2007-12-20 03:17:44 · 11 answers · asked by smiler 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Laptops & Notebooks
Take the hard drive out before sending the laptop in for repair. HP tells me to do this whenever I send them one of the work laptops. They won't guarantee your hard drive will not be reformatted. If it's a physical problem with the computer they don't need the hard drive. They have hard drives at the repair center they can use if they need to boot up the laptop.
Flip it over, unscrew the panel over the hard drive. Remove the hard drive and replace the panel, then send them the laptop. If your hard drive has to be in the computer back everything up before you send it.
2007-12-20 03:22:22 · answer #1 · answered by Joe D 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely not, you should keep a backup copy of any data on the hard drive before you send the laptop off to be repaired. If the data is of a sensitive nature, you should make a backup copy, then use a tool like Active Kill Disk to erase the contents of the hard drive.
2007-12-20 11:21:28 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Many repair companies will actually tell you that if they find that the problem is software related, they will completely re-image the entire drive thus loosing all of your personal data. If at all possible (as long as the problem is not software related), I would, and have, removed the hard drive all together. If you think the problem might be software, I would do a complete file backup or image backup of the entire drive. Acronis is a great tool to do the image back up as will as Norton Ghost. I have used both products in many different environments/enterprises, and the older versions of Ghost were great if you can find one, but I would be more apt to steer you toward Acronis its a little easier and works better then the new versions of Ghost.
Here is a link for the Acronis Product. http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/
2007-12-20 11:32:30 · answer #3 · answered by kennysmith_ca 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To a point. If they are doing repair work they are going to need access to your harddrive to test\install anything. Use a reputable repair firm and backup your data. You should back up stuff to important to lose some where other then your hard drive anyways.
2007-12-20 11:22:15 · answer #4 · answered by wihntr 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
As often the first thing repairers do is wipe the hard drive, I would back everything up on an external drive if you can.
2007-12-20 11:22:16 · answer #5 · answered by Sal*UK 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Id contact them to see if they actually need to have the HDD in there or if they can use a generic.....should be ok to send but you never know what could happen...
2007-12-20 11:20:46 · answer #6 · answered by newton3010 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you want it 2 b safe then encrypt it that is the easist way but dont use Window's own encrytion it's not complex enough.. Allthough no matter wot encryption you use there will always be a way around it..... Why not ring them and ask if they need the HD??
2007-12-20 11:45:42 · answer #7 · answered by worm_master 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
hm...i have another question for you: did you BACKUP of your data before you send to a computer repair.
2007-12-20 11:22:57 · answer #8 · answered by steven25t 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
NO THE PERSON REPAIRING YOUR LAPTOP CAN STEAL YOUR DATA.
2007-12-20 11:26:19 · answer #9 · answered by sunil 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No it isnt!
make sure you back it up before sending it off
2007-12-20 11:27:20 · answer #10 · answered by Miss WankStain 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