[SOLVED] Lost my hdd data after sending my laptop to service

[radutheodor99]

Hi there! I've got an Asus Vivobook Pro 15 N580VD-DM153 (intel i7 7700HQ, nvidia gtx 1050 4gb, 8gb ram ddr4, 1tb hdd 5400rpm, harman/kardon etc)
I bought it in october 2017 and it worked just perfectly.
But one day...
The left hinge just broke, the tiny plastic hole (where the screw that holds the hinge goes in) just broke. So i wasn't able to close my lid, because the hinge would just come out from the corner. I decided to take it to service, as it still was in warranty (and I was very dissapointed that an aluminium laptop that had cost me approx 1000 euros just broke down after an year and 2 months. shame on you asus).
So I sent my laptop to an asus authorized service. All they had to do was to change my hinge and my LCD cover. The law is simple: if someone repairs your laptop, he or she must ask for permission first (like they should have called me before placing the order for parts, before repairing it, etc)
Okay, this is not the main problem. At least they've done it for free. The problem is that when my laptop arrived back, it had Endless OS (kind of a fedora imitation that is pre-installed in some asus laptops) And i just freaked out. I had sent it with windows 10 and a lot of data and got it back with endless os and (i think) 0 data. I know, i know, i should have made a back-up before. But 1) i had no other hdd to do so, and 2) duuude you had to change my hinge what did you do to my hdd? in the service paper it says that they did a bios update and changed the hinge, lcd cover etc. nothing about the hdd. I called them, they said they didn't touch the hdd and mentioned that no operating system was installed by them. Well seriously?

Ok, the thing is: can i still recover my data? Currently i am using endless os, as i don't want to install windows over the 974gb partition (because i have to format it, and convert it to mbr or something like that).
I think there are some linux tricks that might help me, but i don't know for sure and i am afraid of making the situation worse.

mentions: the service recommended me to go to bios>security>secure boot control ->disable. of course it had no effect but still.
-in endless, in documents, if i search through the partition i can't find any windows data. also, it says that it has 968gb with 984gb available (what?)

https://imgur.com/FXPSAUd

Please, would you help me? ^.^

 

[USAFRet]

I had sent it with windows 10 and a lot of data and got it back with endless os and (i think) 0 data.

Oh my, that's bad.
Are you even sure it is the actual same laptop?

 

[radutheodor99]

I had sent it with windows 10 and a lot of data and got it back with endless os and (i think) 0 data.

Oh my, that's bad.
Are you even sure it is the actual same laptop?

Yes. I had a sticker on the upper case and i still have it. Also, two little scratches on the bottom case that are still there. I asked them if they replaced my hdd, they said no.

I know that they are not responsible for any data loss (although it was only a hinge problem...) and that they have to deliver the laptop just like it cames out of the box (with endless os, and fully functional) but still..

 

[SkyNetRising]

in the service paper it says that they did a bios update and changed the hinge, lcd cover etc. nothing about the hdd.

Can you show photo of that paper? (mask any personal data)
BIOS update may also have included factory image restoration.

Another possibility - hdd may have died during time in warranty service, then the hdd would be replaced.
But service paper would have info about it then.

 

[DSzymborski]

Are you sure these were repairs undertaken on the physical laptop you sent in rather than a swap?

If this is the same physical hard drive you had before, you can try Testdisk or Photorec, though it's been a while since I've done this sort of thing in Linux (as you've noted, the best way to recover important data is to have it backed up in the first place).

Every time I've ever RMAed a laptop, I've been either told to make sure all my data is backed up first or to remove the hard drive before sending it in (the latter not recently, this was common in older laptops that tended to be chunkier than today's but frequently had easy-to-remove drives).

I should also note that you did authorize the repairs by the simple act of using the warranty service under the terms of agreement, which state that it's ASUS's discretion whether they repair the product, replace a part of the product, or replace the entire product, so long as the product returned to you is functionally equivalent or superior to the original product. They also warn you in the warranty agreement that all user generated data may be permanently deleted.

 

[DSzymborski]

I had sent it with windows 10 and a lot of data and got it back with endless os and (i think) 0 data.

Oh my, that's bad.
Are you even sure it is the actual same laptop?

Yes. I had a sticker on the upper case and i still have it. Also, two little scratches on the bottom case that are still there. I asked them if they replaced my hdd, they said no.

I know that they are not responsible for any data loss (although it was only a hinge problem...) and that they have to deliver the laptop just like it cames out of the box (with endless os, and fully functional) but still..

Oops, sorry, I wrote this post while you were in the process of answering this question.

Would still go Testdisk and Photorec.

 

[USAFRet]

Yes, TestDisk would be worth a try.
But you WILL need some other drive to maybe, hopefully, recover to.

Temper your expectations though. I think a full 100% recovery off everything in its place is not in the cards.