It's hard to believe you had 15GB of your data on the laptop.  What kind of
data was it?  That is a lot of typing, or a huge phone list, or lots of
PowerPoint slides.  Pictures take up a lot of room, but how much of the 15GB
was just programs you had loaded on the laptop?
I agree, you should have backed up all your personal data.  I heard of a
lady who had worked on her novel for 3 years only to have the computer
stolen.  She didn't have a backup either.  Her loss, $2,000 and 3 years
worth of work.  It was probably a story about off site secure storage.  If
she hadn't lost it, you could have read it.

Guy Avenell

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tino" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, April 08, 2002 9:32 AM
Subject: [HP3000-L] BEWARE: HP format PC HDD's for the sheer fun of it.


> To owners of HP hardware who are concerned for their data.
>
> I sent my laptop to HP for repair who, "advised" that I back up my
> data. I didn't do this since the problems I was getting had nothing to
> do with my HDD - I had a faulty screen, a faulty keyboard, and it
> would power off when handled from the base. It is a 6mth old Omnibook
> XE3.
>
> My laptop arrived back with a report saying that they had changed the
> screen, keyboard and upgraded the bios. Guess what, my HDD had also
> been formatted too.
> Telephone support did not care how or why my HDD had been formatted
> but they made sure that I was reminded of the standard "advice" that
> it is up to me that I back up my data.
>
> I'm sorry but short of spending a wad full of $$$ how the hell am I
> going to back up 15GB of data....? I have no network, no tape device,
> no other computers - nothing! Not their concern, they said.
> Even if I did have a method to back up 15GB of data I couldn't even
> see what was on my screen to be able to perform the backup!!!! Not
> their concern, they said.
>
> All I can imagine is that in their airy-fairy land of support they
> formatted my HDD as a "precautionary" measure, but forget to omit it
> on the report. Well blow me HP but I think that as a precautionary
> measure I would like to warn potential customers not to buy your lousy
> laptops in the first place as a "precautionary" measure not to receive
> the worst level of support I have ever seen with an attitude to boot.
>
> Oh and thanks for cutting me off the line as well.
>
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