For anyone who doesn't know yet.

[fryincpus]

If anyone already knows this, then my apologies, I'm late on the news as usual.

Effective Oct. 1, 2002, both Maxtor and Western Digital will start shipping out certain models of ide hds with only 1 year warranty instead of the traditional 3 yr warranty.
Some models like the scsi or their upcoming serial ata models will still offer a 3 year warranty (5 for scsi).

The hd market must be getting real bad???

So any maxtor or wd hds or surplus stock bought before or a couple weeks after Oct 1st should still have the 3 yrs.

Here are the links.
Wd will offer a 3 year warranty through an extended warranty plan and charge an extra fee. Wd will still offer a 3 yr warranty on their WD Caviar Special Edition.

http://support.wdc.com/warranty/newpolicy.asp

http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp#extwarranty


http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/service/warranty/warranty_at-a-glance.htm

So, get them while you still can.

I think Seagate and Samsung are the only ones left who still offer 3 yrs on their ide line. But that may change eventually as well.

[pyssdogg]

-i buy ibm drives so it doesn't matter

-i guess they figure that people go through hard drives real quick so a 3 yr. warr is not necessary...plus when you find cheaper ways to manufacture product you expect that it may not last as long

-maxtor seem to make good drives plus they had aquirred quantum so i think they should still put out quality products

[BipolarBill]

In my experience, IBM drives are the only ones that need a 3 year warranty. Every one I've owned has failed prematurely. Don't be too smug. :(

Since the drives are the same, I guess that it really doesn't matter. If it brings prices down a bit, I will welcome the change. I've just ordered another WD400BB and I don't care much about the warranty period because I've beaten the **** out of a few of them and they still work like new. Maxtors are much the same.

[Cluedo]

In my experience, IBM drives are the only ones that need a 3 year warranty Not a big Deathstar fan I take it. ROFL :D

[BipolarBill]

Nope. :mad: Waiting for an IBM RMA as we speak. :(

[rmanet]

fryincpus- thanks for getting the word out

I saw the same thing when trying to get an RMA on a WD drive this weekend.

I prefer Maxtor (may need to change my thinking) and was bummed to see they've gone to 1 year - it's ridiculous these guys won't warrant performance longer, but times ain't getting any easier and you gotta admit - all the competition is keeping prices very low.

followed a post here and got me an $80 gig for about $40 before shipping - the hassle is wondering whether the "promised" rebates will ever show up in my mailbox :rolleyes:

and I've seen some posts here where guys having problems with their hdds have done just about everything wrong with a drive trying to get it to work, so there probably are a few RMAs that they're getting tired of dealing with?

...and Bill - believe it or not, I've used 2 or 3 IBM drives and never had one fail, but worked on a "refurbished" netvista for a nonprofit (donated to them thru City of Hope) - machine was dead within 3 weeks - power supply and the integrated NIC was causing problems - go figure.

[BipolarBill]

Well, a 100% failure rate is all of the convincing that I need.

[Ankerson]

Sounds like a real good reason to start getting Seagate HD's..

And maybe change to SCSI...:D

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by Ankerson
Sounds like a real good reason to start getting Seagate HD's..

And maybe change to SCSI...:D Hmmm...that would mean Seagate as well, wouldn't it? :p Are you on the payroll, Ank? :cool:

I'm liking WD and Maxtor just fine, but I must try a Seagate ATA drive soon. The two I have now were early 7200RPM drives and have made a "death rattle" since day one. They are the noisiest IDE drives I've ever heard. I found that if you combine one of them with a current IBM 120GXP, they sing a chorus like a couple of drunks. :D

[Ankerson]

Originally posted by BipolarBill
Hmmm...that would mean Seagate as well, wouldn't it? :p Are you on the payroll, Ank? :cool:



LOL...:D

No I'm not on the payroll...

My newer Barracuda IV 80gb drive is very quiet....:)

[pyssdogg]

-)-|

[genesound]

Originally posted by rmanet
and I've seen some posts here where guys having problems with their hdds have done just about everything wrong with a drive trying to get it to work, so there probably are a few RMAs that they're getting tired of dealing with?
I think this may well be the case at least in part. Sophiticated users tend to buy the better drives and probably have fewer unnecessary returns.

This decission probably doesn't affect any purchases I will make at any rate. I figured out years ago that really fast hard drives make Windows bearable...

[mpacey]

I am very happy with my Maxtor 20 Gig 7200 RPM.

