A reader wrote in to tell us that the Western Digital hard drive he recently bought new from Best Buy had hidden dirty pics buried on it. He was running a program to retrieve some accidentally deleted images when he discovered the secret files. Read his story below. [Update: our tipster has written back in to clarify that the HD was not necessarily “brand new.”]
Imagine my dismay when, while playing around with folders on my external hard drive (Western Digital 160GB), I deleted all of my personal pictures. Pictures of myself, my friends, my cats, parties and vacations all deleted in one fell swoop. It is times like these when it’s good to have a friend that downloads all of Lifehacker’s suggested applications. This friend turned me onto a little program called PhotoRescue (http://www.datarescue.com/photorescue/v3/) for Mac, which I used and it worked in restoring nearly everything on my hard drive, including videos.
Though, perhaps this program worked too well.
Upon examining the cornucopia of recovered pictures and videos I stumbled upon a few gems that were not my own. Unfamiliar Asian faces accompanied my pictures of the Philadelphia Flyers playoff game and concerts past. Puzzled, I examined these first few pictures. The list started with a few anime pictures. I must add, I have not once watched an anime movie or even viewed an anime site on my computer — ever. Scrolling down the list I came across some pictures that perplexed me even more. My best guess at the next few pictures was what seemed like some type of Asian CD artwork, an American Express picture, and a picture of Asian Norton Anti-Virus?
And then I got to the good stuff – naked Asian ladies.
I wish I could say that the pictures on the hard drive were mine; however, I am positive they are not. Believe me, I would be the first to admit if they were.
My question now is, how did these pictures get there? No one else had access to the hard drive and I bought it brand new from Best Buy. Was Western Digital selling refurbished hard drives as new? Were the people assembling these hard drives testing them by loading some porn onto them to test them out? That’s where The Consumerist comes in.
Have you heard any similar cases as mine or do you have any insight into my mysterious HD of porn?
We’re as curious as you are.
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