Hoping for warranty

In article ,
dempson.DeleteThis@actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:

>
> Almost certainly not. As their policy states, warranty for OEM supplied
> drives is something you take up with the OEM (Apple in this case).
>
> Apple only has a one year warranty (extended to three if you get
> AppleCare).
>
> If you buy a Seagate drive and install it yourself, it will probably
> have a five year warranty (direct to Seagate).

Confused about warranty issues with all vendors & OEM installs.

I hate to ask silly question, but it used to be that hard drive vendors
covered a hard drive no matter where it was installed or how you bought
it (or that seems to be my memory --between the ears memory-- of how it
used to be). If you got a drive inside an external case, or in a
computer etc, it was all covered under hard drive manufacturer's
warranty

Now it seems if you have a drive pre installed in anything only the OEM
covers it. Times have changed in the market it seems.

I was looking at a OWC (Other World Computing) external HD (happened to
have Seagate drive inside it) and it said " 2 years OWC warranty and one
year additional by Seagate. DO NOT OPEN case before 2 year warranty
expires or OWC warranty voided."

Now that seems downright unfriendly to the consumer users. Seagate for
example has 5 year warranty on their retail drives.

I recently saw (NewEgg.com) some good prices on HD and noticed in fine
print they were OEM drives. It was never said explicitly just what that
entailed, but it seemed they were either pulled out of systems or left
over or rejects by some vendor. Judging from the user comment reviews
some had scratches, poor external conditions, poor packaging, etc but
seemed to imply they were still covered by Seagate warranty and some had
DOA or failing drives replaced by Seagate. Alarmingly (ironically
considering other China import issues) many user comments mentioned the
problem drives were all labeled MADE IN CHINA.

I have had my best luck with Seagate drives in the past, but have used
WD & Maxtor and Hatachi as well. Are all manufacturers following similar
rules for warranty issues these days?

If you want best warranty for a hard drive, it would seem best way is
buy a bare drive retail and install it yourself to maximize the warranty.

Warranties seem to vary from 1-2 year OEMs to 3-5 years for retail bare
drives from manufacturer.

Comments appreciated.

Perplexed,

Morenuf
--
morenuf.DeleteThis@nobodyhome.com.invalid
 >> Stay informed about: Hoping for warranty 

In article ,
morenuf wrote:

> Warranties seem to vary from 1-2 year OEMs to 3-5 years for retail bare
> drives from manufacturer.

That's what I'm looking at for a replacement: a non-OEM bare drive. I'm
seeing $70 for a 250GB Seagate drive from either Newegg or ZipZoomFly, I
don't remember which.

The drive I was moving data to is a 500GB Seagate I bought a few months
ago as extra space. I had this eventuality in mind when I did it, so
that's working just fine.

--
While its true that "you can't fix stupid", apparently you
can package it up and sell it. -- fnorgby on TMBO
 >> Stay informed about: Hoping for warranty 

Don't forget, too, that when you see hard drives on sale at low prices
at retail stores, the drives usually have either reached or are about
to reach their "from date of manufacture" warranty--that's why the
drives are on sale--so if you buy one, your only shot at a warranty is
if you file at time of purchase the paperwork necessary to get a "from
date of purchase" warranty, if offered. You should keep your purchase
receipt, etc. as per terms listed on the drive manufacturer's website
for filing a "from date of purchase" warranty RMA.

A common difference between OEM drives and retail drives is that OEM
drives usually come with a one-year warranty (to the OEM), or at most
a three-year warranty, rather than the up-to-five-year warranties
offered with retail and enterprise (corporate-purchase) drives. My
first personal experience with this was on an IBM business PC my dad
bought and gave to one of my sisters. About two months after the from
date of PC purchase 1-year warranty expired, the hard-drive failed.
The drive being an IBM DeskStar, I pulled it and looked it up on IBM's
website to warranty it, since DeskStars usually have a five-year
warranty. Not finding it in the warranty process list, I contacted
IBM, and was told that as an OEM drive it was only covered under, and
for the duration of, the PC warranty. I've since had similar
experiences with several more DeskStars installed OEM by Dell.

Cave Canum!
 >> Stay informed about: Hoping for warranty