jTrust us. Apple's policy re: private data on dead hard drives.

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Dr. Brad J. Cox" <bradjcox () gmail com>
Date: April 19, 2006 5:06:38 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: jTrust us. Apple's policy re: private data on dead hard drives.

I just had a 250gb disk go completely belly up on my iMac G5 (two  
months out of warranty). Disk Warrior reported bad sectors and  
refused to recover it I concluded I needed to replace it. Comparison  
shopping showed special deals as low as $85. But having no
appetite for mesing around at the time, I took what I thought was the  
gold-plated option. Ordered a DIY replacement
drive from Apple for nearly $300. And the real tale starts there....

It turns out, Apple's policy on DIY disk drives is that they insist  
that the old drive be returned within 10 days, else
an additional charge of almost $200 will be charged. The same charge  
applies if the drive is physically damaged
or opened, thus thwarting my first thought of how to protect my  
private data... a sledgehammer.

Apple's basis for imposing such a "charge", given that the original  
and replacement drives belong to me and not Apple, is one matter of  
possible interest to some readers.

More interesting to me is Apple's apparent lack of interest in secure  
disposal of private data on dead drives, and the lack of easy options  
for computer users with a hard drive failure.

Apple's support line wasn't much help. The obvious solution,  
cancelling the extra charge, wasn't accepted, nor was returning the  
disk smashed (although I still question the legality of both of these  
"requirements"). I gather they want them for quality control/ 
diagnosis purposes; apparently quite a lot because its worth $200  
worth of MY money to them

As for the data, the best they could offer is "Trust us, we're  
reputable", having just admitted they simply pass dead drives along  
to Maxtor ("trust them, they're reputable"). And how does reputable  
relate to the concern that platters from dead drives won't just end  
up in a dumpster somewhere.

So.... I imagine a honking big magnet is about the only option I  
left, short of the "trust us" approach. Maybe an old bulk tape  
eraser. Any other suggestions out there?

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