Reader Marjan says HP has official policy that requires that they erase your hard drive — even if there's nothing wrong with your computer that would require them to even turn it on.
Marjan says:
The "P" key broke off my HP laptop within one month of its purchase back in April. I asked them to send me the key so I could repair it myself, but they said I must send in my entire computer.
Fast forward to December when I (graduate student) finally have the chance/luxury to send in my computer for repair.
I just got my computer back today to find my entire hard drive deleted and re-done.
Nobody at HP even told me it was a possibility (let alone a "STANDARD POLICY") that hard drives are erased when a computer is sent in for repair — regardless of the nature of the repair. Even ONE key on the keyboard. Even a little scratch apparently requires a full hard-drive erasing. Got my "P" key, but at the cost of my computer's hard drive. Unnecessary. Absurd.
I feel like a hospital patient who went in for routine surgery and woke up with an effing amputated leg.
Wasted two hours debating with four different men about why I shouldn't be punished for one idiot's inability to inform me of this supposed standard policy. I told them they had to compensate for my losses, at least by giving me a new Norton Antivirus product key because I still had time left on the warranty. But they said once the computer was shipped to me back in April, my old product key became my responsibility: It was my fault if I lost it. I demanded some sort of compensation or credit. HP had made a mistake. But they refused.
I asked to speak to somebody higher-up. But the senior technician claimed he was the highest-up person I could speak to. He breathed heavily and in an annoyed way. Said anybody higher than him was "just in charge of scheduling bathroom breaks."
I had zero knowledge and not even the slightest warning that HP would erase everything: "Just give us your log-in password in case something goes wrong," the service guy told me before I sent in my computer for repair. "But they shouldn't have to even turn your computer on."
I am fuming. Pictures, research, creative work, personal work. All gone.
What the hell do I do, or how do I even reach someone sane at HP? Thanks.
I'm not going to pretend to know if your data can be recovered, so we'll toss that one out to the crowd of seething internet — but we do have a few posts than can help you reach someone at HP.
This post is about how to get your laptop back from HP — but it contains contact information that might help you reach intelligent life.
And now here's the official obligatory moral of the story: Please remember to back up your data before sending your computer in for any kind of repair.
Now that that's out of the way, is there anything that can save this data?
]]>But on principle I wouldn't let the hdd out of my sight.
]]>Multiple phone calls and multiple forum posts later, I actually got a call from their US-BASED escalation line and got assigned a Senior Case Manager (Michelle), who was surprisingly helpful...
...until, my hard drive died again almost 1 year to the day. Fortunately I kept the escalation number, which is (or was) 1-877-917-4380. Extension 79 might still get you Jason.
Jason was none too happy with me skipping the usual tech service tree, but be persistent they might not send you back to Outsourced CS hell.
Good luck. HP's customer service is abysmal.
]]>HP > Best Buy
]]>On a MacBook you can usually remove a hard drive by following the steps to replace RAM except you don't take the RAM out, but the HD (the HD is adjacent to the battery itself)
On the MBP it's suggested that you take it to an Apple service center to upgrade it.
]]>I work at a small 21 chain store that does HP warranty work and we're obligated to "forcefully remind" customers to back up their stuff otherwise it will get blown away in the repair process. Its in the fine print somewhere, but like all good things in life:
its always job critical
it always needs to be done asap
there's never a backup
its always invaluable stuff that gets lost
its always your fault you didn't warn them
I see. Thanks for clarifying that for me, everyone. I didn't know because I have never had to send a computer off for service. So far my Toshiba Satellite is working fine. And I usually just use my desktops until they are so old they just implode.
I think, before something happens, that I will see if I can find someone around here that can fix it just in case.
And back everything the hell up!!!
]]>Welcome to HP. I used to work for their 3rd tier case management department. You're lucky that they even fixed the P key. I'm assuming you have the Accidental Damage Protection Plan? In most cases, unless you have that, they won't do anything. And even then, they'll make excuses, i.e. "ADP doesn't cover wear and tear."
Welcome to the corporate culture of Hewlett Packard. The turnover is focused towards people that help the customer, as last I heard, no one that helped any customer that our department had satisfactorily has kept their jobs. Those who did not help at all, they're still in the safe zone, even now a year later.
To HP customers that recognize the name, by the way, Keep Up The Fight. I did what I could for you all while I was there.
]]>Love and use Handy Recovery. trail allows you to restore 1 file in a 24 hour period, as well as browse the hard drive. well worth the 30 bucks for recovering homework for a grad student.
]]>My parents have on HP and the support they get is always "Format your hard drive". Antivirus is not working? Format. Cannot log into the network? Format. Format. Format. And do you think they had her back up anything? Heck no. That's three more steps in their flip book.
I wouldn't buy HP if I were you.
]]>Thanks to HP's standard ,piece of shit, warranty contract, I lost a bunch of data because "it was routine to reset the XP installation to make sure it they gave it to me functioning 'properly'", had to redownload, reinstall all my software.
To sum it up, I just wanted to get my cable replaced and ended up with a brand new cable along with a bonus 'recovered' XP SP1 set up, an ubuntu dual boot destroyed, setting me back atleast a week.
]]>But I would have insisted for the key mail-in first.
]]>My story *may* be unique but I had sent in my Pavillion Laptop to have the OS reinstalled. This sounds dumb but the reasoning is sound.
