A PORTABLE hard disk can be bought for under $100.

So it really makes you sit up and take notice when someone offers $100,000 for one.

But that's what M5 Royal Music, an artiste management company, is offering for the return of a hard disk.

The company has reported the loss to the police.

The hard disk contained master copies of unpublished songs and various artiste photos, said artiste manager William Soh.

It also contained a set of artistic photos of Wu Luoyi, one of the company's artistes.

Where is the reward money coming from?

The friends and family of Hazel Lim and Elson Soh, two of the artistes whose songs were on the disk, are offering $10,000 each.

Another $30,000 comes from Joshua Foo, another artiste from the same company.

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And the biggest sum, $50,000, comes from Luoyi's mother, who called Lianhe Zaobao after reading their coverage of the incident.

Isn't $100,000 a lot of money to offer for one lost disk?

Mr Soh, their manager, explained that many of his artistes come from fairly wealthy backgrounds.

Joshua runs a chain of tuition centres, while Luoyi's mother owns a chain of Chinese medicine shops.

Said Mr Soh: 'The money is not much compared with the peace of mind from getting the hard disk back.'

He flatly denied that the incident is a massive publicity stunt.

Said Mr Soh: 'I have many artistes here whose careers have been affected. Why would I subject them to emotional harassment?'

Elson told The New Paper he has been receiving lewd SMSes and phone calls after the saga broke.

These SMSes came from over 10different numbers, and many of them were graphic in nature.

Elson showed us one SMS giving a website where, the sender alleged, sexual videos had been posted. The New Paper checked the website and did not find any such videos.

Said Elson: 'Some of them asked me how much I charge per night, and a few even had detailed descriptions of sexual acts.'

Some claimed they had the hard disk, and threatened to upload his nude photos if he did not meet up with them.

'I don't have any such photos on the disk, so I know they are lying to me,' said Elson.

Since then, he has become wary of picking up calls from unknown parties.

Hazel said that while she has not received any lewd messages, she has been getting stares from other students in school.

Said Hazel: 'I think they misunderstood the media reports and thought revealing photos of me were on the hard disk.'

Elson said he would consider taking action if the messages continued to arrive.

'If they start getting more graphic, I'll call the police,' he said.

This story was first published in The New Paper on 15 July 2008.