Quote Originally Posted by gregw
One thing you could have done was to remove the HDD before returning the Mininote to HP. That's what I did when I sent it back to HP for a dead motherboard replacement, and HP support didn't bat an eye about that at all.
I thought about that but decided not to because I was unsure if I had damaged the motherboard and removing the hard drive would have been proof I was in the case.

On hind sight I should have removed it and followed my own guidelines in protecting my data :-(

O well live and learn, just hope my experience helps others not fall pray to the same thing.