I have the OS Disks, I have a separate Legit XP, and also have about 10 years exp. in the industry starting out in an RMA / testing Dept in a small shop. A recall on the optical Drive in my 6yr old machine made reading CD's impossible. I took advantage of the recall and sent it in for a new drive/reimaging. When I recieved my laptop back, I had been given a new Drive (sent with CDRW Returned With DVDRW) also; twas sent with a damaged LCD connector cable (moving the lid cause the screen to fade/drop completely until "just right") and missing pixels from Picking off a Jack and Coke stain, twas returned with new LCD free of defects and free of charge.
I guess the whole point of this rant is:
Packing Box had a written statement in regards to backing up the data.
The louder people complain about their crap experience the more it drowns out the "golf claps" of excellent service.
I send a notebook for repair recently with a broken key. The shipping instructions DID say that they might reformat your drive.
Heres a link to that form for proof :
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14336523@N00/3102366879/?rotated=1&cb=1229108221188
I backed up the data and they didnt reformat my drive. I did send a detailed description and my OS passwords.
I wonder if this customer bought their HP laptop at Best Buy and used the Geek Squad - my job was to fix what they routinely screw up (ON PURPOSE)
]]>GetDataBack is one of the best programs on the market for getting your information back. I have used it for more than 10 years and have recovered drives that have been formatted more than once.
Note: You can recover any data that has NOT been over written by new data. Meaning any deleted, formatted, and in some cases corrupted MFT. Most anything short of a physical hardware problem.
As for spending $80 to recover your data. That would depend on how much the data is worth. And as noted it will take time AND you will have to have a drive with enough space to place the data on to it. It recovers to a different device.
]]>Hard drives will fail!
I don't care that HP reformatted your hard drive, in factif you've learned to backup your data. I'm happy. One last thing your data can most likely be recovered. Talk to any local shop and they should be able to either do it, or get you in touch with a data recovery service.
Richard
]]>If the machine won't boot, buy a cheep external usb case, take out the drive from your pc and install it into that usb case and pull your data off onto a friends or family computer for security and backup reasons.
]]>I escalate my case to an HP Case Manager after 2 months on the phone and I don't know how many opened tickets. The Case Manager was a REAL BITCH on the phone. Should didn't want to give her name, phone number or email address. The only correspondence was FAX. Helloooooo 21 century. Then, Customer Complaint department at their HQ NEVER returned my phone calls.
This is my LAST HP laptop. I will stick with the HP printers, cause the quality is very good. As for the laptops, I am back to Sony Vaio.
Business accounts are a whole other matter, they'll even send you the laptop motherboard and BIOS cd if you want, but I usually take the onsite option, even if it's going to take a week to get the guy out. They are a royal pain in the butt.
]]>@brandymb: There are no "replacement keys" if a key breaks off your keyboard or gets stuck and you can't snap it back on yourself you HAVE TO HAVE A NEW KEYBOARD. So asking for another key isn't going to get you anywhere because there aren't any.
]]>I sent a note attached with my laptop stating that if they HAD to reformat my hard drive then to please call me .. I was willing to pay ANYTHING for them to get my files off my laptop if it was mandatory for them to reformat.
4 days after shipping my laptop away I got it working perfectly fine with all my files intact. I was really impressed with the turnaround, how smooth my order went through. and they didn't erase a single thing off my laptop.
This is a weird story to here.
FWIW.
Or they could've taken it to a Best Buy or the like, which could've ordered the keyboard under warranty and replaced it...
It's not policy for them to erase the drive AFAIK, but anything that is possibly user-caused tends to get them to restore the drive anyway. Most of the time for hardware repairs, the company I'd work for would insist on a backup or for the user to sign off that they refused a backup or had a backup themselves; and in some cases the user would take the hard drive home too.
]]>HP's advice: We have some great new computers on sale!
Sorry, man. I've worked selling tshirts at the jersey shore for summer work. You're going to have to sell me a little better than that.
I take the computer to circuit city's firedog. The guy spent 2 minutes on it. Good as new. No charge. $@#& HP
]]>sounds like they swapped laptops
]]>@brandymb: Come on, an EECB for THIS? You should ALWAYS back up your laptop when it gets sent in. If your laptop is out of your hands, you have NO idea what happens to it. I had my laptop sent in to get the keyboard and battery fixed (well, replaced), and they fried the whole computer. But i had enough brains to back everything up. When they actually BREAK the computer, that should be grounds for an EECB (which I did, and got a brand new computer and kept my extended warranty). Not backing up your files and then handing it off to a total stranger? Natural selection.
]]>The person should have backed everything up anyways, I don't trust the shipping process! But they are lucky the part was changed without extra gashes to the body, scratched LCDs, missing screws, and greasy finger groping on a computer that used to be in "mint condition"
The replacement laptop I have has a dead DVD burner 9 months later... I can't decide if I want to try to get it changed.
]]>yup in a competitive market place where price is king..everyones going to do this.
buyers have chosen what they feel is most important. price.
and its too late to complain about it.
yup these days with tiny thumbdrives he could carry it on his keychain as well..encrypted even.
people learn to backup..the hard way
its just how it is i guess.
]]>yup, you aren't paying for premium service. sometimes they might even send a refurb back. the liability of sending the wrong laptop to the wrong customer filled with personal data is just not worth dealing with.
external drives are cheap now.
backup is easy.
people complain too much.
