[karoloydi]

The following worked for me in UK for 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD

1. Cover your tracks (use VPN, Tor Browser, Bitlocker, etc.)

2. Find serial number on ebay or youtube.

3. Use their website to check if the warranty is still valid:
https://support.wdc.com/warranty/warrantystatus.aspx

4.Make an account on WD website. Register the Product. Fill Out a warranty claim on their website. Say that the SSD is dead.

5.After going through the motions you will then be asked to send the hard drive back to WD

6.Create a support ticket quoting RMA number and explaining that your can't send the hard drive back to them . I told them because we have a lot of sensitive information.

7.They will reply to you that WD always erases all drives and it is very safe

8. Push back! I told them that with the new data protection laws companies face huge fines if private customer data is leaked. I then asked them if their insurance will cover that (use different excuse, as they will get alerted if too many people use the same excuses).

9.If your excuse is quite good they will send you a word file called certification of disk destruction. Its more like an affidavit that you agree to destroy the hard drive yourself. You will have to use real company information for that, cause they WILL check. They request from you to complete the form and to add on the top of the form your company letterhead. Use companies house website and find registration number for a company and company address.
Google "company letterhead UK" and you will see what is required.It will look something like this:

Company Logo
Company Name with Big Letters
MyCompany LTD / Registered in England / Company Number 000000 / Registered Office 30 My Road My Town MYPOSTCODE

They will also ask you to stamp it with company's stamp. I didn't do this. Companies are no longer required to have a company stamp.
To increase my chances of success and make it more believable I found in companies house a company which is in the name of the fake name I gave them, like "John Snow Ltd". By luck this guy had a finance company. And by more luck, he didn't have any website or contact information anywhere. You'll be in better position than me cause you can research that information before making the warranty claim.

10.You will also need to photoshop proof of destruction and send it to them. They will ask you to drill a hole in the middle of the SSD drive. I found a picture with a motherboard drilled which had the same color as my M.2 ssd. Then copied the hole into the picture I had. Then I downloaded dust patricles photoshop brush and added some dust all over to make it more realistic (as when you drill you create dust around the hole)

11. Sweat. Panick. Think that MI5 is coming for you.

12. WD will reply to you that your RMA was approved and send you the new drive.

13. Enjoy your new SSD Drive

[knightrider558]

The following worked for me in UK for 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD

1. Cover your ****(use VPN, Tor Browser, Bitlocker, etc.)

2. Find serial number on ebay or youtube.

3. Use their website to check if the warranty is still valid:
https://support.wdc.com/warranty/warrantystatus.aspx

4.Make an account on WD website. Register the Product. Fill Out a warranty claim on their website. Say that the SSD is dead.

5.After going through the motions you will then be asked to send the hard drive back to WD

6.Create a support ticket quoting RMA number and explaining that your can't send the hard drive back to them . I told them because we have a lot of sensitive information.

7.They will reply to you that WD always erases all drives and it is very safe

8. Push back! I told them that with the new data protection laws companies face huge fines if private customer data is leaked. I then asked them if their insurance will cover that (use different excuse, as they will get alerted if too many people use the same excuses).

9.If your excuse is quite good they will send you a word file called certification of disk destruction. Its more like an affidavit that you agree to destroy the hard drive yourself. You will have to use real company information for that, cause they WILL check. They request from you to complete the form and to add on the top of the form your company letterhead. Use companies house website and find registration number for a company and company address.
Google "company letterhead UK" and you will see what is required.It will look something like this:

Company Logo
Company Name with Big Letters
MyCompany LTD / Registered in England / Company Number 000000 / Registered Office 30 My Road My Town MYPOSTCODE

They will also ask you to stamp it with company's stamp. I didn't do this. Companies are no longer required to have a company stamp.
To increase my chances of success and make it more believable I found in companies house a company which is in the name of the fake name I gave them, like "John Snow Ltd". By luck this guy had a finance company. And by more luck, he didn't have any website or contact information anywhere. You'll be in better position than me cause you can research that information before making the warranty claim.

10.You will also need to photoshop proof of destruction and send it to them. They will ask you to drill a hole in the middle of the SSD drive. I found a picture with a motherboard drilled which had the same color as my M.2 ssd. Then copied the hole into the picture I had. Then I downloaded dust patricles photoshop brush and added some dust all over to make it more realistic (as when you drill you create dust around the hole)

11. Sweat. Panick. Think that MI5 is coming for you.

12. WD will reply to you that your RMA was approved and send you the new drive.

13. Enjoy your new SSD Drive

waiting for that, Thank you for this tutorial. I think lots of sensitive information needed for this process and I am afraid of that. Willing to pay you if you can do it for me :-)

[karoloydi]

The following worked for me in UK for 1TB NVMe M.2 SSD

1. Cover your ****(use VPN, Tor Browser, Bitlocker, etc.)

2. Find serial number on ebay or youtube.

3. Use their website to check if the warranty is still valid:
https://support.wdc.com/warranty/warrantystatus.aspx

4.Make an account on WD website. Register the Product. Fill Out a warranty claim on their website. Say that the SSD is dead.

