_to_bloc.html) (site has only a snippet of it)
scans, anyone? please?
Jesus, this looks like he should be holding a number below his chest.

jmtd
02-01-2012, 10:10 AM
I thought TR was a Mac user - sure, Nothing would have PCs knocking about, but I'm a bit surprised if TR had a bunch of personal stuff on one.

non_ame has seemingly deleted most of the pictures referred to above.

GoodSoldier333
02-01-2012, 11:28 AM
Been an entertaining couple of nights on the Internets. Thanks "no soul".

fillow
02-01-2012, 11:40 AM
Now seems to be the perfect time for teitan's comeback

Torgo
02-01-2012, 01:52 PM
Trent's fault, or should I say the intern in charge of doing this. don't sell a computer knowing full well you can recover information easily, especially to such an nerdy fucking fanbase.

Get down off your fucking soapboxes, jesus christ. call the cops if you're so upset.

This logic right here... just makes me sad. Are you serious? It's his FAULT?

Holy shit.

butter_hole
02-01-2012, 02:17 PM
This logic right here... just makes me sad. Are you serious? It's his FAULT?

Holy shit.
WOOWWWWW YEAH BRO

Once again,

don't sell a computer knowing full well you can recover information easily, especially to such an nerdy fucking fanbase.

Leviathant
02-01-2012, 02:21 PM
Perhaps more accurately:



don't sell a computer knowing full well you can recover information easily, especially to such a creepy fucking fanbase.

I'm in ur private messages readin' ur PMs mate


I don't know, that argument strikes the same chord as "Don't dress like a whore if you don't want to get raped" argument. Why is the onus always on the woman? Why isn't the message, "Dudes, don't rape," rather than "Expect to be raped ladies, hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

butter_hole
02-01-2012, 02:45 PM
Perhaps more accurately:



I'm in ur private messages readin' ur PMs mate


I don't know, that argument strikes the same chord as "Don't dress like a whore if you don't want to get raped" argument. Why is the onus always on the woman? Why isn't the message, "Dudes, don't rape," rather than "Expect to be raped ladies, hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

was seriously just thinking that argument would come up, but i'd say it was closer to "dont leave your car unlocked in compton overnight and get upset when its stolen"

im not saying trent has no reason to be upset about this (doubt that he really would be, to be honest) but i dont know what he expected

jessamineny
02-01-2012, 03:21 PM
This logic right here... just makes me sad. Are you serious? It's his FAULT? Holy shit.


Perhaps more accurately:I'm in ur private messages readin' ur PMs mateI don't know, that argument strikes the same chord as "Don't dress like a whore if you don't want to get raped" argument. Why is the onus always on the woman? Why isn't the message, "Dudes, don't rape," rather than "Expect to be raped ladies, hope for the best and prepare for the worst."

Oh, BULLSHIT. (And that is some sick fucking shit for a comparison, Levi. JESUS.)

The people at Nothing should know better than to sell a fucking computer with the hard drive intact. And TR should have known what was being sold. Don't play the victim card FOR HIM. He was a grown-ass adult, employing grown-ass adults.

And this dude, who had the hard drive for years, didn't post a thing that could harm or embarrass anyone. Get real. And stop trying to protect/defend a man who doesn't need it.

butter_hole
02-01-2012, 04:29 PM
Yes. Thank you.

Leviathant
02-01-2012, 04:32 PM
I don't even care who's computer it is, that is irrelevant to my argument. Here, let me make less rapey comparisons, because rape has nothing to do with privacy.

I recently bought a used car that has a built-in GPS navigation. The car has had two previous owners, who, because built-in GPS is always a fucking disaster, haven't deleted the "HOME" destination from the GPS. The windshield has a previously-repaired chip in the windshield. I know that windshield repairs generally come with a lifetime warranty, but the previous owner did not include the receipt in with the car's documentation. It would be creepy if I drove to the previous owner's house and asked them for that information which they did not include on the car based on information they, mistakenly or not, left on the car.

Using that as a basis, I'll make a closer parallel -- let's say the owners had erased their address books from the GPS in my car. After driving it around for five years, the windshield chip emerges, and I, being tech savvy, mount the navigation system's storage to a linux machine, and un-delete the previously deleted GPS locations. And then I post redacted photos of the map of the previous owners' neighborhoods on an auto forum.

