WD400JB Just Died

[Clocker]

Bummer story...

I got my dad a WD400JB that I was going to install in his Slot-A Athlon 700 (Epox 7KXA) with an old Promise Ultra/100 TX2 card I had laying around.

I ghosted the contents of the old 13.6GB Maxtor (7200 RPM) to the new drive and powered the system down. Upon removing the Maxtor and powering back up, the WD400JB would not spin up! It doesn't spin with another PS either. Poop!

I can say that the WD Advance RMA system seems really slick and easy. Hopefully the new drive will get here fast. I'm hoping the JB will do a lot to improve the snappiness of his system (WinXP, 256MB, 700Mhz).

Do you think the new drive will be a very noticeable improvement? Think I should throw another 128MB SDRAM in there?

C

 

[Mercutio]

For a casual user I doubt it would be much of an improvement.

I'd also like to say that I've RMA'd 5 of the 11 WD drives I've purchased for myself in the last 18 months, a mix of AB, BB, and JB drives. That's NOT a good track record.

 

[blakerwry]

I was wondering if WD's recent popularity was going to catch up to them...

...In the form of decreased QA checking while trying to fulfil demand.


I was thinking of RMA'ing/returning my 800JB drive just because of the idle whine... it's not that bad, but the rest of my computer is getting quieter and quieter an here I go buying this loud HDD...

I probably could have exchanged it at Circuit city even though i sent in the UPC for the rebate... but i figured the drive I got would be just as loud, plus I think they stopped stocking the 80GB size in favor of 100 and 120Gb plus size drives.

And you never know what you're gonna get back if you send in for an RMA... maybe new... maybe used.... maybe a 1984 Yugo...

 

[blakerwry]

OH, now that WD is defunct, who should we start buying HDD's from this week?

Samsung, Hitachi, Seagate? I vote seagate!

 

[Mercutio]

Samsung or current-gen Maxtor drives (only in red boxes). I heart my warranty.

I don't know what I'll do if Samsung drops to 1 year warranty. Cry, I guess.

BTW, Clocker, more RAM is always good. You know that without me having to tell you.

 

[Groltz]

I used an 800JB in the PC I built my father.

If I could do it over again I would use a Seagate ATA IV ( a V if they were available). The 800JB has too loud an idle. Fortunately it doesn't bother him any.

 

[blakerwry]

which is slower? a Barracuda ATA IV... a Samsung Spinpoint.. or a 1980's Yugo?

I want to know which I should use to replace this 800JB... actually, I'll probably wait a while and have my pick of either the 7200.7 or the Raptor... whichever has the best noise/performance ratio...

 

[Handruin]

I just saw these offers over at bensbargains.

Search for item A0062437 to find this Seagate 120 GB Barracuda ATA V 7200RPM Hard Drive for $112 with free shipping. Fluid dynamic bearing technology for an ultra-quiet ride.

Look for these other deals with free shipping--really good no rebate HDD deal right now:

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB - A0076350 - $112

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB - A0076348 - $154

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB w/8MB Cache - $164

WD 180GB Caviar Special Edition w/8MB Cache - A0080839 - $166 (after $100 rebate)

Seems like decent pricing...I've been looking to pick up a few drives for mirror storage. I am eye-balling either the maxtor 120GB or the seagate for the same price... Thoughts?

 

[Tea]

Our return rate on WDz has not been good lately. The only drives we are consitently seeing fail more often are Zeagate U Zeries thingz. We keep sending them off, they keep sening us replacements, we keep selling the replacements, they keep breaking again, we keep sending them off .... Round and round it goez.

(Doez Zeagate dezerve one of my trademark "Z"z? Maybe not. I better call them "Deagate".)

 

[Buck]

I just had a customer come in with a dead WD800JB - no spin. His first response was, I don't want another Western Digital. Indeed. He was also concerned with hard disk drives in general, so I sold him two SP8004H and a Promise FastTrak TX2 card; I created a RAID 1, and away he went. (Well, it didn't go that quick) His wife has the same computer that he has (their son built them), and he is bringing that one in too. He wants me to take her WD800JB and mirror it with his replacement WD800JB.

 

[Jan Kivar]

The "all drives seem to be $hiT" is just statistical error (while forgetting the 75GXP and some design errors). When people started buying the WDs, surely "more" WD users will report of broken drives, since there is more of them in use. Samsung drives have good track record, since the volume of sales is not so big, i.e. there is less Samsung drives than, say Seagate Barracuda IVs.

