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Cutting corners: Samsung Germany has taken knowledge safety to a brand new excessive. They requested a buyer to destroy his Samsung 980 Pro by drilling or smashing it with a hammer earlier than returning it for RMA. But why?
Returning an SSD generally is a delicate course of as knowledge safety might be of utmost significance — much more so in Europe the place strict knowledge safety legal guidelines have been in place for many years. However, a person from Igor’s Lab found a moderately unconventional RMA coverage when returning his Samsung 980 Pro SSD. Samsung Germany requested this person to destroy his 980 Pro with a drill or hammer earlier than returning it for RMA.
As detailed within the report from Igor’s Lab, the RMA began in typical style with the person offering requisite data such because the serial quantity, proof of failure, and troubleshooting steps. A diagnostic scan on Samsung Magician revealed the drive was failing with a number of errors on the NAND flash. The subsequent step was for the drive to be returned, however what if the client is unwilling to return the drive as is? This is the place issues bought attention-grabbing.
At this stage there had additionally been some phone correspondence between Samsung and the client, and though the small print should not identified, we will solely surmise this to be an excessive case the place the client had saved extremely delicate knowledge on the dying drive.
After offering a written rationalization as to why the drive couldn’t be returned as is, the person found a considerably weird RMA coverage. As per the correspondence from Samsung, the client was requested to “drill holes within the SSD or smash it with a hammer”, whereas offering photograph or video proof of the act. The concept was to make it bodily inconceivable to entry the information, thereby making certain full knowledge safety.
Igor’s Labs fortunately obliged and took to the 980 Pro with a grinder, nullifying any chance of information being recovered from the drive. They even revealed a YouTube video (proven above) of the execution. The video exhibits the person NAND layers being destroyed — Samsung 980 Pro homeowners might need to take a move on this one. Needless to say, all the information was destroyed, making certain peace of thoughts for the client. The drive has since been despatched again to Samsung, and the client awaits his new SSD.
Users are inspired to make use of a wipe software reminiscent of Active@ KillDisk earlier than returning or promoting their SSDs. This sort of utility will completely take away all knowledge, additionally stopping the opportunity of knowledge restoration. However such a software might not reliably wipe all knowledge on a failing drive, so maintain your hammers and drills useful!
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