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Can a hard disk shrink? Or did ****USA steal my HD?



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 13th 03, 09:12 AM
George L.
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Default Can a hard disk shrink? Or did ****USA steal my HD?

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Do computer repair centers ever replace HDs with smaller ones
and not tell customers? I took my Compaq equipped with
80 gig HD to ****USA but got back a 40 gig. My data wasn't
lost, but the drive is definitely smaler, according to the BIOS
and the label on the HD.

My original problem was that the computer would freeze
or blue screen every other day, and changing the PS didn't
help. Apparently the original PS was bad and the second
one was inadequate because the repair center put in yet
another, and the computer has been rock solid ever since.

The repair center denies that the replaced the drive and said
that they only ran a diagnostic on it. I have the receipt for
the original HD (was an upgrade) and registered its serial
no., but the repair center says that it's not enough proof.

What can I do?





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  #3  
Old October 13th 03, 11:50 AM
Lil' Dave
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If, what you say is true, I doubt if they will put in the equivalent
capacity HD unless they have further motivation.

You can arm yourself with the original specifications of the Compaq on paper
before personally speaking to the manager.

Make a report to your local Better Business Bureau. They usually don't act
on one case, but if it becomes prevalent, the BBB may investigate and
possibly blacklist them.

File a suit in small claims court. A civil case involves less burden of
evidence on the plaintiff. You can recoop the cost of the attorney and
court costs as part of the suit if you win.

Arbitration, if both parties agree to it.

Find others in similar dilemma with same place of business and develop a
class action suit.

Call your local newspaper and TV news, get them interested. Business hates
bad press.

Or, just blow it off because your PC works and you don't feel this is worth
the effort.
Dave
"George L." wrote in message
...
**** Post for FREE via your newsreader at post.usenet.com ****

Do computer repair centers ever replace HDs with smaller ones
and not tell customers? I took my Compaq equipped with
80 gig HD to ****USA but got back a 40 gig. My data wasn't
lost, but the drive is definitely smaler, according to the BIOS
and the label on the HD.

My original problem was that the computer would freeze
or blue screen every other day, and changing the PS didn't
help. Apparently the original PS was bad and the second
one was inadequate because the repair center put in yet
another, and the computer has been rock solid ever since.

The repair center denies that the replaced the drive and said
that they only ran a diagnostic on it. I have the receipt for
the original HD (was an upgrade) and registered its serial
no., but the repair center says that it's not enough proof.

What can I do?





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  #4  
Old October 13th 03, 01:06 PM
Me
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Default

In article , "George L."
wrote:

**** Post for FREE via your newsreader at post.usenet.com ****

Do computer repair centers ever replace HDs with smaller ones
and not tell customers? I took my Compaq equipped with
80 gig HD to ****USA but got back a 40 gig. My data wasn't
lost, but the drive is definitely smaler, according to the BIOS
and the label on the HD.

My original problem was that the computer would freeze
or blue screen every other day, and changing the PS didn't
help. Apparently the original PS was bad and the second
one was inadequate because the repair center put in yet
another, and the computer has been rock solid ever since.

The repair center denies that the replaced the drive and said
that they only ran a diagnostic on it. I have the receipt for
the original HD (was an upgrade) and registered its serial
no., but the repair center says that it's not enough proof.

What can I do?


At first, I thought that your hard disk might be fragmented. If the BIOS
shows a smaller hard drive, then fragmentation isn't involved. Contact
the CEO of CompUSA (go to the top) in writing and explain just what you
explained here and request that you either be compensated for the
smaller hard drive or have a larger hard drive installed. Do not mess
with local store management in this case; go right to the top.
  #5  
Old October 13th 03, 07:36 PM
Rod Speed
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"Me" wrote in message ...
In article , "George L."
wrote:

**** Post for FREE via your newsreader at post.usenet.com ****

Do computer repair centers ever replace HDs with smaller ones
and not tell customers? I took my Compaq equipped with
80 gig HD to ****USA but got back a 40 gig. My data wasn't
lost, but the drive is definitely smaler, according to the BIOS
and the label on the HD.

My original problem was that the computer would freeze
or blue screen every other day, and changing the PS didn't
help. Apparently the original PS was bad and the second
one was inadequate because the repair center put in yet
another, and the computer has been rock solid ever since.

The repair center denies that the replaced the drive and said
that they only ran a diagnostic on it. I have the receipt for
the original HD (was an upgrade) and registered its serial
no., but the repair center says that it's not enough proof.

What can I do?


