Some people simply discard old PC parts once they upgrade and no longer need them, especially since disposing of them can become too inconvenient. So, it’s up to Redditors like u/DogeBoi6 to find them in the dumpster and give them a second lease on life. According to the user’s post, they found six 1TB Samsung 850 Pro SSDs sitting in the trash, so they fished them out and now plan to use them to < download their entire Steam library.
We don’t have any idea where these drives came from or how they were used, but a few Redditors surmised that they could’ve been part of a server and have been used heavily. Still, DogeBoi6 said that they don’t plan to save anything important on it, so they would not run into an issue even if these drives fail. These SSDs also appear to be quite old, having been released by Samsung in 2014, which means they could be more than a decade old by now.
Nevertheless, the Samsung 850 Pro is quite a resilient drive, and Tom’s Hardware’s review found that it offered the highest speed available on a SATA connection. They also came with a 10-year or 150 TBW warranty, indicating the company's confidence in its performance and longevity. However, the drives this Redditor discovered are likely now well outside of coverage.
You shouldn’t really go dumpster diving to find new gear in the trash. But if you happen to come across them, it’s a shame to let perfectly good PC parts go to waste. We’ve seen all sorts of good hardware saved from going to waste, like this old gaming PC that can run light games or this RTX 4090 Ti prototype that wasn’t meant to see the light of day. So, if you ever come across a great find, don’t be afraid to try dusting it off and extending its life.
