After building my own computers for over 10 years, my first bad hard drive!

[Serradifalco]

I purchased 2 retail Hitachi 1tb hdds from TD in January. Last week I started getting the dreaded "Windows detected a hard disk problem" message. I have these drives in an external enclosure in raid 1. I haven't pulled them to see which drive is the dud yet. Fortunately, all of my files are still there because I had the drives in raid 1. Otherwise, we would have lost thousands of picture, video, music, and personal files. Just to give you an idea, we just vacationed in San Francisco and took 1800 pictures and shot about 3 hours of video.

I just called Hitachi. They do have a simple rma process. The only part that that stinks is that I have to pay to ship the drive to them. They will pay to ship me a new replacement. The other odd part is that the 3 year warranty didn't start when I puchased the drive, it started 2 months prior to that.

That is my story.

 

[RebateMonger]

Consider getting another disk and copying your data to that. The odds of your remaining disk failing soon are not zero. You have two identical disks made around the same time and exposed to the same conditions.

Also, you may or may not get a "new" disk back from Hitachi. Under most circumstances, disk makers only guarantee a "refurbished" disk as a replacement. If Hitachi already told you that you'll get a brand-new disk, then that's great.

 

[HendrixFan]

I had a few drive failures back before I got serious about case cooling, since then I have been ok (fingers crossed).

I keep everything I need saved backed up to a second drive in my PC, then saved another time to an external drive. You may want to back everything up while you wait on the replacement drive, since you are now running without a backup system.

 

[mfenn]

The other odd part is that the 3 year warranty didn't start when I puchased the drive, it started 2 months prior to that.

The 2 months prior is probably the date of manufacture. The warranty must legally start from the day you purchased the HDD not the day it was manufactured. HOWEVER, if you did not register the drive, the manufacturer will put the date of manufacture in the warranty database. If it were to ever become an issue (e.g. it dies right before the 3-year mark), all you would have to do is provide dated proof-of-purchase.

 

[Zap]

The only part that that stinks is that I have to pay to ship the drive to them.

This is normal operating procedures for pretty much ALL vendors and manufacturers (except for some extenuating circumstances, or some manufacturers that tack on service fees).

Think of it this way. If you buy something from a local store and later decide to return/exchange it, you have to drive to the store to get that done, thus spending time and gas money. The store isn't going to send someone to your house to pick it up, nor is it going to pay your gas money.

 

[Serradifalco]

Consider getting another disk and copying your data to that. The odds of your remaining disk failing soon are not zero. You have two identical disks made around the same time and exposed to the same conditions.

I have a game drive in my pc that I temporarily backed up the files to.

Also, you may or may not get a "new" disk back from Hitachi. Under most circumstances, disk makers only guarantee a "refurbished" disk as a replacement. If Hitachi already told you that you'll get a brand-new disk, then that's great.

The customer service rep told me it would be a brand new drive. I made sure to ask him.

The 2 months prior is probably the date of manufacture. The warranty must legally start from the day you purchased the HDD not the day it was manufactured. HOWEVER, if you did not register the drive, the manufacturer will put the date of manufacture in the warranty database. If it were to ever become an issue (e.g. it dies right before the 3-year mark), all you would have to do is provide dated proof-of-purchase.

Hitachi does not have a registration process.

This is normal operating procedures for pretty much ALL vendors and manufacturers (except for some extenuating circumstances, or some manufacturers that tack on service fees).

Think of it this way. If you buy something from a local store and later decide to return/exchange it, you have to drive to the store to get that done, thus spending time and gas money. The store isn't going to send someone to your house to pick it up, nor is it going to pay your gas money.

You are a very wise and smart man! 🙂

 

[mfenn]

Hitachi does not have a registration process.

Maybe so, but legally they must honor the warranty from date of purchase.

 

[bhanson]

You may want to back everything up while you wait on the replacement drive, since you are now running without a backup system.

RAID 1 != backup system

RAID 1 will protect against a single drive failure but does not protect against anything else. It is not a substitute for a backup system and is actually less important. Eg. A backup system is more important than RAID 1.

I'm a big proponent of using cloud storage for backup. For a large media collection I suggest a Flickr Pro or a SmugMug account. For everything else I highly recommend JungleDisk in cooperation with CloudFiles.

Using Flickr or SmugMug (or equivalent, there are a ton of services) also has the nice side effect of allowing you to view any of your photos from any computer.