Looks like the lack of competition in the HDD market has allowed Seagate and Western Digital to cut their warranties
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/storage/2011/12/16/seagate-and-western-digital-cut-hard-drive-warranties-40094669/
"Western Digital is buying Hitachi Global Storage Technologies — one of its main competitors — while Seagate recently acquired Samsung's disk-drive division. With this consolidation, the hard-drive industry is increasingly led by its two key players: Seagate and Western Digital."
"Western Digital's new warranties take effect from 2 January, while Seagate's come in on 31 December. For Western Digital, only the Caviar Blue, Caviar Green and Scorpio Blue models are affected."
OTOH, if the rest of the industry increased their warranties to three years, we'd be applauding.
If I'm correct, bearing in mind that the warranty only covers the drive itself, not the data, is it really that critical to have a three year warranty for a relatively inexpensive product?
No, not as such, but the warranty also gives an idea of what the manufacturer thinks the working life of the drive is, so my worry would be that a reduced warranty could lead to reduced quality.
I guess that's a possibility.
I agree Rik, As the article states though perhaps it's just a quick fix to boost profits as a consequence in the reduction of warranty claims. But then again everything's backed up and a potentially less reliable drive would give me chance to use them for once.
I'm going to have to cure your masochism, Steve. ;D
/me passes Rik a pair of scissors ;)
Steve could well be right re profits. With the future liability significantly reduced the provision for repairs and replacements profits will instantly look much better.
Let's hope that's all it is. :fingers:
The new system I was looking at had a Samsung Spinpoint drive in it, I didn't know Seagate had bought them.
Blast another decent make goine. I have a Maxtor drive in this machine from when they were actually Maxtor.
I expect Seagate and WD will come out with some kind of online backup subscription service now.
Quote from: pctech on Dec 17, 2011, 19:20:12
I expect Seagate and WD will come out with some kind of online backup subscription service now.
They'll probably store the data in Thailand. :laugh:
:laugh:
Quote from: pctech on Dec 17, 2011, 19:15:12
The new system I was looking at had a Samsung Spinpoint drive in it, I didn't know Seagate had bought them.
Blast another decent make goine. I have a Maxtor drive in this machine from when they were actually Maxtor.
It was announced in April http://www.idnetters.co.uk/forums/index.php/topic,25494.msg606633.html#msg606633