Getting new laptop HDD via warranty. Will they just reformat it?

[maxtothemax]

If you see this crossposted in multiple forum websites, it's because I'm really frantic about this, not because I have no faith in this one.

My laptop hard drive has bad blocks. Luckily only my root partition was hit (home directory is fine, all the important files are intact,) but I'm going to need a new one.

I have a two year warranty which will expire sometime in late March or early April, I'm not sure exactly but I could check. It has traditionally taken over a month for the full process of getting a laptop back from the repair depot, so time is of the essence.

Now, some background on the competence of this company's (Toshiba's) particular repair organization: When I sent it the last time, they reformatted my Ubuntu installation because "The damaged motherboard corrupted the Windows system files." I'm worried that I will get the same "repair" this time, and I'll get it back with a brand new Vista installation on the same old broken hard drive. Since the warranty is so close to expiring, I can't risk the chances of getting screwed over.

So, I have a few questions.

* Has anyone been in a similar situation? If so, what happened? Details (manufacturer, which depot you sent it to, etc.) would also be nice.
* What do you recommend I do or say to get them to replace the drive?
* What do you recommend I do or say if they do not replace the drive?
* Is there some kind of serial number or something which I could use to verify that they have replaced it (preferably without opening up the computer.)


Thanks!
-Max.

 

[Guest]

If you go to Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager you'll see your drive listed. Note down the number (it may be a unique serial number or it may be a long version of the model number) but hopefully that will give you a clue to whether they've just slotted in the old drive.

Of course, if there's a hatch on the case covering the drive you should be able to access the drive to note the serial number from the drive itself.

If the drive really does have bad blocks I'd be very surprised if a reputable service depot would just reformat. Drives are not very expensive now and replacement is a pretty simple task for them. I would simply write to them asking them to reply confirming in writiing that a new drive has been installed.

I wouldn't worry too much about warranty -- if they have carried out the work it proves there were previous problems and in most jurisdictions a consumer durable is deemd to have a reasonable life (which usually far exceeds any warranty arrangement between the manufacturer and retailer). After (or even before) the manufacturer's warranty expires your recourse is to the retailer.

 

[nebun]

ok, you can ask them to retreive your info from the HDD and back it up on the new HDD. it's very expensive but you will have to specify that you want them to do it. if they don't offer these services you can actually remove the HDD and send it to a company to do it. like i said it's very expensive to do but it can be done.

most of the time they will just send you a new laptop since it's much cheaper for them to do that.

from experience when i've sent something back i've always got a newer model sent to me because the old one was not sold anymore and they stop making parts for it.