Will a computer repair place sell my hard drive without erasing it?

Question

The motherboard of the computer broke, so we took it to the computer repair place in town. They said they were going to use the computer for parts. The problem is I forgot to get my hard drive back. Will the computer place sell my hard drive without wiping/erasing my hard drive? I had many credit card info and my personal information on there. Can I also ask for my hard drive back, if it is still there? Are computer repair places allowed to sell my hard drive as it is? I will say they are a small family run computer repair place that I am told is professional. Any help at all from computer repair places would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance!

Answer 1

Tell the truth, you are worried about the porn on there

Answer 2

The computer repair shop has to erase your hard drive before commericlaly marketing it, but you should NEVER leave that kind of stuff on your hard drive if you give it away. Usually they make you sign a document which allows them to scrap your computer and magnetically wipe your hard drive. Go BACK to the store and find out what the policy on returning hard drives and wiping hard drives is. Always check this BEFORE you end up giving them your computer. Also, check with other people BEFORE you go to this place and make sure that it has a good reputation; if you tell them that your hard drive has your credit card numbes + important contact information on it, then you should really consider deleating the information BEFORE you turn over your computer. Also, if they didn't tell you "We are going to erase your hard drive. Is that ok with you?," then there is a problem, because usually before a USED hard drive is sold, the store must provide documentation by the previous owner of the unit that the hard drive was wiped under their consent. I only give my computers to authorized dealers and reputable stores. If they will not wipe your hard drive, GET IT BACK AT ALL COSTS – your personal information is at stake here. Hope this helps.

Answer 3

I would delete that drive if I were them. most people actually want a clean drive when they purchase a computer due to the possibility that the previous user could have infected the crap out of it. I would call the store up and ask for the drive back and explain why. It's perfectly legal to sell a used hard drive considering it was you who forgot to mention you didn't want that drive back. If they already reformatted the drive then you really have nothing to worry about, but if they didn't AND they sold it already, then that's gonna be more of a headache. Give them a call, see what happens. So why did they scrap the whole thing instead of just installing a new motherboard?

Answer 4

I repair computers, and also scrap and refurbish old ones. I routinely software erase (Duke's Boot-n-Nuke) drives that I plan to re-use, then low-level format and install Win98, typically. I do this mostly to prevent catching anything from the old drive image, some viruses are very tenacious. Also my reputation would suffer if anybody found someone else's personal information on a disk.

It cannot hurt to ask at the place, but if they have already scrapped out the machine, they may not be able to find your drive. It could be one of many in a big box, and they are not going to let you take someone else's drive home. With any luck they have a policy of reformatting or wiping drives.

Answer 5

Wiping a hard drive of its data takes extra time and effort. A computer repair shop can simply delete the contents of a drive to save time, or may neglect to wipe the drive accidentally. Either way, when you are recycling your system you should perform a wipe before you donate the hard drive, ask the computer place to do it for you (and be prepared to pay costs associated with doing so), or keep the drive (possibly to install into another system). Also consider all "wipes" of hard drives are not created equal, and with some wipes much data is still recoverable afterwards. The safest bet is to get the drive back and hold on to it or wipe it yourself.

Answer 6

well their was a big news story about BEST BUY about them reselling computers that they were 2 repaired and sold and they sold them w/ some one else's information on it when they where suppose 2 ease all information .and this has been going on in a lot of stores.luky thing was that the person that got the info was honest and used the info to contact the other and let them know that they had their info.next time there is a program u can buy 2 clean off ur hard drive of all ur personal stuff b 4 u get rid of it but 4 ur own safty change all ur pass words and all codes 2 all ur stuff please.....

Answer 7

Well, Ethicly they should format the drive leaving it blank. A low format should be the most trustable. But Everything depends on their resale/parts policy. They may erase it... they may not.
Your best bet is to go and ask. If they dont format the drive ask them if they can do it for you, or ask them if you can have it back .. If it is still usable and is not very old,.you should ask for it. For Future referece, ALWAYS back up your files and erase any important info (like your credit card #) so you dont run into any problems in the future.

Answer 8

Actually the same thing happened with a circuit city in a news article...the new customer that got the system called the circuit city to tell them that all the old users info was still on it. Not sure if a lawsuit happened though.

Call the place, tell them they need to format it.

Answer 9

Once they have ur hard disk they can use them or sell them as it is.
Get up, go to the shop, and do the needful of erasing the harddisk or tell tehm to do it in ur presence.

Answer 10

you shouldnt worry the hdd should be wiped clean by them and if anything happens sew them is the best solution and no i dont think there alowd to sell it without clearing it of all but the os

Answer 11

um... better get back the hard drive or the buyer of the hard drive will strike gold.