The previous owner did what he thought was right - he deleted the waypoints. The new owner didn't actually visit the previous owner's house, just pointed out that with a little bit of work, that information could be deduced. Tell me that's not skeezy.

If Trent were actually upset about this you'd have heard about it by now, we're not debating whether or not Trent's feelings are hurt here. We're basically debating where our moral lines are drawn. Someone un-deleted information on a hard drive that had information deleted for the purpose of not selling the information with the computer. It's like going through someone's trash. Anyway, this person did not do anything malicious with that information, and didn't even keep a backup. They just said, "Hey wow, take a look at what I found." And then burned the trash instead of just throwing it out again. And some people here said "Going through other people's trash is rude" and other people said "If you don't shred all your trash then it's your own fault that someone's going through it."

I say this as a guy who has done more than his fair share of dumpster diving. A bank near me got bought out, and threw a bunch of computer equipment into a dumpster. My roommate and I were first on the scene -- I took home a file server, several monitors and UPSs and cables and a phone and all kinds of stuff. The file servers had not been wiped at all. We saw there was data on there, went "oh shit" and formatted the hard drive without even poking around.

allegro
02-01-2012, 04:40 PM
Well, I didn't even LOOK at whatever was posted, here. Wasn't even vaguely tempted. How are the people, here, who looked any less guilty than the guy who bought the computer and looked? Did he actually say that he undeleted it? I missed that part.

Again, I'm a nobody but I still shred nearly every document that goes into my trash and I physically destroy all hard drives before they get disposed. But, I'm in law so maybe I'm just trained to be more careful.

theruiner
02-01-2012, 04:44 PM
The file servers had not been wiped at all. We saw there was data on there, went "oh shit" and formatted the hard drive without even poking around.See, but that's what a moral person would do who doesn't want to go rooting around through other people's personal information. Because you're not creepy.

I can't understand for the life of me how someone can defend really crappy behavior by saying, "Yeah, but it was RIGHT THERE, so how can you blame them?" I can blame them by saying it's an invasion of someone's privacy, even if said person left the door open for someone to do that. And that's a shitty thing to do, and there's no justification for it. None.

butter_hole
02-01-2012, 04:45 PM
Let's all just accept that we're all correct!

http://www.ohiok.com/img/i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb260/babyj3nb/yourcomment/smiles/5.gif

butter_hole
02-01-2012, 04:47 PM
there's no justification for it. None.
No-one is trying to justify it, we're saying 'what the hell did you expect?'

theruiner
02-01-2012, 04:54 PM
No-one is trying to justify it, we're saying 'what the hell did you expect?'

This was 10 years ago and the guy is openly stating it's not going to be distributed or shared. He even blacked out sensitive stuff on the parts he did share.
Yeah...

(ten characters)

butter_hole
02-01-2012, 05:38 PM
Got me! But that was in response to the whole 'is this legal' argument, not the moral side of things.

Either way, please refer to my smiling dog above.

non_ame
02-01-2012, 07:49 PM
The files were deleted from the computer. But there was a simple loophole to getting them. A simple mistake. They sold a few other office computers which might also have had sensitive information on them, but it's been 10 years and nothings popped up, so this was probly the only computer that wasn't properly cleaned out. If they had removed the hard drive, then no one would of bought it. Trent's got other things on his mind and probly assumed he didn't have to give this one business aspect that much attention. Was it creepy to recover the files? Yup. Was it naughty to upload the pics? Yup. Was it an act of selfish attention whoring? Yup. But I did it, and now there's nothing left to play with. So, the end.

allegro
02-01-2012, 09:50 PM
If they had removed the hard drive, then no one would of bought it.
But, well, forty bucks is forty bucks. (snort)





edit: I appreciate your candor, for whatever THAT'S worth.

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 12:39 AM
The files were deleted from the computer. But there was a simple loophole to getting them. A simple mistake. They sold a few other office computers which might also have had sensitive information on them, but it's been 10 years and nothings popped up, so this was probly the only computer that wasn't properly cleaned out. If they had removed the hard drive, then no one would of bought it. Trent's got other things on his mind and probly assumed he didn't have to give this one business aspect that much attention. Was it creepy to recover the files? Yup. Was it naughty to upload the pics? Yup. Was it an act of selfish attention whoring? Yup. But I did it, and now there's nothing left to play with. So, the end.
recovering data at the block level isn't exactly a "loophole" :P Clicking "delete" isn't a very secure way of clearing data, even 10 years ago that was well know. Granted, the only people who are going to know this are security geeks for the most part. Just out of curiosity, did you do the recovery, have a friend do it, pay to get it done, etc? Most people who can do data recovery don't reference it the way you are.





