Buy Hard Drive off Ebay

[hondaf17]

I'm wondering if people have any thoughts about purchasing hard drives off Ebay. A 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black can be had for about $95 after 30% live cashback, but if it fails want to be reassured I can still go direct to WD for under warranty RMA. Anyone have experience from HDD purchasing on EBay or the like???
TYIA,

 

[Fallengod]

Ya it kinda depends where and who you buy it from. Id say just make sure you buy from someone reputable. Be careful though, I think some of the drives from individuals are pulled from like dell systems and crap and can either have 1 year warranty only or no warranty.

If youre unsure, ask them for the serial number to check it first....


Myself, I just picked up a 640GB WD black drive with 5 year warranty from the buy.com store on ebay. No problems at all. Of course, its from buy.com and not some individual either..... But I got the drive in 1 day even with the free shipping heh.

Such a sick deal though. WD 640 black for $83 - 30% cashback. $60ish for a 640GB drive with 5 years on it is crazy.

The first thing I did yesterday was go to WD and check warranty and sure enough it was 5 years.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

i would never... unless it was a retail NIB, and even that it'd have to be at least $10 off newegg (or other reputable site) price

 

[Sentry2]

If it has never been registered then you should be ok for warranty purposes(at least from WD I think).

 

[aka1nas]

Mwave has an ebay store that you can use the cashback deal on.

 

[taltamir]

Originally posted by: hondaf17
I'm wondering if people have any thoughts about purchasing hard drives off Ebay. A 1TB Western Digital Caviar Black can be had for about $95 after 30% live cashback, but if it fails want to be reassured I can still go direct to WD for under warranty RMA. Anyone have experience from HDD purchasing on EBay or the like???
TYIA,

the standard in the HDD industry is that commercial drives (based on serial number) do NOT need proof of purcahse for warranty withing X (warranty period) years of the manufacturing date...

So if a drive was made in 1/1/08 with a 3 year warranty, and you but it 1/1/2010. Then you do not need proof of purchase until 2011, but will still have warranty until 2013.

The big ones like WD and seagate have a warranty checker on their website where you just put in a serial and they tell you warranty status (without proof of purcahse that is). So if buying on ebay, ask for the serial number before bidding to check on the company's site.

An OEM drive (dell system or part of an external drive, one that isn't meant to come apart) typically has no warranty at all.