Archived from groups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (
More info?)
Please setup your newsclient properly.
"Bob Davis" <nospam@nospam.net> wrote in message news:EImue.50842$iU.46552@lakeread05
> "Ar Q" <ArthurQ283@hottmail.com> wrote in message news:OxMte.9366$VK4.6319@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> > I am looking for a bigger SCSI Hard Drive for upgrade. After researching
> > EBay, Yahoo Stores and Pricewatch carefully, it is my observation that
> > although Maxtor is cheaper than Seagate, its warranty service is a mess.
> > Most drives in the market are OEMs. If I need service, I can only return
> > to the vendors. And the warranty periods vary from 30 days to 2 years
> > depending on the vendors and many of them omit the information when making
> > the sales.
> > On the other hand, Seagate honors the drives warranty no matter whether it
> > is OEM or not. Is my observation correct? Thanks.
>
> There are claims on this thread that OEM drives carry little or no warranty
> from the manufacturer.
Depends on what is meant by OEM. With IBM that's something quite differ-
ent, i.e. an OEM labeled drive was a drive intended not for own use, i.e. retail.
An IBM OEM drive (the ones for their own use) can usu-
ally be recognized by having a part PN and FRU number.
Those fall within the warranty that comes with the machine that it was sold with.
> Nearly every drive I've purchased over the past 5 or 6 years has been OEM,
Well, obviously, if all were IBMs. Not so obvious, if not.
How exactly did you know that they were (sold to) OEMs?
> and checking all that I still have (about six) show they all have or had
> warranties from the manufacturer for the duration, usually three years.
> My Raptors, both OEM, have five-year warranties and
> they show up on the WD website as still being in warranty.
> Am I missing something?
So whom were they OEM-ed to?
>
> I've been fortunate to have owned reliable drives over the years, and the only
> warranty adjustment I've made in the past few years was one IBM 75GXP,
> a notoriously unreliable drive series.
> It was purchased as OEM
Which is the norm for IBM.
> and IBM sent me replacement drive (a 60GXP, statistically just as
> unreliable but still running) after about one year.
> I was always under the impression that HD
> warranties were the same for OEM or retail,
Nope.
And it depends on what is meant by OEM, an OEM drive (for consumers,
i.e. retail) or a drive sold/manufactured exclusively to/for an OEM.
That is different for IBM and say the rest although for external drives
Seagate et al may be their own OEM too.
> unlike Intel CPU's, which carry a three-year warranty only for boxed
> retail processors.