Trent - if you are reading this and want info on how to easily wipe data from a drive that surpasses the security guidelines of the DoD (and still keep it functional) just PM me :) (lol like this will ever happen)


The dark voyeuristic tendencies in me make me feel a bit sad that I missed out on whatever it was that caused this thread to explode.

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 01:04 AM
hrm... after seeing the one remaining image up there of you cracking the drive open I am willing to call bullshit if that is supposed to be you doing the data extraction.

emptydesk
02-02-2012, 01:04 AM
It's mostly moral grandstanding. The guy was careful enough to omit private information. The rest was fair game.

There would be no argument if this was another band's computer sold at auction.

It is no longer their property, and that includes any information they were inept enough to leave on it.

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 01:14 AM
in calling bullshit I meant that I don't believe it. I don't believe that any of the data that was "found" was real. The only image i have seen is the "Comp6" but everything just looks and sounds fishy as hell. Unless there was something in the other images that makes the story more believable I am definitely calling bullshit.

botley
02-02-2012, 10:59 AM
in calling bullshit I meant that I don't believe it. I don't believe that any of the data that was "found" was real. The only image i have seen is the "Comp6" but everything just looks and sounds fishy as hell. Unless there was something in the other images that makes the story more believable I am definitely calling bullshit.
So, because you didn't actually see the credible evidence that was presented, you don't believe the story's real. I haven't looked at all the evidence for global warming, either, so I call bullshit on that too! </eyeroll>

If it really was a Nothing Studios computer (which I believe it was), this was an invasion of personal privacy and professional secrecy. I'm insatiably curious about what TR and Co. were up to in Nothing Studios, but I'm glad the pics were taken down because it's not worth breaking that moral boundary to find out.

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 12:13 PM
So, because you didn't actually see the credible evidence that was presented, you don't believe the story's real. I haven't looked at all the evidence for global warming, either, so I call bullshit on that too! </eyeroll>



Everything posted by this guy looks like pure bullshit from the standpoint of legitimate data recovery. All the "recovered data" could easily be fake. So, it doesn't really matter if I saw it or not unless there was something obviously part of Nothing Studios in the data (identifiable photos or other provable data).

I was laughing when reading his posts and I laughed even more when I saw the remaining image up there. Don't be angry just cause you got trolled by the guy :P

emptydesk
02-02-2012, 12:32 PM
It seems beyond plausible that it isn't fake. Occam's Razor leads me to believe the guy doesn't really have a strong motive to go through the immense amount of work that the undertaking of faking such a thing for one low-population message board would entail.

BenAkenobi
02-02-2012, 01:23 PM
a clever hoax makes you think it's a clever hoax

sheepdean
02-02-2012, 01:37 PM
We need to go deeper

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 02:08 PM
It seems beyond plausible that it isn't fake. Occam's Razor leads me to believe the guy doesn't really have a strong motive to go through the immense amount of work that the undertaking of faking such a thing for one low-population message board would entail.

Occam's Razor is actually what makes me me believe it to be fake. It is way easier to fake than it is to legitimately recover the data. It would literally take me 15-20min to do what he did and likely top it.

Type up some random lyrics, save in word, open in notepad to make it seem all "techy" [check]
Post pictures of an old ass computer that costs nothing to destroy [check]
Post pictures of you opening a hard drive like you know what you are doing [check]

pro tip: that is NOT how you open a drive nor is it how you recover data. The recovery that he would have gone through is all done within software. I suspect the image of the platters against the candle flame is an allusion of him "burning the data offline for archival" as an intentional tell.

There are lots of other obvious questions and holes. Such as: Did he do the data recovery only recently as it sounds? If so that brings up a whole other set of issues.



I have been on the inside of LOTS of small community hoaxes before. It really wouldn't be surprising.


http://dc.moose.cc/temp/NPK-20120104-194010.jpg

emptydesk
02-02-2012, 02:14 PM
Starting to doubt you actually saw the pictures before they were taken down. It wasn't just a .txt file of lyrics, there were lists of potential relatively obscure musicians to work with, shots of era-specific music software, blacked out personal information for various people that wouldn't spring to mind immediately if you were to fake it. Nothing was too "on the nose". It would simply be too much work to fake.

