Hard Drive Warranty Scam?

Hi,

I was looking into hard drive warranty and I find it to be a gimmick rather than a selling point. The average hard drive carries 3 years warranty but premium hard drives carry 5 is there really a difference if within 3 - 5 years the hard drive dies and you loose all those years of data?

I think a accurate Mean time between failures or MTFB is more important especially when it comes to SSD's cause performance degrades over time (not too sure if this still happens). Other than the MTFB it's a given that more platters is less reliable than a single platter and 7200 RPM hard drives run hotter (which also means less reliable) than 5400 RPM hard drives.

 

the difference is 2 years? losing data is your own problem.

everything have a shell life. deal with it. i dont see what your getting at.

 

I had a samsung 500gb 5400 rpm hard drive that had a 3 year warranty that began to die a few months before the warranty gave out. I got a replacement about a week later

After reading what you wrote, I began to think about what you said. There might be something behind the warranty behind certain hard drives. Maybe they take into consideration of the average user usage, quality of the hard drive to determine the warranty.

So, I think there could be some validity behind it and not a gimmick. Also, IMO, I believe the longer the warranty means they have confidence in their products to last that long, again, just an opinion

 

i've never had a hard drive die on me. ever. i have desktop hard drives form 1996 still running strong, and laptop hard drives from 2002-3 still running like champs. Just take care of your stuff. I've only lost one hard drive, and it was because my idiot sister used to bang on the hard drive when the system would freeze due to a graphics card failure -__-

 

I've had a hard drive arrive DOA but I had not data on the hard drive. So no data loss, I just returned it.

But having 3 years worth of data and work into the OS is a lot of time wasted even if the manufacture gives me a replacement it's not good enough.

What I'm getting a is the MTFB is so much more important and other factors that effect hard drive reliability such as platters, operating temperature and RPM.

Most reviewers always and even users on this very forum always advertise hard drives that have longer warranty falsely implying it'll be better for reliability (cause the warranty will cover it) but the fact is warranty has nothing to do with the actual hard drive being reliable it just gives you a false peace of mind or dream that you're getting more for the same money when then you wake up and realize that you've spent all that time for nothing.

 

Warranty on HDD's (and currently SSD's - even more than HDD's, btw...) mean squat to me.

If I put any of mine or my client's data on a storage device, the only way I will willingly 'retire' a failing/failed device is with a hammer.

A warranty for storage devices is not one I will utilize. Each and every store I buy them from has a no-charge return policy which I will use if a drive is used during the testing period (usually, the full time of the return period...) - so, even if it arrives DOA or within the first 30 days, the warranty doesn't come into play for me.

People do think that storage warranties protect the data on the storage device (not on this forum, of course) - but when they lose everything, they get a very rude awakening to the fine print in those warranties.

 

theres a reason why data recovery companies exist.

the harddrives these days are less durable than when they were smaller sizes thats for sure. but good harddrives are still very reliable and even in failure you can recover the data unlike ssds.

thinking harddrive manufactures should insure the data you write on your harddrive is just ridiculous.

 

Guess you're all right, I'm just over thinking it.

Thanks,

 

As the others have said, do regular imaged backups as well as additionally backing up your data. Laptop/desktop warranties are no different. None cover data, that is the customer's responsibility. Nor are software issues run into by the end user. Warranty only covers the actual part. If hard drives warranty included data recovery, then a 500 GB notebook drive would be 2 grand not 50 bucks.

 

The real HDD warranty scam is when you buy that cheap OEM HDD from somewhere. One day you need to RMA, only to find out that the HDD has a 1 year system builder warranty.

 

Hard drives are high performance, high precision and highly sensitive mechanical devices. Although old school drives are often more reliable, it is not surprising that hard drives are the computer component that is most likely to fail, so buying from a reputable manufacturer with a long warranty is preferable.

 

WD clearly say their black line (which comes with a 5 year warranty) uses components made to a higher precision that from its regular line so they perform better and last longer, they back that up with a longer warranted.

Back up your data and send off any broken HDDs in their warrenty period.

Hardly a scam.

 

I usually check the S/N on the manufacturer's website when I buy a hard drive to make sure it is warranted by the manufacturer. But I didn't on a couple WD Green drives I bought several months ago for my WHS, and one died and sure enough not warranted. I emailed the place that sold them (through Amazon, some safety there I guess) and they will exchange it.

In any case, back up your data, that's your responsibility. It's cheaper to buy a $100 2GB external hard drive to save all your important data, than $500-$1000 for a data recovery service and have little to no guarantee they can recover everything.

Some people are sensitive that their data will be compromised if they return the hard drive. Unless you have extra sensitive information on them, a full drive wipe or two will eliminate that issue. Sure if someone really really wanted the data off the drive they probably still could, but it would take expensive equipment and lots of time to do so. If someone wants photos of my kids so bad or to see my bank account balance at less than $100, go ahead.

 

Uhmm yes and what's the scam part?

I mean if you want real warranty don't buy an OEM product. That's common sense to me.

 

It isn't just OEM drives, because OEM drives can have warranty. HDD manufacturers sell cheaper drives to system builders that don't have the normal OEM warranty, but some of these end up in the component market.

 

MTBF means squat, a failed drive is a failed drive, tests have repeatedly show this.

By the way, Google did extensive studies on drive failures (and published a report on it) and concluded heat was not a factor, barring defects, manufacturers didn't matter either. The one thing that lead to most early failures was vibration. Just one more reason for an SSD in your laptop.