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



 
 
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  #21  
Old October 13th 03, 09:02 PM
ameijers
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"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....

  #22  
Old October 13th 03, 09:04 PM
JAD
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and then find a buyer and sell the other
hard drive


**** I'd keep it which was my point. make money on it?

No, I'm saying what I said. i.e. it's not likely

you haven't done much business with CompUSA or many other Boiler room repair places..

..
So you shouldn't assume that it has, in fact, "taken
place".


I made no assumption, I said that I would take the side of the poster asking pertinent questions(like the model) and trying to sort
out what exactly happened....if it were to ever be ascertained..

I didn't take his 'stealing' subject literally

"jeffc" wrote in message ...

"JAD" wrote in message
ink.net...
Yes, of course the "principle" is what matters. Now stop and reread this
thread and you'll realize what's being said. I'm saying it's pretty
unlikely anyone would bother to do this "crime", and that the OP might

very
well be mistaken.

Your saying that there is no chance in hell that CompUSA didn't do what

was expected?

No, I'm saying what I said. i.e. it's not likely.

Oh man, your telling me I'm a naive college
kid,, I think you just gave away your secret.


"secret"? I'm not following you. I said that was my guess - and it wasn't
that you were naive - it was that if you were offering to swap hard drives
with me and copy all my data over, and then find a buyer and sell the other
hard drive - or however you'd make money on it - then maybe work for about
$5/hr for that to be considered good work.

And then there's the assumption that it was done on purpose.....could have

been a
simple mistake of picking up the wrong replacement drive....or handed the

wrong one by a third / fourth person.....

Yes, agreed. But, they claim the drive was never touched. In fact, they
didn't have any reason to touch it, since they diagnosed it and found it
working fine.

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.

this is what you said- you said blow it off and let them get away with

it.....

I'm not convinced they did it, but... even if they did, the OP is welcome to
pursue it. But then he will be working for about 25 cents an hour by the
time he gets done, and he will be dealing with not only idiots, but
dishonest idiots at that (assuming they did steal it.) How far do you think
you will get when dealing with dishonest idiots? Without going to small
claims court, I mean. If they're bad enough to do it in the first place,
how likely are they to own up to it now? Even if you go straight to the
president, the locals will deny and cover up. He's welcome to try, I'm just
giving him perspective.

Oh and please bring up the OE thing next ok?!


Huh?




  #23  
Old October 13th 03, 09:37 PM
frankg
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I think you have a legal case (especially if the hd was included with
the system and you have the receipt for the system purchase) if the
store refuses to cooperate. Problem is (and I hate to say this and
let them get away with it), that the costs involved even tho not a
lot, probably isn't worth your time and money to go to small claims
court for a 80 gig hard drive nowadays.

You should see my face when I have to tell you "its not worth your
time and money" when you know that they are getting away with being
incompetent and doing the customer wrong.

Now if you just want to do it for the principle of the matter then go
get 'em. I hope you get more than just a 80 gig hard drive tho I'm
not sure about this.

Good Luck whatever you decide.



On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 01:12:43 -0700, "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?





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  #24  
Old October 13th 03, 09:42 PM
jeffc
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"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.


  #25  
Old October 13th 03, 09:46 PM
jeffc
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"JAD" wrote in message
news
and then find a buyer and sell the other
hard drive


**** I'd keep it which was my point. make money on it?


You'd do that work, and risk going to jail, so you can swap your 40G hard
drive for someone else's 80G? Now that is truly stupid. Not to say I
haven't seen stupid people working in places like that, but usually not for
long.

No, I'm saying what I said. i.e. it's not likely

you haven't done much business with CompUSA or many other Boiler room

repair places..

I have, which is why I would not advise arguing with them. It's like
wrestling with a pig.

So you shouldn't assume that it has, in fact, "taken
place".


I made no assumption, I said that I would take the side of the poster

asking pertinent questions(like the model) and trying to sort
out what exactly happened....if it were to ever be ascertained..


Which reminds me - unfortunately, the OP has not participated since the
first post. Apparently we care about this issue more than he does. EOT for
me.....


  #26  
Old October 13th 03, 09:49 PM
frankg
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Default

Generally you're wrong but technically you can be right (these links
explain in better detail) ....

http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBI/tip4100/rh4173.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre...c_fil_tdrn.asp
http://www.abit-usa.com/faq/mb/2002031801.php




On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 16:56:57 GMT, -= ®atzofratzo =- wrote:


On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 16:14:38 GMT, "Colin Watters"
wrote:

Isn't there a limit in Win2K/XP that prevents FAT32 partions beyond 32
GByte? Is it possible that has something to do with it? Perhaps they
reformatted it FAT?


I've had FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB in Win2k.





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  #27  
Old October 13th 03, 10:06 PM
Rod Speed
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jeffc wrote in
message ...
ameijers wrote


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.


It is a reasonable thing to try if the second
power supply behaved the same as the first.


  #28  
Old October 13th 03, 10:09 PM
Rod Speed
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frankg wrote in message
...

Generally you're wrong


Nope.

but technically you can be right


Corse he's right.

(these links explain in better detail) ....


Not necessary. What matters is that W2K will use a
FAT32 partition bigger than 32GB, it just wont create
one. In other words you have to create it outside W2K.

http://www.jsiinc.com/SUBI/tip4100/rh4173.htm
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/tre...c_fil_tdrn.asp
http://www.abit-usa.com/faq/mb/2002031801.php




On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 16:56:57 GMT, -= ®atzofratzo =- wrote:


On Mon, 13 Oct 2003 16:14:38 GMT, "Colin Watters"
wrote:

Isn't there a limit in Win2K/XP that prevents FAT32 partions beyond 32
GByte? Is it possible that has something to do with it? Perhaps they
reformatted it FAT?


I've had FAT32 partitions larger than 32GB in Win2k.





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®emove The fleA to reply




  #29  
Old October 13th 03, 10:11 PM
jeffc
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Posts: n/a
Default


"Rod Speed" wrote in message
...

jeffc wrote in
message ...
ameijers wrote


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.


It is a reasonable thing to try if the second
power supply behaved the same as the first.


But they would have told them they did it. It couldn't be an "honest
mistake" if they told him they only ran diagnostics on the drive.


  #30  
Old October 13th 03, 10:20 PM
Tod
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I would say your F**KED,
What ever happen to your 80GB may never be solved.
Some tech may have wanted your 80GB, so he replaced it with his 40GB.
Maybe some tech wanted to make a copy of your HD, to get all your video/MP3
files
but then got the drives mixed up.
Store management will always side with their employees (repair tech).
I would say to write to everyone you can at ****USA, then get on with your
life.
What model was the 80GB ?
What model 40GB is in there now ?

"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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