Sorry for the less than amazing thread.

I have water damaged MacBook pro. Repair cost is larger than I can currently afford, so got in touch with insurance company to try and claim.
They are collecting today for assessment.
The guy that did the original repair quote took the drive out and said ‘don’t send it as it contains personal, potentially sensitive data and they will charge to give it back’
I don’t need the drive back as I am fully backed up via time capsule. All passwords have been changed since the mac died, just because I do this anyway.
Insurance company insist that they need the drive for assessment and won’t entertain a claim if we don’t send.

Does this sound right? Is not sending the drive being a little paranoid?

Any similar experience or advice appreciated.

plug the drive into another machine and use a washer program on it?

They did say that they need it to verify how long we have owned the poota? In case we just bought a knackered one for a tenner and are trying our luck I guess. In that case a wiped drive would be of no benefit.
My brother knows about computers and repairing them is his hobby. Unfortunately he is also psychotic so I am currently being subjected to a barrage of very paranoid sounding texts. Need some balance.

Sorry, just noticed I am in the bike forum. Woops.

They won’t be looking at the data on the drive surely to gauge the age just the serial number or manufacture date??

Let them have the drive but ensure it’s all encrypted and password protected.

It is password protected naturally. They haven’t asked for passwords either. I don’t have an issue sending it personally. Its not like there are loads of naked pictures of Jimmy Saville on there. They are kept on an external drive.
I don’t see why they would need the drive, yet they insist. Is this typical?

Asking to see a *complete* laptop isn’t an unreasonable request.

That’s what I was thinking. Just fallen out with my bother over this, he can be very testing.
I did wonder if it was a way of them gaining an extra bit of revenue for charging to return the drive, which they will apparently try as suggested by repair man and confirmed by the insurance company. However, as I don’t need it back, this is not an issue.