Also, most drives that are sent for RMA have been damaged in transit. The damage might not be detectable at first, but the drive will generate bad sectors/blow up in the first six months of use.

Cheers,

Jan

 

[blakerwry]

I just saw these offers over at bensbargains.

Search for item A0062437 to find this Seagate 120 GB Barracuda ATA V 7200RPM Hard Drive for $112 with free shipping. Fluid dynamic bearing technology for an ultra-quiet ride.

Look for these other deals with free shipping--really good no rebate HDD deal right now:

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 120GB - A0076350 - $112

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB - A0076348 - $154

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 160GB w/8MB Cache - $164

WD 180GB Caviar Special Edition w/8MB Cache - A0080839 - $166 (after $100 rebate)

Seems like decent pricing...I've been looking to pick up a few drives for mirror storage. I am eye-balling either the maxtor 120GB or the seagate for the same price... Thoughts?

I'd go for the seagate myself

 

[zx]

Uh-oh....just bought two WD400JB myslf. I'm not concerned though .

 

[Buck]

Uh-oh....just bought two WD400JB myslf. I'm not concerned though .

You shouldn't be, I've seen and sold plenty of WD drives in the past that are still in service.

 

[Bozo]

I just upgraded my PIII 800 system from a WD200BB to a WD400JB. The performace improvement was noticable. The whole system seems snappier. I did do a clean install though.

Bozo

 

[e_dawg]

For a casual user I doubt it would be much of an improvement.

I'd also like to say that I've RMA'd 5 of the 11 WD drives I've purchased for myself in the last 18 months, a mix of AB, BB, and JB drives. That's NOT a good track record.

Did you buy them from the same supplier? WD has an excellent AFR. I bet the vast majority of their drives are perfect from the factory; handling from the factory through the distribution and retail channel is to blame. So is handling from installers, but I think we can safely assume that you are not the typical careless installer.

 

[Tannin]

The "all drives seem to be $hiT" is just statistical error (while forgetting the 75GXP and some design errors). When people started buying the WDs, surely "more" WD users will report of broken drives, since there is more of them in use. Samsung drives have good track record, since the volume of sales is not so big, i.e. there is less Samsung drives than, say Seagate Barracuda IVs.

Sorry Jan, but that's quite untrue. I keep reasonably careful track of our RMA numbers and (of course) I know how many drives I've bought. When you do the numbers (as I have done in print here and at SR), the Samsungs are so far in front of WD and Seagate that they are not even worth comparing.

 

[e_dawg]

What Tannin didn't tell you, however, is that he is on Samsung's payroll. How else do you think he provides such good customer service while being able to net enough profit to lead the über-lavish bling-bling jet-setting lifestyle reminiscent of both 'The Don' and 'The Donald' that he has become accustomed to? :mrgrn:

 

[Tea]

I bloody well should be on Samsung's payroll! All the free publicity I have given them! Even donating a drive to SR so that they could review it. But WTF? I'll agree to accept no payment from Samsung just as long as they agree to maintain their quality standards at the present level. I am saving something in excess of $1000 p.a. in RMA costs as compared with other brands, so in a way I am on their payroll.

 

[Tea]

Excuze me, I thought I waz Tannin. Twaz a hirrible hurrible dream, but I'm awake now.

 

[e_dawg]

So you don't deny the lavish lifestyle?

 

[Jan Kivar]

The "all drives seem to be $hiT" is just statistical error (while forgetting the 75GXP and some design errors). When people started buying the WDs, surely "more" WD users will report of broken drives, since there is more of them in use. Samsung drives have good track record, since the volume of sales is not so big, i.e. there is less Samsung drives than, say Seagate Barracuda IVs.

Sorry Jan, but that's quite untrue. I keep reasonably careful track of our RMA numbers and (of course) I know how many drives I've bought. When you do the numbers (as I have done in print here and at SR), the Samsungs are so far in front of WD and Seagate that they are not even worth comparing.

How many drives do You sell/distribute in a year?

When we're going to see new Samsung drives? And will Samsung still have 3-year warranty in the future?

