n007back

Hello. I'm new to forums and am hoping someone here can help. If this is in the wrong forum, I apologize.

My hard drive recently went bad on my Dell laptop. As it was covered under warranty, I was sent a new one from Dell.

Now, Dell wants me to send them my bad hard drive. I am really concerned about doing this. My computer is used for home and business. I have all of my own personal financial information, passwords, etc., on it as well as the personal information of my clients.

Dell assured me that since my computer could not detect that a hard drive was installed, there is no way that anyone could get the information off of it. Plus, the assured me that, even if Dell could retrieve the information, it would be confidential with Dell.

Still, I'm extremely worried about putting the old hard drive into a box and shipping it to Dell. Having someone get a hold of my own financial information would be bad enough, but if some one were to get my clients information, my career could be in real jeopardy.

Should I just send back the new hard drive and spend money out of pocket to by one?

Thanks

tetonbob

Hello -

Difficult situation....

This is a document I found at DELL

http://support.dell.com/support/topi...gen&dn=1080102

Do they say what condition the hard drive needs to be in? Can you access the old hdd, now that the new one is in place? (by slaving it to the new system). While not likely, it is a possible scenario. If so, format it using DBAN multi-pass and then send it back, if that suits Dell. If not, is the cost of a new hdd less than the headaches/worries/possible lawsuits? involved with having the financial information of clients out of your hands? Keep it, or physically destroy it. With storage drives costing less and less (newegg shows a 500GB WD drive today for $60), I'd say even though they owe you a drive...I'd be inclined to eat the cost and rest easy at night.

Others will likely have differing opinions.

auntiej

I am not in the same (business) position as OP, but did once have to send a hard disk back to Dell. IIRC it was shipped via UPS (arranged by Dell), and I just hoped that whatever building(s) the drive rested in on its journey were safe and secure. I never heard from Dell that they did not receive it so have to assume it arrived.

n007back

I slept on it last night and, after reading your post, decided to just get a hold of Dell, let them know I'm sending the new hard drive back to them, and that I'm just going to spend the money on a new one.

I guess,from what I've read online, since my computer won't even recognize that my old hard drive is installed, that it would apparently take sophisticated hardware or software or something to get the info off of there, and that even then, the info may not even be retrievable.

Still, even if there is only a 1% chance or less of this information falling into nefarious hands, I think that deciding to spend $100 dollars on a new hard drive is an easy decision and money well spent. Especially considering the money/reputation I could stand to lose in the worst case scenario. Plus, peace of mind for $100 seems like a bargain to me.

Thanks for the replies.

tetonbob

I'd have done the same thing in your position.