"data policy" of the hdd manufactures

[greendesert]

My Samsung HDD 2 TB died. I saw one of the chip (diode) related to its power supply burnt out. I have about 1.5 TB of data including movies and personal stuff. In fact, I dont even remember what I have on it.

This is a new hdd and I want to send it for repairs.
While I dont expect to get the data back, I am really worried about the privacy of the data on it.

What is the "data policy" of these hdd manufactures ? Do they compulsorily erase all the data or somebody does some peeping in ?

Secondly, does Samsung honor burnt chips or only palette issues ?

thanks.

[jdc2000]

If the drive is under warranty, they should fix it, unless it shows signs of hammer marks or obvious damage caused by abuse.

Chances are, no one will try to access your data. However, if they actually fix the original drive, there is always the possibility that someone might, regardless of what Samsung's policy might be. You will have to decide what the worst case scenario might be if that happenned. Note that they may send you a new drive, then repair the old one and sell it as a refurbished model. Whether they wipe the data on it or not is unknown.

[greendesert]

Note that they may send you a new drive, then repair the old one and sell it as a refurbished model. Whether they wipe the data on it or not is unknown.

This is scary thought !

[SuperSparks]

I think they will low-level format it as a matter of course after repairing it. Extremely expensive and highly specialised equipment would be required for any data recovery after that, and the bad guys wouldn't bother, given all the easy sources of unwiped drives.

[greendesert]

well, this feels better