5.After going through the motions you will then be asked to send the hard drive back to WD

6.Create a support ticket quoting RMA number and explaining that your can't send the hard drive back to them . I told them because we have a lot of sensitive information.

7.They will reply to you that WD always erases all drives and it is very safe

8. Push back! I told them that with the new data protection laws companies face huge fines if private customer data is leaked. I then asked them if their insurance will cover that (use different excuse, as they will get alerted if too many people use the same excuses).

9.If your excuse is quite good they will send you a word file called certification of disk destruction. Its more like an affidavit that you agree to destroy the hard drive yourself. You will have to use real company information for that, cause they WILL check. They request from you to complete the form and to add on the top of the form your company letterhead. Use companies house website and find registration number for a company and company address.
Google "company letterhead UK" and you will see what is required.It will look something like this:

Company Logo
Company Name with Big Letters
MyCompany LTD / Registered in England / Company Number 000000 / Registered Office 30 My Road My Town MYPOSTCODE

They will also ask you to stamp it with company's stamp. I didn't do this. Companies are no longer required to have a company stamp.
To increase my chances of success and make it more believable I found in companies house a company which is in the name of the fake name I gave them, like "John Snow Ltd". By luck this guy had a finance company. And by more luck, he didn't have any website or contact information anywhere. You'll be in better position than me cause you can research that information before making the warranty claim.

10.You will also need to photoshop proof of destruction and send it to them. They will ask you to drill a hole in the middle of the SSD drive. I found a picture with a motherboard drilled which had the same color as my M.2 ssd. Then copied the hole into the picture I had. Then I downloaded dust patricles photoshop brush and added some dust all over to make it more realistic (as when you drill you create dust around the hole)

11. Sweat. Panick. Think that MI5 is coming for you.

12. WD will reply to you that your RMA was approved and send you the new drive.

13. Enjoy your new SSD Drive

waiting for that, Thank you for this tutorial. I think lots of sensitive information needed for this process and I am afraid of that. Willing to pay you if you can do it for me :-)

Definitely don't give real name and address for this one and cover your tracks well.

[mothered]

When they asked for the proof of destruction (photo) of the SSD, did they also request for the serial number to be clearly visible In the Image?

[karoloydi]

When they asked for the proof of destruction (photo) of the SSD, did they also request for the serial number to be clearly visible In the Image?

Yes, both pictures.

I basically used the same picture, but removed the background (carpet) and put it on a different background (wooden floor), then rotated a bit and changed the Gaussian blur settings as well to make it look like a different picture. I don't think they checked the pictures very well, cause I forgot to remove the metadata from original picture (it showed made with photoshop). I only removed from edited picture.

To make the proof of destruction, I found a picture of drilled hole on a black motherboard (same color as my nvme ssd) and copied the hole to the picture I had downloaded from ebay. Google photoshop dust particle brush. That's what made the picture really realistic, as when you drill a hole, you have lots of dust created around the hole. Use the same color as the hole for the particles.

[mothered]

When they asked for the proof of destruction (photo) of the SSD, did they also request for the serial number to be clearly visible In the Image?

Yes, both pictures.

I basically used the same picture, but removed the background (carpet) and put it on a different background (wooden floor), then rotated a bit and changed the Gaussian blur settings as well to make it look like a different picture. I don't think they checked the pictures very well, cause I forgot to remove the metadata from original picture (it showed made with photoshop). I only removed from edited picture.

To make the proof of destruction, I found a picture of drilled hole on a black motherboard (same color as my nvme ssd) and copied the hole to the picture I had downloaded from ebay. Google photoshop dust particle brush. That's what made the picture really realistic. Use the same color as the hole for the particles.

A job very well done Indeed.

The representatives who checked, may not have been those who requested the aforementioned Information and probably Ill-Informed with cross-checking metadata. Appreciate your In depth experience. No doubt It will assist members who land In similar scenarios.

[karoloydi]

lol. They sent me a 2TB m.2 which is £80 more expensive. I hope I have good luck with reshipping company.

By the way used similar method with Toshiba with 4TB 7200RPM drive and it was even easier. They didn't ask for anything. Just serial number.