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 02:25 PM
Like I said, I never saw the images. Just what is still posted in this thread as of today.
What you just mentioned DOES make it sound more legitimate. I would love to cross reference the data through google just to make sure he didn't grab it elsewhere, but yes... that does sound more believable.


I am just very skeptical of large claims like this on the internet. Having conducted many in my prior years of free time I know that it is all too easy.

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 03:24 PM
nobody likes the NIN penis cozy :(

allegro
02-02-2012, 03:37 PM
nobody likes the NIN penis cozy :(
Oh, ha, is THAT what that thing is? Haha, yeah, I like it.

non_ame
02-02-2012, 05:27 PM
I did open the files in notepad, it was the only program that would work. I've never opened a hard drive before, there was nothing to it, just take out the screws, but one was stripped so I had to smash it. I removed it so I could do this.
http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r523/user_ame/?action=view&current=disk.jpg

I hammered and burned it so no one would bother to try and buy it from me.
If I had pasted fake lyrics, then Trent would probly twitter that it was fake. If I hadn't blocked out the names and numbers that I found then Trent would probly twitter that he was on his way to my house to "discuss" the matter with me.

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 07:39 PM
Oh, ha, is THAT what that thing is? Haha, yeah, I like it.
:)
It was the most ridiculous piece of NIN gear I could imagine. Unfortunately, it didn't exist so I had to photoshop it. Actually, that would make for an excellent thread contest idea... oh man

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 07:42 PM
I did open the files in notepad, it was the only program that would work. I've never opened a hard drive before, there was nothing to it, just take out the screws, but one was stripped so I had to smash it. I removed it so I could do this.
http://s1170.photobucket.com/albums/r523/user_ame/?action=view&current=disk.jpg

I hammered and burned it so no one would bother to try and buy it from me.
If I had pasted fake lyrics, then Trent would probly twitter that it was fake. If I hadn't blocked out the names and numbers that I found then Trent would probly twitter that he was on his way to my house to "discuss" the matter with me.

I will admit to entirely overanalyzing the situation... but answer me one thing to ease my mind: How did you do the recovery? You don't strike me as a guy who does data recovery, especially if you have never cracked a drive open. Recovery takes some moderate technical skill or lots of money. I am not trying to knock you, very few people can do it. It just sounds very fishy is all.

botley
02-02-2012, 10:55 PM
I definitely do not wanna know how he did it... and he's probably not going to tell us, since going into too much detail would implicate him legally for reverse-engineering software etc. Just know that the data he posted was way too in-depth and convincing to have been "easily" faked. For example, it reminded me of tiny things TR referred to in passing when he gave interviews about The Fragile sessions — like CD shopping lists, which I hadn't read about in YEARS — and most of those probably aren't even available online anymore.

Yes, I realize that could all still have been faked, but like someone else said, it was just too on-the-nose. Reading it did literally feel like breaking in to Nothing Studios during that era and poking around inside it with no one looking.

JessicaSarahS
02-02-2012, 11:15 PM
Again, I'm a nobody but I still shred nearly every document that goes into my trash


Just wait until some super creep goes through your shredded stuff and pastes the strips of paper together. Make sure your shredder cuts everything into confetti.



It just sounds very fishy is all.


I think you're just fishing for the photos that he took down as "proof." I am officially suspicious of everyone in this thread now. Creepers. :(

DigitalChaos
02-02-2012, 11:24 PM
thats all wrong
Posting how he did it will not implicate him any more than he already did with the images he posted.
What he did isn't even illegal unless the sales transaction included a "don't try to recover data on this compter" agreement.
There is no "reverse engineering" involved.

The explanation would take one or two sentences max. Its a pretty simple process. The general date of the recovery attempt and a vague description of the tools is more than enough to prove competency. The whole story has something really wrong and I am not sure what.

MAD
02-03-2012, 01:40 AM
For the sake of this thread, I once formatted an HDD for a friend and then he told me he still needed some pictures from it. So I took some program I found in one of my tech magazines and did the job with it. I'm aware that sometimes is harder (pun intended) to recover files.

Can we please move on now?

