[NPMUG] Goodwill CRC update, April 3

[Robert A. Donaldson]

Dear Mac friends:

Many thanks to Charlie Hutchens, Rich Fitzgibbon, John Hamill, Tucker  
Trainor, Bob Wray, John Bauerlein and Dave Sevick for joining me at  
the Goodwill Computer Recycling Center today.

It was an all-day rain outside, and seemingly inside also. It was just  
one of those days...

Goodwill received a large Macintosh donation from the Charleroi Area  
School District, who requested that Goodwill securely wipe the disk  
drives. The secure drive wiping operation is on the fifth floor where  
computers awaiting the process can be kept under lock and key.

This was the first large batch of Macs needing to be wiped, and the  
infrastructure is set up to remove drives from PCs and attach them to  
stations to run a Department of Defense type multiple-pass erasure.  
Dave Sevick devised a setup to do multiple drive erasures in the Macs  
using FireWire net boot with a G4 Mac running the Super Scrubber disk  
wiping program.

All was going well until we had 21 Macs being erased on two separate  
FireWire networks. Then we learned just how many computers the  
electrical system would support. It, unfortunately, was 20.

We'll be doing this all over again real soon...

It was just as bad on our work benches downstairs. It was another day  
of taking on recalcitrant tray-load CD iMacs. Fix one, de-manufacture  
one. And change out the CD two or three times in between.

The crew refurbished 12 Macs, and de-manufactured 8 more. We re-imaged  
two returns to the ComputerWorks store.  Our all-time total of  
refurbished Macs is now 1,820.

We'll have another work day next Friday, April 10. It's Good Friday  
and our turnout will be decidedly less than usual as family matters  
take precedence. We'll be concentrating on low-priority tasks as the  
ComputerWorks store is currently well-stocked.

As a gentle reminder, please note Goodwill has finally re-instituted
the security procedures they were using in the Lawrenceville facility
before the CRC moved to the South Side. Security cameras have been
activated, and the metal detector at the exit has been switched on and
staffed.

Entry is only from the South 26th St. entrance. We cannot enter the
ComputerWorks Store and go through the back door as we used to.

We are asked to stop at the reception desk at the main lobby to sign
in to get a volunteer badge, then sign in to the log book at the CRC
entrance at the metal detector. The log book now has a separate tab
section just for our members to sign in and out.

We followed these procedures when we were in the Lawrenceville
building, and it's taken Goodwill some time to re-install all the
devices to cover the area with video surveillance.

These measures are to make sure data on disk drives does not get out
of the building before the drives can be securely erased or destroyed.
Goodwill is serious about this, as everyone should be. Any incident of
data from the drives they are entrusted to wipe or destroy getting out
would destroy the credibility of their operation, and lead to people
sending computers elsewhere for recycling.

So please, check in. It takes two minutes, and we're not in any hurry.

Hope to see you there!

Robert A. Donaldson
radonaldson at mac.com
(H) 412-922-3303
(M) 412-477-9188