Computer Buyer Rights Question?

I bought a new computer a few months ago and yesterday i tried to load up and my hard drive sent out error messages and asked me to fix or contact the manufacturer. So first i tried to fix the problem with no results in the end i rang the people my warranty is under and they are sending a engineer out on Tuesday to fit me a new hard drive.

My question is, what sort of rights do i have with my hard drive that is broken, there is a few personal things on there that i would prefer no one to see. I'm just a little worried that if i sent back my hard drive with the engineer, if he could recover parts of it and he being a little unscrupulous by trying to distribute them, i'm not saying it will happen but it could happen, I have heard of it happening and seen it on the news. I really don't want that to happen to me.

So basically what are my rights, what can i do to ensure this does not happen?

Well, unless you keep the hard drive, its over for you.

My friend runs a data recovery business, and i know that he can recover data after 3 formats.

You should call and talk to the computer company and see what can be done about you getting to destroy that thing yourself.

Ok thank you Briana, i'll contact them and see what they say.

Ok thank you Briana, i'll try contacting them and see what they say.

You can also wipe the drive, which is better than just formatting the drive. The free version does not give the most secure wipe but it is more than adaquate for most disk data destroying.

Depending on your hard drive size it could take up to 24 hours to wipe it all. Just make sure you have all you want saved to some off system storage.........it might be impossible (or, at least extremely difficult) to recover anything once you have started the process.

I've used it several times.......it's effective.

http://www.killdisk.com/downloadfree.htm

How would i use this program, i can't use my new pc at all. The hard drive inside is completely messed up. Whenever i load up the pc i get a error message and i can't do anything after that?

use the computer you are on right now and download the program......save to a CD-R. The disk it bootable so you just put the downloaded Killkisk in the drive and start up your computer..........you will boot to the Killdisk program.

You cannot open your drive with the computer shut off but once you start booting (even though the boot is going to fail) you can put the disk in and shut off the computer with the disk in the drive and turn it back on.

It's is intuitive and has pretty clear instructions too.

ok thanks i'll try that

http://www.dban.org/

That utility is free, and will wipe your disk to Department of Defense specifications (a 7 pass random wipe).

I would also refuse to hand over the old drive.

Ok thank you Robot, i'm just a little worried they will refuse. I rang them earlier today and they told me that they don't leave the hard drives behind they take them to be destroyed. I guess i might just be being overly paranoid but i really don't like that idea. So when the engineer comes on Tuesday i will try refusing.

If Robot's URL has a free wipe utility with DoD standards get it and use it.........they will not be able to retrieve anyl data once the wipe passes 7 times. Judging from how long it took my to wipe my 500 gig HD the last time I did it with only one pass you might want to get started now. It will take a very long time.........it writes random 0's and 1's to every sector on the drive.........overwriting every single bit of data. That data is almost completely destroyed........even after one pass. Seven means it's absolutely gone forever.

Give it a shot on keeping the drive but don't count on being able to do so.....unless you pay for the second one, plus the tech's time to install it. I think you can see the reason for a company wanting the drive back on warranty work........not everyone is honest. If word got out that any computer manufacturer let people keep the defective HD's on warranty then soon many would just say it's broke and keep it.........a second drive for free.

or another way of doing it without software take the top off remove the platers and stick them in the microwave and then take them outside and step and slide them across the ground ^^

How long are we talking, my pc has a 250 gig HD, i have until Tuesday?

I know everyone is not honest but some of the things on there are very personal and i really don't wish them to get out. I think you can understand that. I would hope as the buyer i have certain rights and data protection.

Depends on how big your drive is..........say it's 500 gigs like mine, it took right at 12 hours for one pass..................so I would say maybe 3 days. You don't have to wipe it that many times though. It would take a very astute geek to recover any data at all from one wipe. And much of that data would not be usefull anyway. Depends on how paranoid you are. I agree that one should never just hand over a HD without destroying the data..........but there are limits to just how much one can do. Chances are your computer manufacturer is going to wipe the drive again when they take it back......if it's usable then they will refurbish it. And they will not want any extraneous data there. Most computer manufacturers (all the major ones I know of) are very conscious of security.......they will not risk their reputation on a little data recovered from you hard drive. And my guess is that the manufacturers do not wipe a drive with software.......they stick in a huge magnetic box of some type and start all over with the orientation of the 0's and 1's It's a new set of platters when they are done with their wipe.

And on the microwaving and busting the drive, scraping on pavement.........you'll probably find that would void your warranty. Not a good idea.

Ok thank's Peggy, i'll start on the wipe today and hand it over on Tuesday. I thought that might void my warrenty.

I also had someone tell me to take a drill to it lol but not gonna do that either. I'll wipe it and then hand it over, it's just probally me panicking too much. I can get very paranoid at times.