1.) back up data, anyone in this day and age needs to if they have important data
2.) remove the hard drive before sending it in, you can buy a used cheapie (even a refurbished drive) for pennies on the dollar. After all, all it has to do is boot, no one said the drive had to remain in there permanently.
]]>@VeeKaChu: Well I'm not sure what kind of computer knowledge you have but I'm pretty sure an intelligent monkey could navigate the HP support site.
1. navigate to [www.hp.com]
2. click your country on the map
3. a window comes up with 2 options 1. download 2. search troubleshooting documents
This does not in any way seem difficult. There is even an option to scan for which product you have plugged into your bloody computer.
Phone numbers you say? In the top left corner click "Contact HP". Magically there is a section called "call HP" in big bold lettering. What is in here you ask? An entire list of various contact phone numbers. ([welcome.hp.com])
It's one thing to bad mouth a company but it's another to be illiterate.
]]>Sure, it could have had a virus, or have been corrupted, or gained awareness and plotted to overthrow humanity; nevertheless, that's all conjecture, and not why HP claimed to have done it.
I do agree with you that backing up his data would have been smart. However, I took issue with the fact that your first post sounded completely against the OP, and I was responding to that.
]]>Again, I never tried, but I recently bought my mother an Asus Eee PC, and while I was researching ways to improve its performance, I found references to upgrading the RAM, but with warnings that doing so would require unscrewing the case -- which Asus's warranty terms forbid (even though the RAM is SUPPOSED to be upgradeable!).
]]>I feel very fortunate that I haven't had to send any laptops up for in-warranty repairs (NEC, Gateway, Toshiba), although a lot of basic fixes I could do myself. Like I would probably fix the bad P key by buying a USB keyboard, if I couldn't find a way to reattach it myself (it's a PITA, but it's possible if you haven't lost any of the parts).
]]>Customer's P key breaks, laptop is sent in for service.
HP receives laptop, and reroutes it to their standard contracted repair facility. HP doesn't clearly specify nature of complaint to contractor.
Repair facility receives laptop. Puts on new P key in 5 seconds, then proceeds to run a full diagnostic to see if anything else needs to be replaced. In the course of this diagnostic, HDD is wiped.
]]>As far as HP yes its ashame they wipe the hard drive for even the most minor thing. I had to deal with this with customers at my work with firedog. If its the same hardrive you can get your databack with a software called "GetDataBack for NTFS Hard Drive" Hope that helps good luck. -Isaac-
]]>Then I spilled soda all over the keyboard and killed the whole computer so I had to send it in for a warranty repair (I have a warranty that covers spillage and drops, and in this case it paid for itself 5x over). Dell replaced the entire inside of my computer, which was sloshed full of Pepsi. And I finally got a new C key.
I did lose the whole hard drive, but drowning delicate computer parts in a sea of Pepsi tends to do that on its own.
]]>I was diagnosing it with an HP tech on the phone, and it was kind of frustrating. Keep in mind that I fix computers for a living--I'd already taken the hard drive out and made sure that it worked, and narrowed the problem to the motherboard.
Once I finally got the tech to realize that yes, the board was the culprit, and yes, I knew what I was talking about, they started to set up a mail in for repair. I notified them that I would not be sending in the hard drive, and the tech was fine with that (we didn't have a convenient way to back up the data at the time). Then they transferred me over to a support rep who was giving me the info on how to do the mail in. I notified him also that I wouldn't be sending in the hard drive, and he balked, telling me they wouldn't take it without the hard drive. I pressed back, saying I didn't trust them to keep the data safe and intact. He said, of all things, that I should take it to Best Buy and they could back it up for a low price.
Ha.
Over a half hour, I argued with the guy to the point where I finally just said, "Look, you don't need the hard drive to diagnose the issue, I'm not paying someone else to back up the data, I'm just going to remove it, and send you the laptop." He finally grudgingly relented.
Laptop got sent in when ex-gf returned home, she got it back, and put the hard drive back in herself. Good as new, and no data loss.
]]>I sympathize with this person. I would DIE/KILL if my pictures were lost, but that is why I would ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS back them up! I do it routinely anyway.
]]>When we bench a pc we read off a required legal statement that says if you can back up your data...do it.
Its not our responsibility that you entrust all your files on one harddrive. If the drive fails, you lose. A harddrive WILL fail. No doubt about it. Get an external, or second drive. I cant tell you how many times i get bitched at because someone is too cheap to get a flash drive to save an important work project.
Also, sending out keys individually. Are you kidding me? I have a list of "customer replaceable parts" that i can send and there's not one damn thing that says "hey can we take a 'Q' key off a perfectly good keyboard and send it to this guy?"
And lastly, included in that legal document we read before bringing a computer in is that it has to be in ORIGINAL factory condition when it comes in. If it comes in without the harddrive in it there's a good chance the service guys are gonna box it up and send it right back.
]]>I'd be fine with that risk normally, but since my laptop can't charge, it had no power to even back up stuff to begin with. I know it's not the same company, but if one company will wipe a hard drive over a bad key, what's to stop them from wiping my hard drive over a malfunctioning card reader?
..for the record, when I sent my laptop to HP, they didn't wipe my hard drive. But they also didn't fix my problem, so I guess it all evens out.
