Why this is a problem.

I recently purchased a hard drive from Amazon with the intent of using it as a offline storage container.

The hard drive arrived, and me in dumb dumb fashion did not test it, but slid it into the rack and left it unplugged.

For a month.

This is to be clear my fault. I should have connected that drive. I should have run a S.M.A.R.T check, and not doing so was D.U.M.B

However that’s what happened.

When I finally plugged it in and mounted it as a usable image I was in the midst of transferring files when it stopped working.

When I say stopped working, it crashed in linux. Which never happens.

So I tried to open it again and again met a error.

Huh.

After a few moments I decided to check the hard drive itself where I was met with silence. It was dead. A dead drive.

I checked the power cable, checked the connections, unplugged it and reconnected.. nothing. It would no longer display in the linux terminal or Gparted.

Booted into windows. Nothing. Booted into DSL (damn small linux) nada.

this drive was dead.

So I called amazon.

Amazon.com Return Policy: You may return any new computer purchased from Amazon.com that is “dead on arrival,” arrives in damaged condition, or is still in unopened boxes, for a full refund within 30 days of purchase.

now for most people Amazon did exactly what you would hope. In fact even though it was clearly my fault for waiting so long and I was outside the return period, amazon still stated Return the hard drive for a full refund.

That’s great! I said. I’ll use that to purchase another hard drive. Now quick question.. what happens to the hard drive?

What do you mean?

I mean a hard drive contains sensitive information. What’s the wipe procedure or resale process for which the hard drive goes through?

And that representative did not know.

I was asked to be put on hold and after a few moments was informed she doesn’t have insight into the process.

I called again later and that person also could not answer me.

Now if this was a pair of headphones, a puzzle with missing pieces, or a game with a scratched disk that would be it.

Sure. Okay sending that over now.

But a hard drive can contain sensitive data on the person who owns it.

In my case I’m a private contractor, and cybersecurity nerd. I’m not going to mail off a hard drive that was sitting in my computer (even if it was only connected for a few moments) to someone somewhere without knowing exactly what happens to that drive.

Items purchased though amazon can be through a reseller or directly through amazon. In my case the hard drive was Sold by: Amazon.com Services, Inc

So I started looking for info.

What is the

The Data Destruction Process of Hard Drives for Amazon?!

Looking at this form the eyes of a consumer the item is returned and I get my money back.

But what happens next?

Oh yes they have terms of service and policies for AWS.

but when a hard drive comes in from a consumer which is deemed unusable, what happens to the drive?

And here’s why this could be a issue.

Lets look outside of my current problem.

Lets say for example a elderly man purchases a laptop from Amazon and uses that device to prepare their tax return. The screen goes out, amazon then has ownership of that device.

What happens next?

Well, amazon may decide to resell that computer.

It might get repairs and put into Amazon Warehouse Deals

where it becomes re-purchasable at a lower price. But this is a item that had something wrong with it and was fixed. How about a failed drive?

There are hard drives for purchase on amazon. But as soon as you click to ‘’Warehouse Deals’’ the options vanish leading me to believe hard drives are a greylisted item.

So where do they go!?

Is there a private contractor that works on behalf of amazon who scraps the hard drive for their palladium magnets?

Are they shredded en-mass and the materials sent to recycling centers?

I can’t find answers. And this worries me.

because as easily as the answer could be ‘’they are shredded’’ The answer could also be ‘’they are connected to servers and all the data used to create a profile on the customer who purchased them’’

While I HIGHLY doubt that’s the answer, the fact I can’t locate a reason hard drives simply vanish is a concern.

I would have preferred Amazon say ‘’sorry, can’t take that back buy a new one’’

then accept my hard drive and give no answers as to what happens to it next.

Now to be clear I have nothing worrisome on the drive. I’m pretty sure I was in the process of transferring over memes when it failed.

But the fact of the matter is this could be a problem for someone else.

Lets go back to that elderly man example.

Let’s say his hard drive is resold in a bulk unit to liquidators.com (side note: opened package items/returns are resold)

These items are then bid on by random people and the winner bid gets the lot of items.

What if it’s hard drives? Hard drives are something that is sold on liquidators and other surplus auction places. Where are they coming from?

Are these units that were opened and returned?

‘’Meh. I wanted blue not red’’ and it gets resent to Amazon or its purchased warehouse to be resold.

Or are they unlucky drives like mine that were marked as ‘’Damaged item’’ and resold?

What happens if the person who purchases those drives uses them to commit fraud with that elderly mans tax returns?

And who is at fault if this happened?

Amazon for their sale? the liquidation website who sold the drives? that’s a question for the lawyers to ponder.

How about printers? Printers have hard drives inside them that take virtual copies of everything you print or scan. Printers can be returned for any reason from ‘’I hate this evil machine’’ to it won’t connect. What happens to the data that it owns?

These are questions Amazon should be able to answer when asked.

because if they ARE drives that have been used and returned, and there is NOT a The Data Destruction Process in place, then this could be a large problem when it comes to consumers data being bought and resold.

Until I get some answers, I’m not returning my hard drive that failed,

because I want to know where my memes go.