No issues since it came with my new Dell Dec. 2000.

Now that Quantum is in the picture, and I am thinking of adding another 20 Gig, what is the best way to ensure that my new one is as close a match as possible with my original?

Should I look for a similar serial #?

Thanks.

[fryincpus]

Turns out alot more hd manufacturers like seagate, ibm, and fujitsu (thought they stopped making desktop ide hds) are all doing the 1 yr warranty for ide hds as well.

This came message came from http://www.scan.co.uk/products/
They don't offer a direct link to there hds. So you'll have to navigate to this website to the hds section and you'll see this message:

Important Notice: We have been informed by IBM, Maxtor, Seagate, Western Digital and Fujitsu that all IDE based Hard Disk Drives will revert back to a 1 Year Warranty from October 1st 2002. All SCSI Hard Drives from the above manufacturers will retain their standard 3-5 year manufacturers warranty.
All IDE Hard Drives sold by Scan from October 1st 2002 will carry a 1 year warranty only.

All IDE Hard Drives purchased before October 1st 2002 will retain their original manufacturers warranty period.

Scsi and maybe serial ata are still unaffected by the change.

Went to seagates website and confirmed this as well.

http://www.seagate.com/support/service/warranty.html


In a way, this kind of sucks for computer stores and computer manufacturers both of namebrand and custombuilt machines because alot of places offer 2 - 3 yrs warranty on their system.

If a hd fails after 1 yr, then they may have to absorb the cost of a replacement one in a system unless they offer an extended warranty package for a price. There is no money in computers period anymore.

[fryincpus]

Originally posted by mpacey
I am very happy with my Maxtor 20 Gig 7200 RPM.

No issues since it came with my new Dell Dec. 2000.

Now that Quantum is in the picture, and I am thinking of adding another 20 Gig, what is the best way to ensure that my new one is as close a match as possible with my original?

Should I look for a similar serial #?

Thanks.

That 20 gig model would probably be a 20 gig u-66 7200 rpm model. Most Maxtors are the u-133 model now.
Maybe consider a 40 gig or higher, they are cheap enough now. 20 gigs will be phased out soon.

[j.m@talk]

I got Fujitsu drives comming out my ears & they seem OK

Not had one conk out yet, :t

[Aarmenaa]

I got a 30 GB 7200RPM ATA100 Maxtor and a 40GB 5400RPM ATA100 Maxtor, and both have worked fine for quite some time. I've got an old 6GB 5400RPM ATA66 Western Digital drive in a different system, and it's still going along ok, but it's got some damaged sectors on it. And, I have a 6GB Quantam Bigfoot. The...world's...loudest...drive-hands down. But it won't die, and it's the only drive I ever dropped (it didn't even get any damaged sectors from that)! The thing's built to withstand an explosion, I think.

-Aarmenaa

[morpheus kain]

My WD800JB is still going strong. Hotter than hell, but it's going.

[BipolarBill]

Originally posted by morpheus kain
My WD800JB is still going strong. Hotter than hell, but it's going. The 800JB is less than 6 months old. I hope it's still working! :p

[morpheus kain]

Hehe, it's extremely hot in the portion of my case that it's in because I'm too lazy to mod my case and buy another fan.;)

[thefossil]

10G IBM drive that I started with in my current system noisy compared to 15G Maxtor. Not "whiney" but "clunky". I just put it back into a rebuilt system for my brother's kids, works OK. The 40G Maxtor has been fine, except for some chirp-chirp noises at startup, which I think is a loose power wire from PS.

However, the most recent, newest, shiney-ist 60G Maxtor that I had in there croaked, started making chipmunk noises, and left the party in a huff one day. I was able to bring back 2 of the 3 partitions with OnTrack and DiskRescue, but the 3rd was just "daid!" The latest drive is one of the new liquid-bearing (or is that liquid-filled, like the new gum?) 80G Maxtor that is =whisper= quiet.

My experience is that OEM or "in-bag" mail-order drives are more likely to croak. I've had a Seagate, WD, and now Maxtor go south just a day or two before I would've liked. All were of those variety.

All, every one of 'em, of the drives bought in-a-box at a store have been working flawlessly since purchase. Now is that a factor of handling? Quality control? Dunno, but my thinking is that the rougher you are with a drive, especially while it's spinning, the more likely it is to have trouble. Even snapping on the front cover of your system may be chipping away at the reliablilty of your disk storage, whatever brand it is.