"I just bought your hard drive" - Democratic Underground

Dover

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:03 PM
Original message

"I just bought your hard drive"

Edited on Tue Jun-06-06 05:04 PM by Dover

It seems Best Buy and other stores are recirculating your hard drive. They claim that it's theirs under warranty repairs. Be careful.

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2006/06/one_year_ago_ha.html#posts?GT1=8211

I have received my old hard drive back after repairs, though I have no way of knowing if it's the same one...unless there is a serial number or some mark.

Also, is there any guarantee that your information won't be collected by whoever does your repairs?

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

ThomCat

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:12 PM
Response to Original message

1. I'm sure there is a "guarantee"

but I doubt it's worth much. Anything personal, vital or incriminating on your hard drive has probably been seen, copies and distributed to anyone they know who would get a kick out of it.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Winston702

(106 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:21 PM
Response to Reply #1

5. Don't be too sure

Bought an "on sale" vid card - blew up 3 weeks later. Brought it back for replacement. Counter guys asks "Did you putchase a service contract?" He then explains "no contract, no replacement." He looks at it anyway then tells me, "I can't replace it anyhow, it's been modified" Best Buy repackages returns and sells them as new.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

ThomCat

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:53 PM
Response to Reply #5

7. One more reason to never shop there.

:puke:

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Xenotime

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:13 PM
Response to Original message

2. Encrypt all data you don't want people to see.

Simple. No more worries.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Gabi Hayes

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:15 PM
Response to Reply #2

3. how?

seriously...thanks

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

BadgerKid

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:59 PM
Response to Reply #3

9. check this out

Edited on Tue Jun-06-06 06:01 PM by BadgerKid

TrueCrypt. It's free. And FWIW, it's open source.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

silverweb

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:17 PM
Response to Original message

4. Scary.

I wouldn't shop Best Buy, anyway, because it's a "red" company according to BuyBlue. That being said, I don't know that there are any guarantees worth believing about anything anymore.

One of the comments at the end of the original article suggests paying extra to retain possession of your hard drive, warrantee or no warrantee. However, that's not going to stop unethical repair people from making copies of the contents for personal gain -- nor is it necessarily going to give you possession of your actual hard drive instead of a cheaper, useless substitute.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

alcibiades_mystery

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:34 PM
Response to Original message

6. Nobody needs your hard drive to repair your computer

Take it out, and bring it in that way. Unless, of course, it is your hard drive that is busted. That's why we have back up capacity. Reformat and recover. Or, if the hard drive itself is broken, buy a new one and recover from your back-up. They're very reasonably priced these days. NONE OF THIS NEEDS THE INTERVENTION OF A THIRD PARTY.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

Bretttido

(754 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 05:56 PM
Response to Reply #6

8. I think most people who bring their computer to Best Buy

for repairs would have no clue how to take their harddrive out of the computer... let alone the ability to diagnosis if the harddrive is faulty.

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

alcibiades_mystery

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Tue Jun-06-06 06:09 PM
Response to Reply #8

10. Since it takes about

Edited on Tue Jun-06-06 06:09 PM by alcibiades_mystery

10 minutes to learn each of these things, I don't see any excuse there. :evilgrin:

Seriously, though. Would you drive around in a car if you didn't know how to jump it, or change a tire. Removing a hard drive is about as trivial as each of these procedures. Since your manufacturer almost certainly has detailed instructions on how to remove the hard drive posted online, it is even easier.

ALL CASES OPEN!

Printer Friendly | Permalink | | Top

DU AdBot (1000+ posts)

Thu May 16th 2024, 07:09 AM
Response to Original message

Advertisements [?]

Top

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators

Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.