]]>@kpetree10: The HP commercial model's go to the exact same repair techs that do the consumer models. Everyone there is trained on more then one model laptop. Usually 3 - 4 different models, or in my case, all different models. And what gets put on your rack is determined by how many of what models came in that day. There both the same quality too (consumer vs. commercial models) Inventec, Quanta, Compal, and Winstron all make consumer and commercial models with the same parts. The only real difference is the black case on the commercial models.
2.) The tech might not have even thought about reimagine the hdd when he had it, but they all have to pass a burn-in stage and qa before they leave the building. If it failed burnin for some reason for any software or hdd problems, it got replaced and/or reimaged. since we aren't allowed to send out computers that fail regardless of wether you stick a note on it telling us to reformat it. and we can't just remove the problem/spyware/malware as we're technically not allowed to go thru your files (though we do look for amateur porn) so any software problems, remiage.
3.) takeing out the hdd is an option, and no it doesn't void the warrenty, but you better make sure you know what the problem is when you do, if you send it in and we can't readily find a problem and suspect it's a hdd problem, we send it back as a ntf (no trouble found) and keep doing it until you send in your hdd with it. then the tech will usually format it because you didn't send it in to start with and it counts against us if it comes back in
]]>Restorer2000 is another good one.
]]>I refuse to believe that the checklist that came with my return kit was a one off item created by an especially diligent tech. Especially since it was photo-copied off center.
How many people read the instructions before using electronics. That same # are probably reading the instructions before sending their laptops in.
]]>@TrueBlue63: Same here. I send my HP laptop back for a WLAN problem and a separate screen issue (dead pixels). These were two separate fixes performed about a month apart and neither time did they wipe my drive.
However, I bought my laptop under Small Business, or whatever that category is called. Is there any correlation to that? Perhaps there is a different policy for Small Business users rather than Home and Home Office or whatever they call it?
]]>However, what you say about writing new data to the drive and recovering data is true.
]]>@NCSUSean: I highly doubt they did an actual format/install of Windows. They likely imaged the drive completely with something like Ghost. Meaning, they have the same hard drive with a gold copy of the OS and they write byte-for-byte, automated, on the new drive, essentially making a photocopy of it. It would be cost prohibitive if the PC repair facilitiy actually employed someone that sits and formats/installs manually. When I worked at a government agency in Pennsylvania, we had this awesome little drive copier that we used to image disks. Plug an IDE cable into the drive, press the button and in 6 minutes, you had an exact duplicate drive.
Chances are, everything is lost during the imaging process because the pointers don't just get erased, the drive gets written completely. A backup is the only surefire way to prevent this from happening again.
]]>@bohemian: You're making the assumption that the problem is easily solved by just replacing the key. It's probable that she may have broken it in a way that couldn't be solved with a pen knife and access to a similar keyboard.
]]>@FentonKolibri: My hp computer JUST this week went tit's up. Needed a new power supply and took the hard drive with it (Master File Table was corrupt). You can't get much worse than that in terms of making your old data inaccessible. GetDataBack got most of my data back, but it was pricey (around $80 pricey). It claims to be able to get data back after a reformat, so the OP should give it a try. ***NOTE*** try NOT to add new files to the drive after you receive it reformatted and before you use any data recovery tool.
Oh, btw, this kind of software takes HOURS to work.
]]>@starrion:
I don't work for HP BTW.
]]>As a senior Tech Supporter, I -am- going to blame the OP. Always back up data before sending equipment anywhere.
Laptop lost by FedEX-- Data Gone
Laptop kicked down stairs by UPS-- Data Gone
Laptop dropped by Tech at HP-- Data Gone
Laptop stolen off steps by scumbag- Data Gone
Even if SOP is to wipe the drive and image it, the OP should absolutely have done a backup first. It's in the manual, it's on a cutsheet in the box. I've seen it.
From every standpoint from liability to privacy issues it makes absolute sense to scrub the machine as soon as it arrives. You're working with a known good OS install, there is no user data to get accused of stealing or peeking at naughty pictures the user has left on it, and there is no Malware to contend with.
You don't need the OS to fix a stuck key, but eliminating liability is worth it.
Backups are your friend. If you're not backing it up then it can't be that important to you.
]]>I am a computer tech by trade (private businesses, not OEM) and deal with most major vendors on a weekly, if not daily basis for my clients. Every one of them state that you should backup your data before sending. The reason is, for about 75-80 percent of their fixes, reloading of windows needs to be done, so rather than having a differnt policy for differnt problems, they use 1 policy so it always stays the same.
Next time, the op should read the instructions given to her.
]]>While we're (assumedly) talking about HPs, some Apple notebooks (namely the MBP) does not have a user accessible hard drive: you have to disassemble your case and perform semi-major surgery to get at the drive. This WILL void your warranty.
Always check your warranty before you do something to your notebook.
]]>It's not your fault that the house got robbed, but it's absolutely your responsibility to make sure the stuff you care about is insured.
I have to agree that the OP should have backed up the data before sending it in. Even if HP hadn't wiped the drive (I also agree that it was unnecessary for HP to do that), it could have been lost or damaged in shipping. Once it goes out your door you have no real guarantee of getting it back -- anything can happen.
]]>Long time HP servicer here...these are the keys:
1) Never buy consumer grade; Pavilion and Presario are cheaper versions of the Commercial products.
