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2/2/2003 Summary MAXTOR Only the MaXLine™ drives will still carry a 3 year warranty. These drives are pretty expensive though. You can't extend your warranty on the other drives. Maxtor explains that the
reason they reduced the warranties from 3 to 1 year is that Unfortunately, "industry analysts" are not computer experts and don't understand that hard drives are the most critical component in a computer since they contain the user's data. They are also extremely reliable these days. I always thought that warranty length was determined by reliability predictions. Additionally many people buy drives seperately as upgrades or replacements. So that makes no sense to me at all. WESTERN DIGITAL Funny, I was always into Maxtor over the years, and didn't like Western Digital too much for some reason. But one day I bought an IBM 60 GXP, and got really worried reading about their 75 GXP disaster (they were sued for producing defective drives), and bought a Western Digital 80 gig instead of the 60 IBM. What I liked about the IBM compared to the Maxtors I bought over the years was the construction with the PC board placed so the components are protected. Then when I got the 80 gig Western Digital, I saw it was almost the same as the IBM construction. I am also impressed by their innovative idea of putting in an 8 meg cache into some of their drives. So now I prefer Western Digital. Well it's good that I do, because they are the only one of the four manufacturers here that actually allow customers to extend the 1 year warranty to 3 years for a small fee! Also nice is that their reasonably priced special edition drives are still under the 3 year warranty. Here you can see a company that's smart enough to maintain their image while others just don't care for more than their bottom line. Since drive prices have plummeted, the additional $19.95 to extend the warranty is really a bargain, and wow, they are even having a special for $9.95 for Feb. 2003. IBM I hate these corporate games. Today it's IBM, tommorrow it's Hitachi. What's next? Was the 75 GXP disaster so embarrasing IBM decided they could never live that down? Otherwise they have a great reputation, and eventually everybody would have forgotten about it. What was disturbing recently is that IBM recommended that their desktop drives should not be used more than 10 hours a day. That really didn't sound good. Maxtor followed up with some similar statement. Western Digital never did. So that really turned me off to IBM and Maxtor. Either IBM itself was giving up on producing quality Hard Drives, or they just had no patience to wait for everyone to forget about the 75 GXP disaster? I wonder what this brand name change is going to cause. Hitachi is not particularly known for their computers. :-). I couldn't find any specific warranty information about the new/old Hitachi (IBM) drives on the new site except an email address. If they are smart they will keep the 3 year warranty. SEAGATE Finally, Seagate, that real old and famous Hard Drive manufacturer, also weasels out of the three year warranty for everything except super high end. They don't offer any extensions, but don't forget to mention that they have great technology like fluid bearings, and that their drives are reliable. You can sense that they are all a bit nervous that potential buyers will think that the shortened warranty period means lower quality, as with many other consumer products these days. But what better way to scare off users by cutting down the warranty to a third? At first I thought that they were finding that the newer drives are failing like crazy and are scrambling out of the long warranty period before they go bankrupt! It is worrying, but it's nice to see that Western Digital has no problem offering their customers an extended warranty for a very minimal sum, and still cover their mainstream Special Edition drives with the same 3 year warranty. I'm really glad I like Western Digital these days. Kudos to Western Digital. They are among the best performing drives according to storage review dot com. It's nice there is still a drive out there that you can continue to trust.
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INTRODUCTION Hard drives hold within them precious data some of us can't afford to lose. Reliability is of outmost importance. It was always comforting to see that Hard Drives were backed with a long three-year warranty. While that guaranteed nothing, and frequent backups were always necessary to ensure the safety of data, I suppose that for the consumer it improved the resale value of the drives if they were still under warranty, and was great if the drive failed during the period and could be replaced, however replacements were usually refurbished units. For the manufacturers it was a way to stand behind the reliability of the drives, particularly as they were so expensive. Now drive prices are at an all time low, and the capacity is higher than most consumers can use unless they do video editing or download files all the time. I suppose the low prices discouraged manufacturers from continuing the long warranty period. You might assume that the drives are less reliable than in the past, but that's doubtful since older drives were much more prone to failure. However, it is strange that all hard drives manufacturers decided to reduce the warranty period at the same time. I mean, if one company made that decision wouldn't the next company want to keep the longer period to attract the market to them? Maybe they were worried they wouldn't stay competitive because their expenses would be higher. Maybe they all made an agreement. That would smell of anti-trust. One hint that this may not be the case at all is that Western Digital is still pretty much keeping the three year warranty with only a minor caveat. The following is an overview of the new policies with my comments and summary on the sidebar. PC World had an article about this too. http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,105491,00.asp ATTENTION: The following are snippets and links to the manufacturer's websites, and just here for summary. Make sure you follow the links for the most updated and accurate information! My comments are in red, or on the left side. WESTERN DIGITAL | IBM | SEAGATE MAXTOR'S NEW POLICY http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/service/warranty/warranty_faq.htm Warranty Policy FAQ Service & Warranty Information What is Maxtor's new Standard Warranty Policy?
