You need to shop around a bit more, than.
The drive warranty is is valid regardless. I've never had any
trouble
getting a hard drive manufacturer to replace a fail hard drive that
came installed in OEM PCs.
I do see that some drive warranty policies have changed. I haven't
shopped around in a while. Maybe I'll be trying a Seagate next.
I have had problems replacing them though in a company IT department. One
specific case was a Toshiba laptop that was 1 yr and 1 month old when the
HD crapped out. Contacting Seagate about the drive which had a 3 year
warranty if I would have bought it personally, resulted in their refusal
to replace it because they did not sell me that drive, Toshiba did. And
the Toshiba warranty was 1 year. Argh.
You can even go to their sites and enter the serial number of the drive
and it will tell you the status of the warranty on that particular drive.
I would have tried it, but no bare drives laying around to see if it
worked
Regarding OEMs....
From the Maxtor site....
'The limited, non-transferable warranty on products sold through an
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) is extended only to the OEM
that purchases the products directly from Maxtor or Quantum.
Therefore, owners of OEM manufactured equipment containing a Maxtor
or Quantum product must contact the OEM or the place of purchase for
warranty service.'
At the Seagate site....
Q: 'Why do I have to go back to my place of purchase to return a
drive that was sold as a system component?'
A: 'Seagate sells many drives to direct customers who use them as a
computer system component. In these cases, the Limited Warranty only
extends to Seagate's direct customers and is not assignable or
transferable. You must contact your place of purchase for warranty
support.'
WD....
'All Western Digital-branded retail hard drive kits, with the
exception of WD Raptor drives, carry a Standard Warranty period of
one (1) year unless indicated otherwise on the package. Western
Digital-branded WD Raptor retail hard drive kits carry a Standard
Warranty Period of five (5) years.'
'If your Product was purchased as a component integrated within a
system by a system manufacturer, no limited warranty is provided by
WD. Please contact the place of purchase or the system manufacturer
directly for warranty service.'
Additionally, OEM hard-drives (not retail packaged) sold at computer
fairs, thru E-Bay, Price-Watch, even local computer shops, out of a bulk-
package's of however many, that are intended to be to installed in OEM
systems, but are sold to individuals instead, are considered 'gray
market' and carry no mfg warranty. A lot of them say 30-day warranty. I
also saw one that was 7-day Exchange Only, but you could buy the one year
for $16.
From what I read, it seems as if the warranty for the OEM drive's are
assigned to the OEM, which then warranties them in your system for
however long they want to.
The WD warranty on retail is 1 year. In the section at WD regarding OEMs
warranty coverage, some 3 years, and some 5, to the OEM. There was a pro-
rating chart....
1st Year = 100%
2nd Year = 75%
3rd Year = 50%
4th Year = 25%
5th Year = 10%
So for an OEM to warranty the HD for more than a one year period would
cost them money in this case. Hence the one-year warranty on the drive in
the Toshiba laptop instead of the 3 year the retail packaged one would
have had.
I'm sure all mfg's are similar.
