Computer or Laptop Repair - Beware the Reformatted Drive!
Reason #7 to backup your computer. Ok, I made up the #7 thing, but don’t the guys on TV commercials make it up too?
When you take your laptop or desktop PC in to be repaired, make sure you have a good backup of it. Preferably an entire drive image with a product like Acronis True Image.
And this same advice goes when you or someone you have trusted your computer to might reach for a system recovery disk or boot to system recovery mode.
Your entire hard drive will be reformatted and all data and Windows customizations will be lost! Let me repeat that: you will lose everything. All data, all programs you have installed, all songs you have downloaded. Everything.
Unless you have a backup.
Now, with the system recovery, this is indisputable. It’s gone. You need to restore data and reinstall additional programs you have added when it’s all done. If you have no backup…
When you take the laptop or PC into the repair shop, or they come to you, you might fare better. But don’t bet your data on it!
Case in point: Client bought a new HP/Compaq laptop for his son. Pretty nice unit, actually. Got a good price at boogie buy. The latch broke. Couldn’t get the laptop cover open. This particular PC came with XP Home and I upgraded it to XP Pro for him, among other enhancements. Took it in for repair. Thank you very little they not only fixed the latch, but also reformatted the hard drive. What? Procedure, I am told. In their defense, that way they know the PC will work properly when it gets home; without having to clean off viruses and malware which might cause the customer to blame them.
What if your computer isn’t operating, and that’s why you need to get it repaired? (Or the latch is broken.) You can’t backup then can you?
Ah, grasshopper, that’s why you make backup a habit before you shut the machine down.
Remember this tip: whenever you shut your computer off, or even reboot it, there is a chance it will not come back up properly.
So backup first!
See here for more on computer backup.
