disco Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 Maybe this has been discussed in the past, but what's up with the new warranty system from WD/Seagate? I have a large (well, i guess probably small compared to most of you) 8x2tb system (+ cache/parity) that has been stable for a 3+ years (no drive deaths after a bunch initially when buying drives), but recently had my parity drive go out. Unfortunately, out of warranty, so I figured I'd pick up a 3tb as they're only $30 or so more than the 2tb variety these days. Picked up one of these without checking warranty: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST3000DM001/dp/B005T3GRLY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1360998171&sr=1-1&keywords=3tb+seagate Now, reading, I find it only has a 1 year warranty??? I could swear, the standard used to be 3 years for standard drives, 5 years for pricier drives. 1 year seems like a total joke given how often I've had drives fail in the past. Guess I'll have to preclear the crap out of this thing before adding to my system. Quote Link to comment
disco Posted February 16, 2013 Author Share Posted February 16, 2013 any suggested additional burn-ins i should run on this thing? i feel like most drives die within the first few months of heavy use, so hoping to make sure this is a solid drive before the warranty ends. Quote Link to comment
Helmonder Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 I normally do a 3/pass preclear, takes a lot of time but gives me a good feeling.. Check out the `bad blocks` script also, I have not used it myself but is another way of stressing the drive. Quote Link to comment
itimpi Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 Now, reading, I find it only has a 1 year warranty??? I could swear, the standard used to be 3 years for standard drives, 5 years for pricier drives. 1 year seems like a total joke given how often I've had drives fail in the past. Guess I'll have to preclear the crap out of this thing before adding to my system. Warranties certainly used to be longer. I have recently had a number of Seagate 2TB drives replaced under warranty that were in year 3 or 4. The fact that they offered such long warranties was something that always attracted me to Seagate drives. It was also an implied statement by them as to what they thought the quality/reliability of their drives was like. It does seems that all the manufacturers have switched to 1 year warranties as standard. The only upside I see is that disks tend to fail relatively quickly or last for a long time. After about 3 years if a disk fails it is highly likely that one would want to replace it with a larger capacity one anyway. Still, longer warranties is certainly something I take into account when deciding what brand to buy. Quote Link to comment
Helmonder Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 When you live in Europe the seller is not allowed to offer less then 2 years of guarantee .. Quote Link to comment
Automatic Posted February 16, 2013 Share Posted February 16, 2013 When you live in Europe the seller is not allowed to offer less then 2 years of guarantee .. Really? That explains why all the drives I found were either 2 years (Desktop/laptop models), 3 years (Raid models) or 5 years (Company models). @OP, I recently just bought 3 3TB HDDs for my new server and all three have 3 years warranty. Quote Link to comment
Helmonder Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 Jup.. In europe you even get two years of warranty on a goldfish.. Quote Link to comment
S80_UK Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 It's import to clarify a little... In Europe your contract is with the party from whom you bought the device. Generally for the buying public that party is the retailer, whether it is a bricks and mortar shop, or an on line outlet such as Amazon, etc. Manufacturers are permitted to offer shorter warranties if they wish, and many do, but their contract is not normally with the end user. This is why if the manufacturer publicises a one year warranty it is often accompanied by the phrase "does not affect your statuary rights" which refer to the end user's contract with the retailer. If the manufacturer sells directly to the end user then the two year rule would apply. And then we get into the grey area of "fitness for purpose", where even a two year warranty does not exclude the purchaser from making a claim against their supplier after a much longer period if there is a reasonable expectation that the device should have lasted longer than two years (many domestic appliances would fall into that category, for example). Quote Link to comment
korith Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 It's been that way for a few years now. I would rarely look at the warranty periods, usually they were 3-5 years, now lucky to get 2 years. Before price and speed was the main determining factor when buying, now have to consider warranty period. American express will extend or double the warranty period of your purchase. https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/card-benefits/extended-warranty/faq.html May want to check out other credit cards, fairly sure there are others out there that offer similar warranty extensions. Quote Link to comment
c3 Posted February 17, 2013 Share Posted February 17, 2013 I'm in the US and have no trouble getting 2+ year warranty. The 4TB drives I last purchased have 2 year warranty (Costco $159). All WD Red are 3 year. The credit card companies add one year to warranty. AmEx max is 6 years (5+1), Discover and Citi is 4 years(3+1), and so on. Quote Link to comment
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