BenAkenobi
02-03-2012, 03:23 AM
yeah, DigitalChaos speaks of formatted data recovery as some sacred knowledge lol, at my previous job i did that kind of stuff (with proper software) on weekly basis

Beta
02-03-2012, 03:55 AM
OMG digitalChaos.. you are so annoying. please go away..

JessicaSarahS
02-03-2012, 04:36 AM
yeah, DigitalChaos speaks of formatted data recovery as some sacred knowledge

Yeah. It's called TestDisk. :p

hobochic
02-03-2012, 11:47 AM
I love how everyone's always pretending to parent Mr. Reznor.

Trent sold his equipment very publicly marked as "NIN-Equipment" knowing his die hard fans would love to overpay to own peace of used equipment. They were even marked with "used for TDS", for this and that song, and so on. I doubt Trent cares that someone recovers old files and posts pictures; it's all part of his legacy game - he could have sold his shit anonymously but he didn't.

If Leonardo da Vinci would've sold his "equipment" publicly, marking them as "Used at Leo's d V-studios! in the making of Lady with an Ermine" or Mona Lisa, I bet your butthole would be all over that shit trying to find traceable grooves.

Remember kids, Trent has always been a hype machine, the kid bought his rockstar idol's (old and useless) computer for his hard earned money and recovered some NIN-logs. Let him have his 15 minutes; he paid for them.

Trent is not your mommy, your daddy or your personal friend.

This Machine is Obsolete, hey fans, buy my useless shit - Trent Reznor

Leviathant
02-03-2012, 12:53 PM
I love how everyone's always pretending to parent Mr. Reznor.

You know what I love? I love how everyone's using the fact that it's Trent's equipment to write the whole thing off, saying that everyone is overreacting. I'm a bit ashamed to say it, but I'd probably come down even harder if it were some random ETSer's redacted personal data being posted after being recovered from an eBay auction. My hesitation to do that is borne of reactions like yours, hobochic.

Not a single person who's defending this is defending it on behalf of Trent Reznor. Whether you say you approve or disapprove, you're merely stating where you draw your personal moral boundaries.

It's always a little bit sad when the "you suck Trent's dick" card gets played. Really, do you also think I only reopened this board because I want to impress Trent Reznor?

hobochic
02-03-2012, 02:00 PM
I'm a bit ashamed to say it, but I'd probably come down even harder if it were some random ETSer's redacted personal data being posted after being recovered from an eBay auction.

Of course you should; "some random ETSer" didn't sell her/his equipment on Ebay labeled "Hobochic's studio PC used for his platinum selling album XXXXXXX"
No, I sold it anonymously. My "fans" never got the chance to spend their cash on my memorabilia. Reznor should be aware of the risks of selling your hardrive to your fans.



Not a single person who's defending this is defending it on behalf of Trent Reznor. Whether you say you approve or disapprove, you're merely stating where you draw your personal moral boundaries.

Fair enough.


It's always a little bit sad when the "you suck Trent's dick" card gets played. Really, do you also think I only reopened this board because I want to impress Trent Reznor?

It's sad that you took this personally. I think you're a responsible dude and you have to keep the forum clean for the sake of it not getting out of control. I'm referring to people stating how they feel guilty for even viewing the content that was posted. It shouldn't make you feel like an intruder for viewing Nothing Studios memorabilia that was sold as "NIN-Equipment". - for all I know it's all probably Reznor's first failed attempt at an ARG that never took off. - i kid, or?...

I think it's awesome that ETS is back, for the fans and for Reznor. Nothing wrong with being supportive.

non_ame
02-03-2012, 06:11 PM
This is it's own thread now? I thought the topic would die out. People are asking me to show them the pics cause they missed out before I deleted them. Should I put them back up on photobucket for a little while or not? People also asked about the Nord files, and no, I didn't keep any, just took pics. I actually bought the computer because it was cheap and my mom wanted something for storage and to play video games on. And of course I was also kinda hoping I'd find something interesting on it. As for "reverse engineering" it to get the data... well if it weren't for spell check, I wouldn't even know how to spell "engineering".

ltrandazzo
02-03-2012, 06:54 PM
Yeah, no, that wouldn't be cool at all, really. This is one of those threads that I missed and also one of those times that I'm glad I work 40+ hours a week and missed out on this until this moment. Also, I'm gonna lock this thread. I work for a bank and my attention to privacy is going to prevail on this one. Even if it was easy to find, it's both morally and ethically wrong to post or even hint at the information that was recovered.