How to Bury a Laptop – A Step-by-Step Guide
Because no one can take what they cannot find
In October
2012, I purchased an HP model 2000 laptop with the new Windows 8 OS and
like many other customers, immediately hated it. I fooled around with
it for a day or two, decided it wasn’t for me and had a friend install
the Nadia release of Linux Mint. At the time I was toying with the idea
of launching this website and since it was purchased as a spare computer
anyway, decided to do a little experiment. On the fifth of November,
Guy Fawkes Day 2012, I cached the new HP notebook in my girlfriend’s
garden and left it there for an entire year. I had never buried an
entire computer before and thought it might make a good test for my Bell
Method.
Usually a
step-by-step guide would normally follow a certain chronological order
but I’m afraid that the order is going to be reversed for this project.
Please note that I am documenting a recovery, not a burial. I did not
use desiccant or even waterproof containers; the computer itself was not
sealed in any way and was not even placed in an air-tight container. In
this instructional, I will be showing exactly how it was done and
exactly how effectively and easily my Bell Method can be employed. Below
you can see a photograph of my girlfriend’s garden where the computer
has spent the last year.
Because
of rain and storms, I was unable to retrieve the laptop on the exact
anniversary of the fifth of November. It’s now two days later and here
goes; I’ve retrieved my geocaching tools from the garage and now it’s
time to commence with the digging.
After
about a half an hour of back-breaking labor (yes, I’m getting too old
to be digging holes) I’ve uncovered the bottom of a large blue
Tupperware storage tote that I used for a Bell. Inside the Bell is a
clear plastic Sterilite tote that contains the laptop itself.
After
more digging, prying and some tugging, I was able to remove the large
tote from its hole and open it up to show exactly what I had done a year
ago to protect my new laptop. The photos below show how the cache was
arranged before I dug it up and retrieved it. The top of the Bell
(bottom of the tote) was about 12 inches down and I used two concrete
stepping stones to keep the smaller Sterilite container above any water
that might’ve entered the bottom of the cache. As you can see in the
following photos, water and dirt did in fact enter the bottom of the
Bell. For the record, using the stepping stones was completely
unnecessary since the laptop’s clear Sterilite container would float
anyway; and yes, I tested it with the laptop in the bathtub last year
before I buried it.
The
laptop itself was wrapped in bath towels to act as insulation against
rapid changes in temperature. The wrapped notebook was then placed
inside a smaller Sterilite container which was covered in aluminum foil
to help shield against EMP or any other electrical surge. Although
aluminum is commonly used by preppers to shield against EMP, I strongly
recommend using it in conjunction with copper mesh. Copper is the better
conductor and is a better material for the construction of a Faraday
Cage.
Once
liberating the aluminum-foil-covered Sterilite container from the blue
tote, I removed the aluminum foil and carried it inside the house
WITHOUT opening it. I placed it on the floor of our spare bedroom for
24hrs to allow for a slow temperature adjustment after bringing it in
from the cold. If it can be avoided, never bring electronics,
ammunition, documents or firearms into a warm house from cold weather
without insulation; the rapid increase in both temperature and humidity
will cause condensation to form in places that you don’t want moisture
to be. This condensation won’t cause any immediate damage but will
eventually shorten the life of your computer, firearm, digital camera,
ammunition etc.
The
following day, (8 Nov) after much anticipation and apprehension, I
opened the Sterilite tote, unwrapped the notebook from the bath towels
and powered the computer up. The battery was completely dead so I had to
plug it into an AC outlet.
As
experienced as I am with caching all sorts of items underground, this
was my first involvement with burying an entire computer for an extended
period of time. Since I had already mentioned this project on another
webpage, I felt a noticeable amount of pressure when I hit the power
button. Apprehension quickly gave way to relief when the machine
immediately booted just as quickly as it did when I first purchased it.
Here’s a photo of the HP with today’s Yahoo’s homepage.
I
transferred several random files around, tested the optical drive,
opened Chrome and Firefox then hit up a couple of the more popular
websites. The machine functions flawlessly and here’s a photograph of
today’s (8 Nov 2013) New York Times webpage.
My
first experience with the Bell Method was placing cassette tapes or
books inside Zip-Loc bags and super-gluing them to the bottom of a 5
gallon bucket. I was about 12yrs old and I would bury the buckets
upside-down to hide them from my parents; (yeah, I had a weird
childhood) and since then, I’ve never had any damage to any of my
belongings whenever I used the Bell Method. The Sterilite tote that I
used in this project is not air-tight but it is durable and quite handy
for all types of things.
I consider
this project to be a shining example of how well my Bell Method works.
Not only did I NOT use the revered and acclaimed desiccant or
silica-gel; I didn’t use any waterproofing techniques including
float-bags, silicone sealant, plastic bags, dry-boxes, pelican cases or
sealed containers of any kind. In fact with the exception of the bath
towels, the laptop was even open to the air. I didn’t purchase anything
in order to complete this project, only using things that I found in the
house or garage. The key was burying below the frostline and ensuring
that I had a one-piece Bell that kept water from running up into my
cache. The other important factor was the bath towels wrapped around the
machine and the dead air space between the two containers acting as an
additional temperature buffer.
The blue
tote will have to be thrown away. It’s hard to see in the photos, but
one side was caved in a little from the weight of the soil. As I
mentioned on one of my other pages, storage totes this large are not
ideal for caching underground. In just one year, the soil had packed
very tightly and made it difficult to retrieve. In addition, I managed
to crack the tote with the mattock while digging it up and then I broke
one of the lid latches when pulling it out of the ground. However, it
should be noted that my cache was intact before I retrieved it; the
damage was the result of my carelessness with the mattock. In
retrospect, it would’ve saved me a lot of time and trouble to just cut a
hole in the bottom of the blue tote, pulled the Sterilite container
through and reburied the broken tote.
The
trade-off of using household products for this experiment did involve
digging a massive hole in the ground in order to properly bury the
cache. Retrieving it yesterday and then refilling the hole was even more
work; I have a sore back that could’ve been prevented with a few
investments. Pelican Products makes several cases specifically for
laptops and they are well worth it for the convenience. If I ever bury
another notebook, I’ll use one of these and save myself a lot of
digging.
These
laptop cases are surprisingly affordable and can not only be used for
caching underground, but on a daily basis for work or school. I’ve read
about people dropping their notebooks while in these cases and reporting
no damage to the machine at all.
I think
that this project has shown how cheaply and effectively my Bell Method
can be used with guns, books, electronics, ammo, documents, medications,
laptops, or camping and survival gear. And just for the record, I don’t
recommend caching valuable items in your garden or flower bed. Last
year, I had to dig quietly at 3:00am in near-total darkness to prevent
my neighbors from seeing me bury a huge bright-blue storage tote in our
backyard; and I’m sure I got some weird looks yesterday while I was
digging it up. Stick to wooded areas.
Well
that’s about as detailed of a description as I can give, but should you
have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to click
on the Contact Me page of this website.
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