At first, I thought that your hard disk might be fragmented. If the
BIOS shows a smaller hard drive, then fragmentation isn't involved.


Fragmentation never affects the size.

Contact the CEO of CompUSA (go to the top) in writing and explain
just what you explained here and request that you either be compensated
for the smaller hard drive or have a larger hard drive installed. Do not
mess with local store management in this case; go right to the top.



  #6  
Old October 13th 03, 08:30 PM
Jeeters
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Default

At first, I thought that your hard disk might be fragmented. If the
BIOS shows a smaller hard drive, then fragmentation isn't involved.


Fragmentation never affects the size.


I think he meant 'partitioned'.


  #7  
Old October 13th 03, 09:02 PM
ameijers
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Default


"Jeeters" wrote in message
...
At first, I thought that your hard disk might be fragmented. If the
BIOS shows a smaller hard drive, then fragmentation isn't involved.


Fragmentation never affects the size.


I think he meant 'partitioned'.

Nobody else said it, so I will- perhaps OPs original drive was disk-doubled
(compressed) or something? Back when they still let me touch hardware, and
I had to nuke a machine, first thing I did was put it all back to vanilla
specs. Now that big hard drives are dirt cheap, almost nobody compresses,
for good reason, but there are a lot of flaky 3rd party programs out there.
I'd definitely run Fdisk from a boot floppy, and see if there is
unpartitioned space out there.

But if OP is sure about what the tags say, I'd theorize the shop was out of
80s and/or the tech called up the build sheet from the website, and put back
'original equipment'. 9 out of ten customers would never have known the
difference.

No cost-effective way to get relief from the store, but this is a good
example of why it is best to do your own repairs and/or deal with a ma'n'pa
place where you can look the owner in the eye. And always ask for the oldd
parts back. If OP had the original 40 that got upgraded, he could stick it
back in as a D drive.

aem sends....

  #8  
Old October 13th 03, 09:42 PM
jeffc
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Default


"ameijers" wrote in message
...

But if OP is sure about what the tags say, I'd theorize the shop was out

of
80s and/or the tech called up the build sheet from the website, and put

back
'original equipment'. 9 out of ten customers would never have known the
difference.


Everyone keeps missing the fact that they did not (were not supposed to)
change the hard drive for this work.


  #9  
Old October 13th 03, 03:42 PM
NDF
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"George L." wrote in message
...
**** Post for FREE via your newsreader at post.usenet.com ****

Do computer repair centers ever replace HDs with smaller ones
and not tell customers? I took my Compaq equipped with
80 gig HD to ****USA but got back a 40 gig. My data wasn't
lost, but the drive is definitely smaler, according to the BIOS
and the label on the HD.

My original problem was that the computer would freeze
or blue screen every other day, and changing the PS didn't
help. Apparently the original PS was bad and the second
one was inadequate because the repair center put in yet
another, and the computer has been rock solid ever since.

The repair center denies that the replaced the drive and said
that they only ran a diagnostic on it. I have the receipt for
the original HD (was an upgrade) and registered its serial
no., but the repair center says that it's not enough proof.

What can I do?





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I can't help but wonder if perhaps your machine wasn't mistakenly subjected
to an accidental repair, intended for another machine they were working on.

It would be very easy for this to happen, especially since most branded PC's
look the same across model ranges, maybe a stupid tech picked on the wrong
machine.

Maybe you could contact the manager of the store and ask them to check
against all the repairs being done at the time for some evidence this could
have taken place.

Something else to consider is visually inspecting the drive, checking for
damage and also running the manufacturers "Disk Diagnostics" on the drive
yourself, just to make sure that something isn't wrong with it. "REMEMBER
TO BACKUP ALL YOUR DATA BEFORE YOUR START"

Maybe the tech that did the diagnostic inadvertently changed your partition
size.

Good Luck.


  #10  
Old October 13th 03, 04:35 PM
jeffc
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"George L." wrote in message
...
**** Post for FREE via your newsreader at post.usenet.com ****

Do computer repair centers ever replace HDs with smaller ones
and not tell customers? I took my Compaq equipped with
80 gig HD to ****USA but got back a 40 gig. My data wasn't
lost, but the drive is definitely smaler, according to the BIOS
and the label on the HD.


Why would they go to the trouble of replacing the hard drives (the
difference in cost isn't *that* much) with another *working* hard drive, and
then copy over your system and data to the extent that the computer acts and
looks exactly the same as before (same apps, etc.)? It would be more
trouble than it's worth to the repair center, wouldn't it? I wouldn't go to
all that time and effort for a measly $40, or whatever the price difference
is.


 




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