# Is it uncommon for people to have a porn folder on their hard drive(s)? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 24, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375 "2017-05-24T22:31:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yellow_sausage_bandit/32/394_2.png) [@yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellow_sausage_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/21 "2017-05-25T07:38:18Z")
I have a 1TB HD that’s almost half full of fetish porn. It’s encrypted so my relatives can’t access it in case I die unexpectedly. ---
**Author:** ![femmejean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/0ea827/32.png) [@femmejean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femmejean)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/22 "2017-05-25T08:47:23Z")
> [@yellow\_sausage\_bandit](#): > > I have a 1TB HD that’s almost half full of fetish porn. It’s encrypted so my relatives can’t access it in case I die unexpectedly. Would you ever travel with the HDD abroad? Would like to see how Canadian, Australian, and American customs react towards that type of porn. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/23 "2017-05-25T10:40:04Z")
How many people have a folder of bookmarks of porn? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/24 "2017-05-25T13:00:21Z")
How else do you catalog and store pictures of your ex’s to bitterly whack off to if not on your hard drive. Hard drive, heh. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/25 "2017-05-25T13:32:27Z")
Off on a tangent, I don’t get these guys you occasionally hear about who get fired for having (and viewing) pr0n on their work computers or phones. How can anyone be that obsessed with it? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/26 "2017-05-25T13:50:03Z")
Another tangent, but I was surprised to see a piece on CBS News about sniffer dogs that are trained to find media devices, including finding a MicroSD drive hidden in a power outlet. (Don’t know how they smell identifiably different than other types of plastic.) So I suppose that if you have something that you _really_ don’t want to be found, even a hidden MicroSD drive needs to be encrypted. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/27 "2017-05-25T14:23:39Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Off on a tangent, I don’t get these guys you occasionally hear about who get fired for having (and viewing) pr0n on their work computers or phones. How can anyone be that obsessed with it? I never understood that either. I’ve always found separating “work” and “play” (whatever you define _that_ as!) to be a relatively easy concept to understand. ---
**Author:** ![femmejean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/0ea827/32.png) [@femmejean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/femmejean)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/28 "2017-05-25T15:44:40Z")
> [@jz78817](#): > > Off on a tangent, I don’t get these guys you occasionally hear about who get fired for having (and viewing) pr0n on their work computers or phones. How can anyone be that obsessed with it? The ‘thrill of getting caught’ is actually a very powerful stimulant in terms of sexual arousal; A straight-A student in my school told me he entered some youth group for 16 teens. He was charming and planned everything. He used to enter the girls rooms at night and masturbate on their handbags and even on their faces. Despite the fact that he had a girlfriend at one point, sex was very boring for him. The thrill of masturbating on girls items and getting caught was powerful for him. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/29 "2017-05-25T15:48:16Z")
> [@femmejean](#): > > The ‘thrill of getting caught’ is actually a very powerful stimulant in terms of sexual arousal; A straight-A student in my school told me he entered some youth group for 16 teens. He was charming and planned everything. He used to enter the girls rooms at night and masturbate on their handbags and even on their faces. > > Despite the fact that he had a girlfriend at one point, sex was very boring for him. The thrill of masturbating on girls items and getting caught was powerful for him. Wow, that’s some fucked-up shit right there. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/30 "2017-05-25T15:57:06Z")
> [@femmejean](#): > > The thing is, I hear people say ‘dude, why are you saving porn on your hard drive and wasting all that space when you can just stream it!’. I don’t know what they exactly mean despite being a relatively knowledgeable computer guy. If you don’t know what “streaming” is then, no, you are _not_ "a relatively knowledgeable computer guy. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/31 "2017-05-25T15:59:58Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Now, now–he’s also obsessed with 9/11. And spree killers. What’s next-a thread on “Porn files found on computers in the rubble of 9/11 that inspired spree killers”? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/32 "2017-05-25T16:03:00Z")
> [@femmejean](#): > > The ‘thrill of getting caught’ is actually a very powerful stimulant in terms of sexual arousal; A straight-A student in my school told me he entered some youth group for 16 teens. He was charming and planned everything. He used to enter the girls rooms at night and masturbate on their handbags and even on their faces. > > Despite the fact that he had a girlfriend at one point, sex was very boring for him. The thrill of masturbating on girls items and getting caught was powerful for him. They didn’t notice? ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/33 "2017-05-25T16:33:41Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > It’s strange how porn seems to spontaneously generate in the woods, isn’t it? I mean, if we send an expedition to some previously unexplored, uninhabited section of the Amazon rainforest, without a doubt they’d find a moldy old box of Penthouse issues at a minimum, right? Throw me the idol, senor, I throw you the whip! > [@Czarcasm](#): > > What’s next-a thread on “Porn files found on computers in the rubble of 9/11 that inspired spree killers”? Next on Springer! ---
**Author:** ![yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yellow_sausage_bandit/32/394_2.png) [@yellow\_sausage\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yellow_sausage_bandit)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/34 "2017-05-25T19:12:45Z")
> [@femmejean](#): > > Would you ever travel with the HDD abroad? Would like to see how Canadian, Australian, and American customs react towards that type of porn. Eh, I can survive a few weeks without porn. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Mikeisskeptical](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2017, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/35 "2017-05-25T21:05:06Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > There are porn sites that work the same way. You can go to them and watch a porn video without downloading it (or paying for it depending on the site). Er… Yes, I’ve heard of sites like this. I believe I may have seen an article about them in the Financial Times. Most unseemly. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/36 "2017-05-26T20:56:50Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > What do you name your folder instead? Mine is named “Tax Returns”. Mine’s called ‘‘Nothing to See Here.’’ ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/37 "2017-05-26T23:47:57Z")
At first, I had porn 3.5" disks. Then, I had porn CDs. Now, I have many porn folders on my laptop all redundantly backed up on DVD and thumb drives. I’d like some file tagging system to make searching easier. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/38 "2017-05-27T00:05:25Z")
Nope, not uncommon. If I find a streaming video I really like I save a copy. However I keep mine on a USB drive (with another USB drive as backup in case the main one breaks). Over the course of years you find videos you really like and can enjoy multiple times. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/39 "2017-05-27T00:11:51Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Before saving anything you might want to consider whether you are _absolutely_ certain that every image is legal (ie above age) _and you can prove it_. > > I’m not sure but I suspect that a lot of people you hear of that get busted with kiddie porn on their computer probably just had 50,000 porn images saved, in amongst which there were a handful which featured (unknown to them) somone underage. Thats possible, and I’m not in law enforcement, but I doubt it. The reason I doubt it is that if you have hundreds (if not thousands) of videos and photos on your PC, how is someone going to know a girl is 16 or 17 instead of 18? You really can’t tell. When people look for CP I would assume they look for pre-pubescent people, not post-pubescent. Thinking of women I’ve known in real life, I’ve met 14 year olds who looked 25, I’ve met 21 year olds who looked 40 and I’ve met 26 year olds who looked 17. You really can’t tell if someone is 16 vs 18 just from a video. All porn professionally made in the US requires age record keeping though, which is good. What I have heard of happening though is someone buying a used PC on craigslist, and getting busted because the previous owner had CP on it. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2017, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375/40 "2017-05-27T05:07:07Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > The reason I doubt it is that if you have hundreds (if not thousands) of videos and photos on your PC, how is someone going to know a girl is 16 or 17 instead of 18? By having a database of filenames of common underage images, and running a quick “find”. How hard was that? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-uncommon-for-people-to-have-a-porn-folder-on-their-hard-drive-s/787375.md?page=3)