Datasheet hunting

[emstin1]

I recently acquired a huge bag of left over components from a friend, mostly headers and giant ceramic disc capacitors and a bunch of optical tilt switches and other assorted geegaws that I've never seen before.  While scouring through this bag of goodies, I started checking datasheets on the web to try and suss out what I've got.  But I'm having trouble actually finding the datasheets for several of the components.  I type in the serial number or what have you, and I get a large amount of hits from places like datasheetarchive.com or alldatasheet.com, but never any actual datasheets, just a list of the part in question and it's equivalents.  I've been doing this for about 2 weeks now and I'm starting to get really frustrated with the whole thing.  How do you go about acquiring the datasheets for your drawer full of obscure and salvaged parts?  Is it just prior knowledge of what the part is, do you use a physical datasheet catalog or is their some secret way of getting to the bottom of things?  Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Taylor]

Apologies if you know this already, but...

Much of the labeling on a part isn't part of the part number. It can be internal manufacturer codes, lot/batch numbers, etc. Sometimes it can be confusing to figure out what part of the number is actually the part number.

If you post what's written on the parts about which you're unsure, there may be some folks who recognize something or can parse out the important info.

[emstin1]

I'm mostly aware of all the different markings on the parts.  Usually if I'm unsure I just do a search of each number until I find what is most likely what I'm looking for.  I appreciate the reply though.  As far as just straight up asking here on the forum, I'd feel more comfortable just getting a little nudge in the right direction.  The whole teach a man to fish thing...that and I don't want to ask, and have the answer be right under my nose