Lowest price in a while, I will be cracking one open and running a preclear on it.

 

http://camelcamelcamel.com/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STBV3000100/product/B00834SJU8

I popped one open easily with a credit card and validated the serial number. The serial number shows in warranty until June 2014 for the bare drive.

 

So the external had a one year warranty and the internal one actually had a little longer.

I am tempted to buy one, but isn't the warranty void after opening the enclosure?

i'm on unraid 4.7 and can't use this 3TB drive (to best of my knowledge.  pls correct if i am wrong).  will upgrade to unraid 5 at some point.

 

I am tempted to buy one, but isn't the warranty void after opening the enclosure?

 

Maybe someone else can chime in but I cannot see how it would be voided, at least they would not know. I did an online check on the drive itself, not the enclosure and it shows under warranty.

i'm with you, reefcrazed... i think warranty would still be in effect after enclosure was opened since no damage done to drive itself.

I am tempted to buy one, but isn't the warranty void after opening the enclosure?

 

Maybe someone else can chime in but I cannot see how it would be voided, at least they would not know. I did an online check on the drive itself, not the enclosure and it shows under warranty.

 

There was some talk about this in another thread and the situation really is YMMV.

 

In my personal experience the warranty was always voided by the MFG when opening an external drive. I've had friends run into the same situation. The MFG will say that the drive is part of an enclosure and opening that said enclosure voids the warranty on both.

 

On the other hand I've had friends where the MFG had no problem RMA'ing the drive.

 

At least be prepared to not have a warranty if you crack the case open.

Usually the enclosure will have a tag stating war ray will be void if torn.

Usually the enclosure will have a tag stating war ray will be void if torn.

 

True, but lets say you know the bare drive shows under warranty. You send it back to them because it failed. They have no idea it was in an enclosure, if they bothered tagging each drive with the enclosure then they would void the drives serial number. Maybe some of you would stand on moral ground with it, not me.

Google the model # of the drive and see if it is even sold as a bare drive.  I'm wondering if certain models are used in enclosures only.

It definitely is....here is my model and serial number off of one of them.

 

ST3000DM001-1E6166_Z1F2FJ2K

 

Pretty decent reviews on Newegg

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844

For Seagate specifically, they keep track of batches of drive serial numbers and who they were originally sold to (i.e. sold bare or sold to an OEM to be integrated into a product.)

 

With any bare Seagate drive, you can type the serial number into seagate's online warranty check webpage to see that status of the drive. If they tagged the drive as sold to an OEM, then if you try to warranty replace it, they will tell you to contact the OEM computer manufacturer (they are assuming the drive was originally sold inside a computer.)

 

Some Seagate external drives are tagged as OEM, so if you try to warranty replace just the bare drive, seagatre will tell you you need to contact the "OEM" who sold it to you, i.e. you would have to warranty replace the drive in a sealed undamaged external case.

 

This already happened to me on a 2tb drive, but drives are (were) cheap, so I really didn't care about it. I factor the $30 or $50 difference in price (when external drives are on sale) as an appropriate price compensation for the drive possibly having no warranty other then DOA.

These all show under warranty. Even if they did not show under warranty I would be okay with it for the price. After 4 WD15EADS went out on me after the warranty, I do not even go by the warranty anymore. Well maybe for these 8 Samsungs I have but they were 5 years....loved that.

Just though I'd add this since I'm RMA'ing a WD drive. This is from their support site

 

"WARNING: Removing the hard drive from, a Western Digital single unit external enclosure, will void the warranty."

That does not mean anything really. If the bare drive shows up as "under warranty" I would think it will be enough. It is not like WD is sitting at your house watching you crack the enclosure open.

That does not mean anything really. If the bare drive shows up as "under warranty" I would think it will be enough. It is not like WD is sitting at your house watching you crack the enclosure open.

 

True but they also mention that

 

"WARNING: WD maintains serial number tracking. "

 

So if this is the case they would know that the drive was sold as an external thus voiding the warranty if you sent in a bare drive.

Ive personally cracked open a WD drive and later RMA'd it. While it said it was listed as under warranty (drive serial, not enclosure serial) I later got the drive back saying that the drive was listed as being an external and the warranty was now void.

Well that is as definitive answer as any, "results may vary"