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    Sending system in for repair - how to protect personal info?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by vinceg84, May 4, 2007.

  1. vinceg84

    vinceg84 Notebook Consultant

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    I am going to be sending my T60p system in to Lenovo for a small repair but I have personal information on my laptop. Basically I have passwords and such stored on the laptop and in Firefox. Is clearing the Firefox history and deleting passwords good enough? Should I create a guest account and protect my XP account by password? Is this good enough or is it reccomended to delete everything? I really don't want to wipe my laptop clean because it will take awhile to re-install everything.
     
    vinceg84, May 4, 2007
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  2. Showbiz

    Showbiz Notebook Guru

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    Just send it in without the harddrive. We do that with IBM all the time.
     
    Showbiz, May 4, 2007
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  3. vinceg84

    vinceg84 Notebook Consultant

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    Sorry for the stupid questions but if I send it without the harddrive will they still be able to turn the computer on if they need to test it out? The problem is with the fan making a high pitch noise and they may need to test it out. Also, is removing the harddrive difficult to do? It won't void the warranty will it?
     
    vinceg84, May 4, 2007
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  4. furrycute

    furrycute Notebook Evangelist

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    Well, if someone really wants to see what's going on on that hard drive, there's no way of preventing them from seeing it. Unless of course you take out the hard drive and just send in the computer.
     
    furrycute, May 4, 2007
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  5. A. Nonymous

    A. Nonymous Notebook Guru

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    I sent in my Compaq (HP) without the hard drive earlier this year because I don't trust those bastards with my info. Of course, I had already determined that the hdd wasn't broken so they don't need to see it.
     
    A. Nonymous, May 4, 2007
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  6. vinceg84

    vinceg84 Notebook Consultant

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    If I take the harddrive out, can they still turn the computer on and test the fan out? They will need to test the fan at a normal speed. Also, is removing the harddrive and putting it back into my computer an easy task? Is there anything I need to be aware of?
     
    vinceg84, May 4, 2007
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  7. furrycute

    furrycute Notebook Evangelist

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    The tech department has plenty of hard drives with generic installations lying around. They can just pop one in, really easy.

    Take a look at your tech manual, there should be a section on how to remove the hard drive.
     
    furrycute, May 4, 2007
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  8. JaneL

    JaneL Super Moderator

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    JaneL, May 4, 2007
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  9. vinceg84

    vinceg84 Notebook Consultant

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    I think I am just going to follow the advice here, but I still have a question. If I remove my harddrive, will I have any problems putting it back in after I get my laptop back or do I just pop it back in and I'm good to go? Thanks so much for all the help :)
     
    vinceg84, May 4, 2007
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  10. furrycute

    furrycute Notebook Evangelist

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    As long as no hardware is changed, or they replaced the defective hardware with the identical hardware, you shouldn't have any problems with popping back your old hard drive.

    Otherwise put a note in there to ask the tech guys to send you the new drivers. You just have to uninstall the old drivers and install the new ones.
     
    furrycute, May 4, 2007
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