Seagate Warranty Information

[SteveC]

I recently purchased a Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 160GB PATA 8MB cache drive, thinking it had a three year warranty. But after shmorg posted a comment in the article feedback that said his drive came with a one year warranty, I checked my own drive with Seagate's warranty validator. Sure enough, I said it was only one year. The product page lists a three year warranty, so I emailed them about it. This is their response:

Greetings Steven,

After researching your issue we have been informed that all retail drives
are covered by a one year warranty.

Seagate offers the ST3160023A model in two different configurations,
retail kit (ST3160023A-RK) and bare drive (ST3120023A) versions. The
drives warranty is designated by the inclusion or absence of the "RK"
designator for Retail Kits.

The Retail Kits are only sold through Best Buy and CompUSA at this time
and are covered by a one year warranty. The bare drive model is covered
by the three year warranty.

We apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused you.

Regards,


Bobby F.
Disc Presales

There's no indication on Seagate's website that the retail version of this drive only comes with a one year warranty, so it's something to consider if you're looking to buy this drive.

 

[Mercutio]

People buy Seagate ATA drives? Like, of their own free will?

When was the last time Seagate did right by its customers in the consumer market, anyway?

 

[CougTek]

No Seagate, no Western Digital, very probably not HGST. Your choice is starting to be quite limited Merc. All that's left are the sluggist Samsung (I have heard or tried the 8MB version of their P80 serie) and, well, the one year warranty Maxtor.

Last two drive models I bought were a bunch of WD SE and Barracuda 7200.7 PATA. Both kind are still working and both have meet my temper.

 

[Mercutio]

I won't buy any drive that only has a one year warranty. I have a lot of 160GB Samsungs now and the odd 200GB Maxtor with a valid 3-year warranty.

 

[Clocker]

What really seems odd is that the retail drive has the shorter warranty. I'd expect the bare drive to be cheaper and have a shorter warranty...

Weird........

C

 

[Jan Kivar]

Ha ha... "Retail" drive has shorter warranty period than the bare drive. Well done Seagate... :roll:

Jan

 

[Buck]

I can see the top three (Maxtor, Seagate, WD) moving almost all of their warranties to a standard of 1-year, even for 8MB cache drives.

 

[blakerwry]

man that's stupid! Are they kidding? that almost sounds like seagate goofed and they're telling you that because they have no other excuse....

 

[Jan Kivar]

I can see the top three (Maxtor, Seagate, WD) moving almost all of their warranties to a standard of 1-year, even for 8MB cache drives.

I hope that it doesn't go that far... Well, Seagate and Maxtor already have 3yr. warranties only for top-of-the-line products (7200.7 Plus Seagate, MaxLine Maxtor).

Well, there is still Samsung...

Cheers,

Jan

 

[Tea]

These days, I never buy anything else except Samsung. I'm doubtful about the reliability of the big three (yes, even Maxtor - I've heard some nasty Maxtor stories lately), but in the end they have simply blown their chances of selling to us because of their on-again, off-again, you-can't-ever-trust-them warranties.

Seagate, WD, Maxtor .... you blew it.

 

[Stereodude]

It sounds more like it's set up so they can screw you into buying the extended warranty from BB and CompUSA.

I read that some of the Midrange PCs sold at those stores would have a 3 year warranty at other places (mail order) but are sold with only a 1 year at the stores request, so they can sell their PSP.

 

[blakerwry]

just bought a maxtor Diamond Max plus 9 160GB 8MB cache retail drive.. can any body guess the warranty? 3? 2? 1?

One! less than one stinking year from the time i got it.

Maybe I should have just stuck with OEM and got the 3 year warranty, eh?

 

[Jan Kivar]

just bought a maxtor Diamond Max plus 9 160GB 8MB cache retail drive.. can any body guess the warranty? 3? 2? 1?

One! less than one stinking year from the time i got it.

Maybe I should have just stuck with OEM and got the 3 year warranty, eh?

It seems that all the drives that have a rebate have 1yr. warranties. What about WD? Do they even have retail drives anymore?

Cheers,

Jan

 

[CougTek]

I much did you pay it? If you spent more than 129$, then maybe you would have been better off with a 160GB/8MB cache Samsung SP1614N instead. I'm eager to see how it fares in SR's benchmarks.

 

[Jan Kivar]

I much did you pay it? If you spent more than 129$, then maybe you would have been better off with a 160GB/8MB cache Samsung SP1614N instead. I'm eager to see how it fares in SR's benchmarks.

If it ever gets reviewed... Tannin should send Eugene one...

Jan

 

[Howell]

Why would Tannin care? He's not gonna buy anything else anyway.

 

[blakerwry]

I much did you pay it? If you spent more than 129$, then maybe you would have been better off with a 160GB/8MB cache Samsung SP1614N instead. I'm eager to see how it fares in SR's benchmarks.

After shipping, handling, and this that and the other it was $140-$40 mail in rebate= $100 hopefully.

Not a bad price even without the rebate, but I was expecting a 2-3 yr warranty.

 

[Tannin]

Why would Tannin care? He's not gonna buy anything else anyway.

Yup. That's exactly right. I too will be interested to see how it fares in the benchmarks, but it won't make the slightest difference to my purchasing policy: essentially, I only like four hard drives:

Samsung 7200 40GB
Samsung 7200 80GB
Samsung 7200 120GB
Seagate X15

Maybe I'll get a Raptor one day, or maybe I won't. But if I do, I still won't really trust it the way I trust the Samsungs or those wonderful top-end Seagate drives.

Oh, and when the Samsung 160GB 7200 arrives, I'll like that one too, it's a safe bet.

But yes - I hope it benches well.

 

[Jan Kivar]

Why would Tannin care? He's not gonna buy anything else anyway.

Yup. That's exactly right. I too will be interested to see how it fares in the benchmarks, but it won't make the slightest difference to my purchasing policy: essentially, I only like four hard drives:

Samsung 7200 40GB
Samsung 7200 80GB
Samsung 7200 120GB
Seagate X15

But yes - I hope it benches well.

I thought that You had send Eugene some of the Samsungs that were reviewed at SR, and You'd send some drives again just to get them reviewed. Please accept my apologies if this is not the case.

Jan

 

[Jan Kivar]

I thought that You had send Eugene some of the Samsungs...

sent