2) Unless your hard drive is at issue, always remove the hard drive before sending it in, IF you have to send it in. Every state in the US has at least _one_ non-HP-owned site that can intake HP products for HP and still cover it under warranty; mailing in your notebook is an _option_ for many models, not a requirement.
3) If your mainboard is replaced, you lose. HP makes changes during product lifetime, including major components on the mainboard. If you get a newer version mainboard, the old version drivers on your hard drive may conflict and require a complete reload.
4) ALWAYS get the ADP (Accidental Damage Protection) plan from HP and NO OTHER. The ADP is a godsend for the mutant weirdness that happens, up to and including a bullet in the drive. It's good for 3 years and while it costs a bit, it is one of the wisest investments to make.
5) EXTEND the warranty. You can, depending on the model, extend the warranty for up to five or seven years from original date of purchase.
6) Keep your system updated. Check the HP Support site for updates, or go to [www.hp.com] and follow directions.
]]>No; but you should have known better. Sometimes things happen to you that aren't your fault, but lack of common sense preparation will cause you to suffer loss anyhow. That's why insurance (and data backups) exist.
]]>I just sent out my laptop to get fixed and was in the same boat, so to speak. HP support determined they needed to replace my MOTHERBOARD because my wireless card crapped out, and would do it for free. Great, but I can't be without a PC for 2 weeks. I was able to delay it until now, but now I'm without a PC during finals, and they told me if I waited any longer (read: the new year) they "might" not pay for it.
]]>Same with the currently-shipping 17" MacBook Pro.
]]>That said, no one has good tech support, period. Not Apple, not any mainstream computer manufacturer. All their support is done at the lowest possible cost. Of course, this reduces the cost of the computer itself.
The alternative is to spend $5k+ and buy from Falcon Northwest.
]]>Not true. Toshiba wiped one of my client's laptops for the very same thing, a replacement keyboard.
]]>That said, IBM/Lenovo recommends removing your hard disk, so hopefully this will apply to other manufacturers.
Another note on warranties, it's all the better reason to buy business class laptops for personal use. They usually come with onsite warranties, or you can pay a small amount to uplift to an onsite warranty. This way you don't have to wait for your laptop to get shipped to/from a depot, and you can see what the technician is doing. While consumer grade notebooks are much cheaper, adding such service contracts can sometimes push the prices up!
IF you are shopping for a home laptop, get:
HP - Compaq branded business laptops
Dell - Latitude
Lenovo -Thinkpad
Apple - anything is fine, but go through a local Apple store for service, or better yet, an authorized retailer.
Apple laptops are a different story, although all currently shipping models do have user-removable hard drives. Here's the breakdown:
MacBook - All models - User-replaceable drive.
MacBook Pro, the latest model - User-replaceable drive.
MacBook Pro before the latest model - NO. Voids your warranty if they find out.
PowerBook and iBook - All models - NO. Voids your warranty if they find out.
Hope this info proves helpful to someone.
]]>@Hastin: You are 100% right. Not only do the CS Agents tell you that your drive will be imaged, the paper for the directions to ship the laptop back also say this.
In addition I have been told the only way to avoid is to remove the Hard Drive prior to shipment. I learned this the hard way, as the first CS agent did lie and say a request had been put in to not image the hard drive.
Also, its worthy to note that your laptop might get stolen in route, the Fedex truck might explode or crash. So really its just common sense to Back Up before you send your laptop in. I have always backed up my computers before sending them in, and now I don't worry with WHS automatically doing it for me.
]]>He waited an hour or so and called back.
Dell support: "Did you reinstall Windows?"
Jeff: "Yes."
Dell support: "Did this solve your problem?"
Jeff: "No. The rubber foot is still missing."
Dell support: "OK. We will ship you a replacement rubber foot."
Jeff: "Thank you."
I'll echo what others have said. Unless you are having a software or hard drive related issue, always remove your drive before sending a laptop in for repair. If you have to send in the drive, always back up your data.
]]>But then they told him they'd be wiping his hard drive.
...huh?
Not that it was possible they might have to, or the suggestion that it could be an issue with it, just that, flat out, it was getting wiped.
...which is still better than the time I was a computer newbie, Dell's technician insisted I had a why rus (virus) preventing my computer from working (considering I'd had to have a video card, then mobo, then both at once swapped because one would render the other unusuable which would in turn break the new part that I put in, I thought it had more to do with me getting a poorly built computer). Regardless, we were going through, and he had me initiate a command that would partition my harddrive without telling me.
For those who don't know, that means I just lost everything on my HD. Damn if I could get anything out of them either, other than the number for data recovery, at an obscene rate and no guarantee of success. This was before the days of Gawker, let alone the Consumerist, and I certainly didn't know about the magic of an EECB.
Best of luck to you, I'd push for them to pay for data recovery since they were the ones to lose your data.
]]>@DoubleEcho: See, the mistake here is that you're assuming they're employing real, honest-to-goodness computer technicians to do the repairs. This is probably not the case. At the best, they're using barely-trained, completely inexperienced kids just out of high school, with a shiny new piece of paper that says "A+ Certification" on it, but no actual computer repair experience.
]]>You get a virus and good luck trying to get back to normal without wiping your drive.