Why is Maxtor going from a 3-year Standard Warranty Period to a 1-year Standard Warranty Period? Maxtor has decided to migrate the Fireball, DiamondMax and DiamondMax Plus drives to a Standard Warranty Period of one year. Industry analysts have been recommending a one-year warranty period on desktop drives for a number of years to better align the drive warranty period to the Global or Regional OEM warranty period for a finished computer. How will Maxtor compete against other suppliers? Maxtor has independently initiated this change in view of emerging industry trends. With the significant increase in the reliability of Maxtor drive products over the years and Maxtor's continuous attention to quality, Maxtor does not believe that this change will be a competitive disadvantage. Can I purchase an extension on my Standard Warranty Period? Currently Maxtor does not directly offer any warranty extensions. Please contact your place of purchase for any independent warranty extensions that may be available through the reseller. Any warranty extensions provided by the reseller are independent of Maxtor. Is my warranty issued at the date of purchase, or from the date of production? Warranty coverage is issued and begins at the transaction or purchase of the drive, not the date of production. WESTERN DIGITAL'S NEW POLICY http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp Warranty Policy NOTE: that their SPECIAL EDITION drives, which are similar to the "High Performance" series, but have an 8 megabyte buffer, still have a 3 year warranty! http://support.wdc.com/warranty/newpolicyfaq.asp
New WD Warranty Policy FAQ
<SNIP> Continues--go to WD's website... Oh, wow, they have a special between Feb. 3rd and 28th, 2003--the extended warranty is only $9.95 instead of $19.95! http://websupport.wdc.com/store/extwarranty/index.asp Western Digital is pleased to offer our valued customers an extended warranty plan for your new WD hard drive. United States and Canada Western Digital will extend the terms of our 1-year warranty for an additional 2 years. If you opt for the extended warranty plan, the total warranty period on your hard drive will be 3 years from the date of purchase. The cost of this extended plan is Western Digital will extend the terms of our 2-year warranty for an additional 1 year. If you opt for the extended warranty plan, the total warranty period on your hard drive will be 3 years from the date of purchase.
The cost of this extended plan is $9.95 and is payable by Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express. This offer applies only to retail-packaged hard drives with a 2-year warranty. Please enter your hard drive serial number and date of purchase below to start the extended warranty process.
IBM'S--NO, HITACHI'S NEW POLICY Well, going to check IBM's website, I just found out that IBM has decided to merge it's storage business with HITACHI, so now there is no more information on drives on their website--you are forwarded to Hitachi's new site. They proudly announce that while before there were 2 leaders in the HD market, now there's only 1. GREAT! :-) . There is no warranty information provided right now, and if you need information you are directed to email them. IBM's labels will change to Hitachi, and who knows what the warranty length will be. Currently they are honoring the previous 3 year warranty, and there are still IBM labeled drives on the market. Considering IBM's recent disasters with their 75GXP and 60GXP drives, maybe it's good to stay away from these for the time being? :-) http://www.hgst.com/hdd/support/dk/warranty.html
SEAGATE'S NEW POLICY
http://www.seagate.com/support/service/warranty.html
Conclusion: Due to their excellent performance, nice drive design, and three year warranty, I pick Western Digital over the others. Thanks to http://storagereview.com for their fantastic testing and comparison engines! Comments? e-mail: tekwiz@tektimes.com with "TekTimes" as part of the subject line.
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