 Re: Bringing my computer in for servicing, should I be worried about what's on it??
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Originally Posted by Elliot  Its well documented that Best Buy's Geek Squad search hard drives (even parts that they have no business on, and for a while some govt agency was paying a bounty for certain kinds of evidence, if they found it. It was well documented, I'm sure it'd come up with a quick Google search. It just takes one over zealous worker who wants to feel important to make a huge deal out of nothing.
I personally wouldn't leave a hard drive in it, or I'd send a temp hard drive with it when it gets repaired. | What Elliot says here actually did happen, and it's been going on for awhile. Read this: http://fortune.com/2018/03/07/best-b...bi-informants/
You are best advised to keep your personal/private data on a external PORTABLE hard drive. People get lazy and just put everything on the boot volume of their PC/laptop, and when they have to take it in for service there is no guarantees of no one seeing it.
Also, if you are a frequent international traveler, be aware that your laptop and any data on it is always subject to search by TSA/CBP crossing the US border. You have NO rights whatsoever for privacy of the data on your laptop/smartphone, or any personal devices. They can always ask to see it, for any reason.
I usually do my own repair work, but for those of you where that's not an option, please keep your important data offline, and on a HDD you can disconnect and unplug.
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