As I stated, I do NOT support HP for formatting their drive but that stated no matter who you go to, they will run diagnostic testing to see if anything else is wrong with the unit. The HDD could have had issues, how do we know there wasn't a virus? How do you know the customer did not have a login password and did not remove it before sending in the unit? HP and any service center will not take the time to call up a customer to ask for it and in most cases they will wipe the drive if there is a hardware issue to make sure its not a software issue before replacing a part.
The customer is not always right, was HP stupid? I would say so, but the blame game is a 2 way street and it is ugly.
]]>HOWEVER, you have to blame yourself mostly. There is no reason you shouldn't have backed up your HDD before you put your laptop in the frikin mail...
]]>Given everything I've read, apparently we were lucky.
]]>But with a logically-damaged drive, there are some great free recovery tools. If you have a Linux box lying around, I recommend Helix (can read Windows stuff as well). Great forensics toolkit: [www.e-fense.com]
I can't remember if Helix has a tool called "Foremost", but if not you can get it at sourceforge. It doesn't really care what kind of filesystem you point it at, it just goes through the raw data looking for file headers. Great for recovering "known" file types (jpgs, word docs, etc)
[sourceforge.net]
Actually with Dell laptops, they have service manuals on their website. I've been working with computers for years and they finally have instructions on how to disassemble a laptop...on a Dell at least. Personally, I would be able to handle the really easy part replacements like hard drive, RAM, keyboard, bluetooth, and battery. Anything major like a motherboard swap, LCD repair (I've done this before too and it's not hard), complete laptop teardown then I call in the tech to do it since it's part of my warranty.
But then again, whenever I buy a laptop, I stick with the cheapest options for a hard drive (usually 5400RPM) and RAM (I try to go just 1GB) to save money on their ass-raping prices. The second I get the unit, I throw in a 7200RPM drive, format it and install the OS of my choice, (I never use a laptop with factory installed OS and working in IT yields you free software ^_^) and 2GB or 4GB of RAM (I run Vista x64 on my XPS m1330 currently). In fact, if Dell gave me the option, I would have then just sell me the laptop with no HD, RAM, and OS. I can supply those myself at significantly cheaper prices.
]]>Yes-you should backup your data. Yes-shit happens and can damage your data. Yes-it is not uncommon for disk wipes during PC repair.
BUT-disk wipes for PC repair are only appropriate for issues that could be fixed through a disk wipe. There is zero, 0, zero chance that a broken key on a keyboard could be repaired through a disk wipe, and there is no reason to assume that HP would be stupid enough to try.
If HP wiped Marjan's drive without warning her in any form, they were negligent and should be held responsible for the data.
If HP did give warning, then they were simply stupid.
]]>Alienware does the same thing. Their customer only forums were always getting complaints about it. They never listened.
]]>Ok, you could try some of the ideas and programs above, but I have had the most luck by booting up a live cd linux distro (i.e. Ubuntu) and using Testdisk (accessible from the terminal). Follow these steps:
1. Buy an external harddrive. Don't use the reformatted laptop to do steps 2-3.
2. Download the latest iso file of Ubuntu using a different computer.
3. Burn the iso file to a cd using a program like ImgBurn
4. Start the laptop with the cd in the drive and the external drive hooked into the laptop, and boot from the cd.
5. Once Ubuntu loads, right click the external drive and make sure that the permissions are read/writable.
6. Start Terminal/Konsole > type testdisk > hit [ENTER]
7. There should be two (or more) partitions available. You will have to try to determine which partition is the old one.
8. Use this tutorial to recover your NTFS files. Copy them to the external drive.
Hope this helps!
]]>Third parties gaining access to your information is probably why they reimage the machine in the first place.
If the computer was fixed and inadvertently shipped to the wrong customer with the data still on the hard drive, imagine the issues that would rise.
The policy makes sense.
]]>Maybe if the reformatting were the result of an accident while doing repairs, I could understand. However, blaming the OP when a company deliberately wipes a hard drive for no reason.
I would still be mad if they did this to me even if I backed up my data immediately before sending it in.
Backing up your data is good and all, but its only relevance to this story is that it could have made the consequences of HP's stupid actions less severe. It does not change the fact that HP did something stupid.
]]>Also if you think your harddrive is failing, back it up first. Many harddrive tests include a stress test and forensic recovery is VERY expensive (thousands).
]]>For home users, if it requires a screwdriver, your choices are normally on-site part replacement, or return service.
]]>@brandymb: True. But it's probably company policy, and no CSR wants to lose his/her job over a "P" key. Can't always get what you want.
]]>Very smart person. I see this student was trying to prepare for the worst. But these days for me I have my web server and I can remote into my 7 PCs at home so no problem...haha.
]]>When they told you the next person up just schedules bathroom breaks, they were telling you the truth. My supervisors were only there to schedule breaks, lunches, and knew nothing about troubleshooting computers or the policies of the company we were doing work for.
If you feel like you're not getting anywhere in these calls to companies, it's because most of them use outsource call centers that are disconnected from anything but a computer interface to the company you thought you were calling.
Just for fun, next time you're calling a company like this, ask the person where they are. If it's somewhere off the wall like Alabama, Louisiana, or Oklahoma, and the company isn't based there, ask what outsource company they work for... They probably won't tell you, but I can usually "hear" that deer in the headlights look when I catch some of them.
