Incredible though it may seem in this day and age, but Dell will not guarantee that they wipe your personal data from a returned, failed disk drive.  I had my C: drive fail such that the system does not see it even from the boot firmware.  Getting the drive replaced through warranty was not an issue - in fact, Dell had a new one with a tech at my door within 1 day.  However, when I asked for somoe form of guarantee that the failed drive would be destroyed or all data wiped from the drive by Dell upon it's return, I was informed there is no such policy or guarantee!!

Now Dell wants to charge me for the drive if I do not reutnr it, or I have to find a service to wipe it before it is returned!!  Dell does not seem to recognize that data can be recovered from a failed drive -thus all your personal data, passwords, bank accounts, financial and personal information is in their hands with no obligation to protect it!!!

Be very careful people - remember that most of these drives end up in Asia (where they are made and failure analysis performed).