Jan

 

[Tannin]

Ahh, I'm not sure how many drives a year, Jan. Quite a few. I probably calculated it here somewhere once. Enough to keep both of us full-timers in the luxuries we crave, and a little left over to pay the part timers too. That's all we do: sell hardware, so I guess it adds up to quite a number. A thousand? No, I don't think we sell three a day. Hmmm ... come to think of it, we probably do sell pretty close to that many, if we count trade-ins. But in new drives (with or without system) it's perhaps 400 to 600. Not so many this year, we seem to be selling more motherboard upgrades than hard drive upgrades of late. It comes and goes.

Now, Samsung. Yes, it's high time they brought a new model along. The 40GB/platter generation (in 7200s, I mean, we don't usually bother with 5400s anymore) is our mainstay and has been for ages. But it tops out at 80GB and people are going to start wanting bigger drives than that any day now.

Thus far we have sold exactly one drive over 80GB - which was a 100GB WD JB, which I bought for myself and sold to our good friend Sol. It died the other day, BTW, we are waiting for a replacement for it. (Bloody WD drives - they fail far too often these days. And Seagates seem to be no better. Not that I'll touch a 1 year warranty drive with a bargepole.)

Plus, a WD 120 JB today. Maybe - he has to call me back to confirm yet. Quite the habit breaker, that gentleman - if he orderes, he will be the first person to buy a 120GB drive from us, and only the third one to order a Pentium 4. 1GB of RAM too.

80GB drives, on the other hand, sell briskly, and 40s like crazy. So right no we don't need a new Samsung, but the day is fast approaching.

There is no sign at all of a new Samsung 7200 yet. But I'm not too fussed about that: they usually don't anounce until the product is ready to start shipping, so Iguess we will only get about 3 or 4 weeks notice. And the last thing I want to see them do is ship something that isn't ready. I'd far rather sell a reliable old slow drive than a flaky big new one!

Warranty? Good question. There is no sign at all of a change in policy so far, but they only have to get some Seagate-style return numbers with one model or another and I guess the bean counters will start pushing for it. They are the only one left now. Do they see it as a big enough marketing advantage to be worth staying with? I certainly hope so.

 

[Buck]

Not that I expect it will cause a change of heart for WD drives, but as a reseller, you can upgrade a one-year warranty drive to three years for only a few US dollars. The downside is that WD drives are being sold at a premium price already, and adding a few more dollars can break the bank.

 

[Mercutio]

What's "a few", 'cause at $20, the number I've heard before, that's an insane premium.

 

[Buck]

Resellers (signed up with SelectWD) get a special price at US$5.00.

 

[time]

It costs us less than US$2 to increase the Seagate warranty to 3 years. I can't remember how much it is for WD - surely most people would just get the JB series with its standard 3-year warranty?

 

[e_dawg]

So how does it work for the end consumer? The resellers sell 3 year warranties on behalf of the drive manufacturers as if they were just another product? Has anybody tried this yet?

 

[Buck]

So how does it work for the end consumer? The resellers sell 3 year warranties on behalf of the drive manufacturers as if they were just another product? Has anybody tried this yet?

If I were to sell a BB drive from WD, I would just tack on the extra $5.00 in the sale price and sell the drive with a 3-year warranty. However, as it stands, the WD drives I've sold recently are from the JB series, and most of the drives I've sold are from the Samsung SP series - no extra charge for a three year warranty.

Oh yeah, and as a side note, has anyone noticed that WD only offers 90 days of free initial technical support now? If you want more you need to purchase a service plan or pay per incident.

 

[Mercutio]

Hard drives have tech support?

Seriously, I remember having to call and pester Seagate about CHS data for drives I'd never seen back in the early 90s (I haven't been a tech as long as some, obviously), but, um, what else is there to ask about?
They don't charge for RMA calls, do they?

 

[Buck]

Hard drives have tech support?

They don't charge for RMA calls, do they?

No, they don't. Their new Level 1 support will easily take care of RMAs, plus I think they have an option now in their phone tree to go directly to a RMA queue.

 

[blakerwry]

Hard drives have tech support?

They don't charge for RMA calls, do they?

No, they don't. Their new Level 1 support will easily take care of RMAs, plus I think they have an option now in their phone tree to go directly to a RMA queue.

::drool:: the RMA queue.... where all the cool people hang out.



Have you seen the huge pamphlet that comes with retail WD HDDs.... seriously.. if you've looked at that then I dont see how you can need tech support for your drive... maybe for your motherboard.. but not the drive.