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Western Digital and Seagate are leaders in mechanical hard drives to be sure, but I think we can all agree this time they are leading the industry in a very negative direction. Back in 2008 Seagate lowered the standard HDD warranty from 5 years to 3, and as expected, just about everyone followed suit shortly after. Now they are dropping the coverage period on some products to as little as one year depending on the model.
Here is what we’ve hammered down so far:
Caviar Blue, Green, and Scorpio Blue – Drops to 2 years.
Caviar Black, Scorpio Black, and external drives – Stay at 3 years.
Constellation 2, Barracuda XT, and ES.2 – Stays at 3 years.
Barracuda, Barracuda Green, and Momentus – Drops to 1 year.
In addition to the consumer backlash retailers are also now put in the awkward position of, at least in the short term, stocking the same drives with two different warranties depending on serial number until old disks sell through.
Interestingly enough however Western Digital claims they will be offering an extended warranty program which will allow customers to buy back into the old three year warranty, but no pricing has yet been announced.
Below is a copy of the letter received by channel partners from Western Digital on the issue:
This new warranty policy will be effective for drives shipped from January 2nd, 2012. It is important that you take a moment to update your website(s) and collateral to reflect this change for effected drives shipped after January 1st, 2012.
All drives shipped to distributors prior to Jan. 2nd 2012 will retain the current warranty terms. Because of existing inventory in the distribution channel there will be a short period of time when some drives with a 3-year warranty will be sold at the same time as drives with a 2-year warranty.
If you have any doubt about the warranty of a drive you purchased, you can go to support.wdc.com, select Warranty and RMA Services and proceed to the Warranty Check page.
With sky high pricing due to the flooding in Thailand, and now warranty cuts, these guys are doing a great job pushing users over to SSD’s these days.
Comments are closed on this article
Fenthic
December 19, 2011 at 10:34pm
Your article is partially wrong the Black models are 5 years not 3. So they are getting the axe by 2 years.
Big Geek Daddy
December 19, 2011 at 1:50pm
I've never had to return a WD Drive (all the ones that failed were out of warranty or OEM), however, I have had to return several Seagate Drives. What many people don't realize is you don't get a new drive returned to you, you get a refurbished drive. Just something to consider when evaluating warranties.
I now use a 120 GB SSD drive for OS and a WD Black (5 Year Warranty) as storage drive for my personal computer.
If you're considering SSD I found this site helpful:
http://www.hardware-revolution.com/best-ssd-hdd-december-2011/
glarry
December 19, 2011 at 12:11pm
Ditto on the Caviar Blacks at 5 years...that's what I thought...
But in other news, when prices were heading so much lower (pre-flooding), I can understand why it became a real financial burden to offer a 5-year warranty on a $75 part... When 2TB drives are available for under $100, I'll be OK with a shorter warranty. RAID anyone?
kixofmyg0t
December 19, 2011 at 7:41am
They're trying to build supply back up.....but with shoddy drives.
MrHasselblad
December 19, 2011 at 6:38am
I agree with "ThereStoreStore". I already have mirrored RAID in all of my devices; network (in general), an additional desktop, and even a laptop (although not many laptops offer it??). This article just further sold me on the need for mirrored RAID.
And btw the prices are not all that bad. Consider it as a type of insurance - just in case.
Supermonkey
December 19, 2011 at 12:00am
Remember the consolidations that went on awhile back ? This is what comes of it.
Scatter
December 19, 2011 at 12:04pm
I doubt it. It's more like a domino effect. Once one falls the others fall in line as well.
RUSENSITIVESWEETNESS
December 18, 2011 at 4:25pm
And what's the price of a 2TB SSD drive?
We'll be using mechanical drives for a while.
pimphard
December 18, 2011 at 1:56pm
Well said nsvander that is exactly what`s going on. Ain`t no telling how long these drives been under water, and they got to get rid of them some kind of way.
Toughbook
December 18, 2011 at 1:45pm
I have not bought a mechanical drive in over 3 years. Anybody who buys and uses a mechanical over a SSD is nuts. I'm sure if you wanted a SSD bad enough you could save for it. These drive companies can go **** up a rope as far as I'm concerned.
hades_2100
December 19, 2011 at 9:51am
??? How else should I have built my 10-drive 13TB file server?
livebriand
December 18, 2011 at 1:10pm
Wait, I thought the blacks were 5 years! And yet you're saying they're staying at 3? It looks like my next drive will be an SSD. (I have a few drives, including a 500GB, in the closet that I can use if needed for file storage.)
therestorestore
December 18, 2011 at 11:33am
Large SSD for OS and apps, 2nd drive for large long term storage use server grade HD, possibly RAID, those have longer warranties and last "forever".
nsvander
December 18, 2011 at 11:15am
Why do you think they are cutting the warranties down, they are going to be making and shipping drives like crazy because of the floods. They dont know what the longevity will be like, because they are probably using salvaged machines and parts. If they offer a 3 year warranty and the drives start failing after 2 years they will have to eat a ton of drives, if you drop the warranty to 1 year and they fail after that, you have to buy a new drive and its a big screw you to the customer.
Scatter
December 18, 2011 at 10:51am
Well, they kind of have us over a barrel. Who else are you going to buy your hard drives from then?
