Originally posted by: DonaldC
I thought OEM meant no cable or mounting hardware. The warranty was still 3 years.
EDIT: This is only on hard drives.
Once again confusion between OEM and Bulk packaged rears its ugly head. When most sellers like newegg say OEM, they mean BULK packaged. Bulk packaged is identical to retail, except it doesn't come with software/cables/screws, etc. It still has original warranty, its just in a bag or whatever.
HOWEVER, the true meaning of OEM is that it does NOT have a warranty from manufacture, but instead the company purchasing it. For instance, Dell purchases western digital hard drives in large quantities from WD, and to get a cheaper prices tells WD that dell will handle tech support and replacement. That makes it OEM, no warranty from WD, only a warranty from dell (1 year usually). Unfortunately most online stores mix this term up with bulk package which still has the 3 year warranty.
Once you get your hard drive, check on the WD site, you can put in your serial number and it will tell you if you have warranty from western digital or not.