HP service center wiped all my data..

[fjieahag1-2]

I had a problem with the memory on my all-in-one computer that I purchase last year. It's not been an year since I bought it and it suddenly started to have problem overnight and I couldn't even boot my computer at all.

Customer service asked me to ship my computer to the service center and I did it. While they were trying to sell me a HP warranty stuff, they did not explained me that there maybe a data loss during service, which they really should have noticed me when I was talking with this guy on the phone!!

The computer came back and I was so upset and angry when I figured out all my personal data were wiped out from C drive. Thanks god I removed my 2TB D drive before I sent it to them. If I lost all the data in there, I probably went crazy.

I called the customer service again and they asked me to send the computer back again for the service. I told that guy that I want my data back in the formatted drive and what he did while remote controlling my computer was formatting that wiped drive again... I really wonder if those people are actually educated people for the service....

Anyway, this is not a question but a big complain about the service I got from HP, and I won't buy any computer again from this company. I lost my data and they can't restore or recover mine forever. Only if I could boot my system when memory failed, I probably backed up data before I sent it to them, but that was not the case.

If anyone is having similar problem, BACK UP YOUR DATA BEFORE SENDING YOUR COMPUTER TO SERVICE CENTER!!!

[WAWood]

@fjieahag1-2 

You're using the term "wipe" -- which is a term most people use routinely but improperly.  To truly WIPE a drive, you have to run a special utility that takes HOURS to complete -- because it writes zeroes and ones to every sector of the drive, and that is a slow and tedious process.

HP does not WIPE customer drives.  Why? Because time is money and this takes too long.  What they do is IMAGE drives -- taking a compressed OEM Window image and write that to the drive. This is essentially the same as reformatting a drive. It is NOT wiping a drive. And most important, it only take a few minutes to do.  I can image a drive in 15 minutes or less.

Why is this important? Because in a reformatted drive, the data is not physically remove -- meaning -- with a half-way decent data recovery utility, you can get much of the data back.

If you install and run a data recovery app, it can tell you if it finds erased files and folders and if it does, then you would be able to recover some of your previous data.

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The other action that HP takes, depending on the condition of the drive, is simply to replace it, and then, image the new drive.

If they did that, your old drive is no longer in the system and indeed, the contents are gone.

[fjieahag1-2]

I already tried data recovery and there was nothing left in that drive. Even HP service engineer said you may or may not recover your data in that drive, and in my case, it was not working.

[WAWood]

OK, so what application did you use?  Asking because I've used several and found only one that works reliably.