New or Refurbished Drive?

[LunarMist]

After 3 weeks the replacement 200GB 250GXP arrived on 12/14 during my vacation. Now the question is whether it is a new drive or a refurbished drive. The antistatic bag is sealed and completely opaque. The label on the bag reads Made in Thailand by Hitachi... and the date is NOV-04. If it a refurburished drive, I would rather just sell it without opening. Otherwise I could keep it for backups since 200GB is too small for primary data storage. What do you think?

 

[Clocker]

I think refurbished drives are usually labeled as such. Sounds to me like you got a new drive, especially since it has a newer manufacture date.

 

[Tea]

IBM always used to label their refurbs with a "servicable used product" sticker. I doubt that Hitachi would do it any differently. You should be fine with that drive, Clocker .... er .... sorry, I mean LunarMist.

 

[LunarMist]

Kevin/Tony,

I expect that the drive will be labeled if it is refurbished, but did not know if the bag would also be labeled as such. Given the mfg. date, it is probably new. Is it usual to receive new drives for replacements? Perhaps it is no longer economical to repair 200GB drives.

 

[Clocker]

I RMA'd a 60GXP and got a new 120GXP one time so I don't think it's all that unusual to get 'new' replacements for older drives (depending on where the products are in their life cycles.).

C

 

[Tea]

Seems to depend largely on the scumworthiness of the manufacturer, Lunar. Seagate and Western Digital practically always give you refurbs, which typically last for quite a while before they fail again (sometimes as long as three weeks or, if you are extra lucky, even a whole month). Samsung, in my experience, always give you a new drive. I can't speak for Hitachi or Maxtor these days. They probably fall somewhere between the extremes above.

 

[LunarMist]

I don't think HGST is very worthy. The RMA time for the drive was three weeks. Years ago I had an IBM drive replaced within the week.

 

[Mercutio]

I'd be willing to take my chances on a Hitachi drive. I wasn't burned by the 75GXP, so that may be part of my reasoning, but I have not had any problems with drives I've gotten back from IBM.

Western Digital, on the other hand, has sent me pre-broken drives on several occasions. Tales that involve WD and RMA are like Italian operas: The soprano dies in the 3rd act of consumption.

 

[sechs]

A properly refurbished drive should be more reliable than a new one.

That said, I've never received a refurbished drive from IBM or Hitachi, and have scarcely heard of anyone else getting one.