Do OEM drives have same warranty as Retail drives?

As the title says. I see a lot of OEM drives on newegg. Do they have the same warranty that Retial drives have? Are there any essential things missing from OEM drives that I would need in order to install properly? Thanks.

 

Well, Retail drives normally have some extra goodies such as a caddy/enclosure, a cable, some diagnostic CDs (some brands)....
Plus a 3 or 5 year manufacturer's warranty....(Check the seal and get a proper invoice)

Whereas OEM, includes only the HDD in an anti-static packaging with warranty mostly ranging from 90 days - 6 months..!!

Basically you just need the HDD, everything else is pretty much rubbish (except the manufacturer's warranty)....

Diagnostic tools can be download from here....

 

So OEM drives don't have the full manufacturers warranty. That sucks. If the drive was OEM and had problems, how would the manufacturer know if it was OEM or Retail?
I am just surprised, since there are so many drives being sold on newegg that are OEM, such as the new 7200 320GB WD drive for $180(says it's retail on the description, but all reviews point to an OEM drive). Quite a risk to take for only a few days of warranty, I think, seeing as that harddrive failures are not uncommon.



So the additional stuff that retail drives comes with like cables, cd and stuff is useless. I think that makes sense. The OS(Windows Vista and Linux) includes all the SATA drivers I would need correct? No need to use the ones on the CD?

 

Well, yes vista does contain all the drivers....or you can use the drivers depending upon which ever controller or southbridge your motherboard has -- ICHMx-x, VIA, etc....
Buy retail if you want to, as they are worth that extra bit, mainly because of the warranty....I guess WD offers a 5 Year Limited Warranty..!!

Manufacturers actually have certain conditions, and proof of purchase also plays an important part in it....Have a look at WD's Warranty conditions....

The extra stuff is not actually useless, each thing has its own use and purpose....and when you buy all that stuff separately, it does add up to a good $20-30....!! Enclosures and all are pretty useful things..

 

My experience with hard drive warranties is as follows:

Retail drives have the full warranty as outlined in the drive packaging. The warranty clock starts at date of purchase.

OEM drives can have several methods of determining warranty. Make sure you buy from a authorized reseller to avoid any unforeseen issues. With that, I have seen where the warranty clock starts at date of manufacture, date of shipment to distributor and even date of sale to end user. The length of warranty may vary from the retail version as well.

The way they can figure out warranty information is through the serial number of the drive. Also some manufacturers have it set up to check the warranty status online. To be sure you should check with the drive maker to see what their policy is.


Scott