]]>But, the better option would have been to have a technician come out to replace your "P" key. I haven't bought an HP laptop yet (by the looks of things I probably won't now), but I bought a 3 year extended warranty with Dell and next business day service. If it's just a keyboard, they would have just mailed me a replacement since I know how to replace it myself. It also would have been cheaper for Dell to send the part.
I'm sure HP had some option where you could extend the warranty with technician visits?
]]>I have also owned a couple HP laptops.
Here are some hard rules when sending your machines in for service -
1) technicians are nosy. Always. In the general computing world rules that is second only to "men look at porn, women install cute email packages and kids will click on anything". A tech will *alway* peek at your data even if he never copies anything. The whole Geek Squad thing was behind the times by more than a decade.
2) your data is always subject to loss. back it up if you dont care about #1. Or remove the drive entirely. In fact unless you have a software problem - removing the drive is the best thing to do, in my opinion. They will get stuffy with you, but dont back down. I sent in an HP laptop for bad pixels and the automaton on the phone tried to convince me that the HD was necessary to the repair "Well if you guys can't come up with a hard drive for testing purposes, HP is in bigger trouble than I thought"
3) if you do lose data - trying to get reimbursed for the value of the data is not going to happen in all likelihood. But you might manage to pull off a bit of largess if you ask nicely enough. Don't count on it. Data loss doesnt bring much sympathy.
]]>In my experience Dell laptop hard drives are relatively easy to remove.
]]>If they just formatted your drive & didn't put anything new on there, chances are your data's still on the drive & can be accessed with recovery software. Unless they securely formatted it of course. Try Data Rescue from Prosoft.
]]>Yeah. That's a good question. Why couldn't they copy everything anyway and THEN wipe it?
]]>One bio grad student I knew kept 3 current copies of his dissertation:
1 in his apartment
1 in the grad student office
and 1 on a floppy on a chain around his neck, just in case his apartment and his office burned down on the same day.
]]>To the OP: If you have a Geek Squad Store (ouside of Best Buy), you might want to take it there. Worst case, they end up sending it to Ontrack, at about a 50% discount from Ontrack's normal rates.
]]>@Gnuwave: What I infer from the article is that someone at HP told Marjan it was the Official Policy.
Far be it from me to assume that people working at HP don't know what their own official policy is.
]]>Send in the unit without the HDD... they will fix the device without the hard drive present, however if the drive is present they will wipe it. I think SOP is to start with a drive wipe for all units and then move on to what the issue is, and then install a new operating system.
Frankly I think this goes on pretty much everywhere. The best idea is to remove the drive, you protect your personal information from theft as well as deletion.
]]>My advice? Start using Mozy if you have 2GB or less that you want to back up, or use a gmail account to back things up through a Windows Backup scheduled process in cahoots with Gmail Drive. Both are free options, as long as you don't worry too much about your privacy.
Best of luck!
]]>@Trick:HP customer "alleged-service" is/was/always will be the devil. Their websites were always dis-jointed,inane and arcane messes, and they were one of the first big corporate support sites that learned the value of never having telephones numbers anywhere on the site.
And it might even be true today, but I distinctly recall that as recently as a few years ago HP poor-mouthed online about how it wasn't practical to archive drivers for "obsolete" products (which in some cases meant less than a year old), but they would offer to send them to you on a CD for 5$ plus S&H.
Disgusting. And it's a shame, because they occasionally make some really nice products.
]]>I think this story is a valid complaint, but I have to ask, what was the OP thinking, sending a computer off for repair and not backing up their important data?
There are so many bad things that could happen to your computer when out of your possession, such as...
-- tech unexpectedly reformats your hard drive (as in this story)
-- hard drive gets damaged in shipment
-- computer gets lost in shipment
-- computer gets stolen
-- governor of Illinois appoints you to the senate in exchange for your computer
-- etc. etc. etc.
If you're shipping it, back it up first!
]]>It's typically used for memory cards but it'll work on Hard Disks too.
]]>We did end up fighting with HP and Best Buy and got our old laptop back in our possession long enough to recover our data, but, lesson learned.
]]>I agree that HP probably had no reason to format the drive, but at the same time, it's entirely his responsibility to ensure his data is safe (and to keep track of his product keys). If you don't take the time to back it up, then it better be something you can lose.
]]>The company I work for recently switched from Dell to HP.
I really didn't think HP could be worse in reliability and support than Dell. Boy, was I wrong.
The nc6400's that we have are pure shit. The LCD is the worst that I have EVER seen. There are constant complaints about the LCD quality and about the laptop quality in general.
I also work on a newer HP supercomputer and I'm learning to hate HP-UX and HP in general. Way more problems with HP-UX and the HP hardware than I ever had with Solaris and Sun hardware.
]]>am NOT a HP fan... because seriously, they have the worst customer server error...
]]>@TrueBlue63: How in the hell could a broken "P" key corrupt the OS or BIOS? There's no clear or logical reason why a computer technician would format/reinstall for a key replacement. Even an entire laptop keyboard replacement can be done without reinstalling the OS.
]]>@HogwartsAlum: I can think of lots of reasons. One, knowing customers, a small percentage will be upset and claim that "they messed up my computer! It doesn't run right like it did before," and cause problems. Two, if there is anysort of virus, trojan, spyware or potentially unwanted program on there, you can always claim it came from their system and try to sue them. Three, they have seen the stories about computer technicians stealing private files from the computers they service and want to cut that off at the pass.
