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Rant

SAMSUNG LOST MY PICTURES OF SICK HUSBAND

Oct 24, 2014 3:17AM PDT

When my Samsung Tablet stopped charging, up to the point that I could not even turned it on. I was advised to send it for "servicing" and AT NO POINT was I told that my pictures and logs will be lost. These were very important because they were pictures and journey entries from the first days after my husband's accident (Traumatic Brain Injury) and my stay with him at the hospital, I was told recording this will help me and my husband as a way of therapy. Now Samsung saiys they cannot recover the pictures and offer me a $50 gift card as compensation, which I consider a slap on the face. I have the transcript from my original conversation with their customer service agent and as I mentioned before I was never advised that my files will be lost. I;m considering taking them to court... just notenough time or energy right now. Sad

Discussion is locked

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Re: photo's
Oct 24, 2014 3:39AM PDT

Yep, that's usual, if not universal. It's your responsibility to have a backup, not their responsibility to make one and copy it to the device you get (or get back) after the repair.

Sometimes lessons about backup do hurt.

Kees

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A warning would have been helpful
Oct 31, 2014 12:40PM PDT

Yes, it's a good thing to back up important data and images. But PERA68 said that Samsung did not provide a warning that all of the information on the tablet would be lost during the repair process.

This is an important point because Samsung, or any manufacturer for that matter, has no idea how computer savvy a customer might be, so it's not a good idea for them to presume they would automatically know everything on the device would be deleted.

We don't know how computer savvy the original poster is. It's possible she knows enough to function on a tablet and computer, but when it comes to more technical matters she's not very competent. I'm not saying this to insult PERA68 - my comment is based on my own experience and level of knowledge. In my case, I know enough about computers to be able to surf the Internet (duh!) and use word processing. But - a few years ago at work, they needed to change hard drives on all the computers. I had a lot of my work on the hard drive that was being replaced, and I did not know - and nobody told me - that the work would be lost, it wouldn't automatically be on the new hard drive, and that I would need to back it up.

We are still at a time in history where there are plenty of people to whom computers are a new and sometimes scary world. 50 years from now, it may be second nature that you should back up your data before sending in a device for repair. It may not be the manufacturer's responsibility to make a backup for the customer - but now, I think it's reasonable that they warn the customer that submitting a device for repair entails the risk of losing data and they should make a backup.

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maybe some or all are still on camera card?
Oct 24, 2014 3:43AM PDT

Also can contact anyone you sent copies to and request they send those back to you and then store them safely. Check your recycle bin on computer if you ever had them on there too. If others, such as offspring took pictures, maybe you can get copies of those too. Any device you looked at the images on other than the tablet may still have copies in the cache, such as firefox or other browser. Safest way there is to check the history file.

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Re: camera card
Oct 24, 2014 3:56AM PDT

In her post I read "Samsung Tablet", not "Samsung Camera". So it's doubtful is has a memory card to store the photo's on. Good tip, by the way: remove the memory card from a camera/tablet/whatever you sent for repair.
And since you can view those pictures on the tablet, and can mail them from the tablet, it's doubtful they are ever copied to a PC.
So, apart from asking copies from the family members some have been mailed to, I'm afraid your good tips aren't a solution for the issue.

Kees

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Sorry but backup is up to us.
Oct 24, 2014 5:19AM PDT

If you haven't taken it to Samsung, ask drivesavers.com if they work on such problems.
Bob

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suggestion
Nov 3, 2014 1:02AM PST

You may be able to get them back using a data recovery program. It will depend if they just restored the software or replaced the hard drive, or just sent you a refurbished unit from someone else.To do this you will need to get someone that seriously knows computing in deep detail. Maybe the computer science department at a local college or the IT department at a hospital or large business. with a charging issue there is a good chance they can be recovered. Good luck .. There a companies that do this but the costs can run in the range of hundreds of dollars ..