.
I agree with keeping the hard drive when it's not a software-related problem. If the hardware fix requires new drivers, they can send them with the repair.
.
I don't want to rag on the OP, but you should have backups of your important files even when you aren't sending it in. External drives are cheap. And there are a few free solutions on the web. Personally, I really like Mozy. It's automatic, encrypted and free for a couple gigs of important files.
When you format a drive, you can recover data to a degree. However, if you format the drive and then write over it (like reinstall your OS, etc), the data recovery becomes increasingly difficult and much much much less likely.
So, if these so-called techs from HP erased the drive and then reinstalled the OS from the recovery cd, there is very little chance any of your old data is recoverable.
You can send your drive to recovery specialists, but they usually require $500 or more just to look at the drive.
So, yeah..to reiterate the moral of the story: back up early and back up often
]]>also, it's kind of hard to back up your data if your OS crashed.
removing the hard drive is still the best option, and to counter/answer some posts here, removing a hard drive normally will not void your warranty. in fact, many newer laptops now have labeled screws on their laptop cases to tell you what you need to unscrew to get to memory banks, hard drive, and even minipci slots.
never the less, that's a pretty pathetic policy. if my computer needs a hardware repair, it doesn't need me to reinstall every single program and restore every single saved setting/bookmark/cookie/etc.
typical short-sighted/corporate thinking that software and hardware are one and the same =P
except when it comes time to bill. then all of a sudden they're separate =P
]]>I am not backing up HP on this one either as I do find it stupid that they formatted it, but think of it this way it's also for your own security. Maybe nudie pics of yourself or your other could wind up on the net if you had someone who would search for that or other personal data. It should be wiped clean first before sent in or the first thing they do is wipe it clean.
How hard is it to purchase an external drive, put it on a USB key or what not? You can buy an external drive for $100. What if your key wasn't the issue and your hard drive crashed? You'd be up shits creek and you'll cry to HP that your system is a month old and the HDD died? Stuff happens.
It's completely your fault and I'm tired of hearing people bitching that they didn't back up their data.
]]>I will never buy any consumer grade products because they get the s****y service, I will only buy HP/Compaq or Dell Latitude/Precision laptops because it seems that the little bit more you pay for a business grade notebook you get better service and a more reliable product.
]]>@bball123h: I always took this route when sending laptops in for repair.
]]>@spazztastic: Wouldn't that void the warranty for a lot of laptops?
]]>As for data - I'd recommend immediately that you don't install any new software or put any new data on your computer -- as another commentator stated, they likely did a "quick format" which just removed the pointers to the files on the hard drive (think of it as removing the index from the front of a book -- all the pages are still there, you just dont know what is what).
There is some good software out there that may help you recover your data on your own -- you just need to have the ability to install your wiped hard drive as a secondary hard drive on another computer. Look into GetDataBack for NTFS or EZ Recovery Professional -- I've had good luck with both software titles.
You also have the option to go through a professional data recovery service -- [www.ontrackdatarecovery.com] is one service I have used in the past and the results were amazing -- check out their website for more information on pricing and services if you are interested.
With all that said, definitely start emailing your experience to some of the higher ups at HP and see if any of the executive or corporate people may be able to assist you.
Good luck with everything
*Also, in the future -- buy an external hard drive -- prices are so cheap now its silly not to have one -- you never know when your HD will die, or something wonky like this HP experience will come up -- $60-$100 for an external HD is a steal as opposed to losing all of your data :( *
]]>WITHOUT wiping my hard drive.
It is not company policy to wipe the hard drive.
But it is company policy to warn you that any time you send in a laptop to be repaired that there is a possibility that the hard drive will be wiped. It is in writing on the forms that they send you with the box to send in your laptop.
For example, if the broken key had somehow corrupted the o/s or bios in a way that necessitated a re-install of the o/s, they wipe your hard drive and re-set it to the factory default state.
Now I am not a big fan of HP support, they often try tedious and potentially risky o/s fixes before they check hardware (read $$ expense) repairs. But this is simply not a case of HP having made the mistake.
As for the refusal to give Marjan a contact at customer services, that is unforgivable. They are always quick to ask you to fill out a survey if your issue is resolved successfully, they should be at least as attentive to people who are unhappy.
]]>At any rate, your best bet is to pay for private restoration from a forensic data professional. I'm not one, and have never used one personally. However, I have heard from colleagues that the service exists beyond the ho hum stuff you can find at best buy or someother retail store.
I think as a way to "make you whole," HP should foot the bill for something like that.
In the meantime, you should avoid using your laptop when possible. The remains of your previous hard drive data will be slowly written over each time you use your computer, or save data on your computer.
Good luck
]]>Something similar happened to my sister - her hard drive blew up and she needed some very important stuff off of it. THe only thing they could do is send it in to a special forensics lab and take the information off of it that way. It is possible but i think it cost her a couple grand.
]]>I had a broken hinge on my Dell, and they had me remove the hard drive before sending it. Probably a good tip for future users of HP's 'service'.
]]>My preferred software of choice was EASEUS' Data Recovery Wizard Pro.
As always, no guarantees that it would work in this situation. but i recovered photos and videos that were priceless to me and it was well worth the $90.
]]>There's even a big sheet with a warning to back up your data on the sheet you use to send in the laptop.
]]>