does anyone know whats better a oem harddrive or retail box hard drive?

[jkellynewyork]

I bought my current WD from a computer show, supposedly OEM(as opposed to refurb. or used), but this is the second time it failed(at least I think its the hard drive because my computer gets to the Windows 98 screen and frezzes up there). Well anyway I am losing tons of data so I am not reinstalling everything again. I am not sure whether I should get a retail box or OEM. OEM's are a lot cheaper. Please make suggestions. Thanks.

 

[sohcrates]

well, retail box only really adds packaging, a cable, and some instructions

the OEM drive has just the drive

both should have full warranty...so there's nothing wrong with buying an OEM drive...assuming its NEW and NOT refurbed

 

[Davegod]

the actual drive is meant to be the exact same thing. when theyre made theyre not determined 'OEM' or retail. its just the box, cables and software, only difference ('cept retail's are usually lots easier to return). maybe the computer show people were throwing them about, selling dodgy good or whatever i dunno.

there could be a number of things at fault making the comp freeze there. install it as a slave to another comp and scandisk it. better yet use norton to do the full test on it.

 

[Steven the Leech]

As far as I know the only difference would be the warranty. I had about 4-5 WD drives fail on me lately, have a 3y warranty, and very nice rma dpt, had a oem IBM hd go bad and i was screwed.

 

[jkellynewyork]

OKAY thanks. I have a strong feeling its the hard drive so I am just going to get a new one. Heh if it is not the hard drive, heh another 40 gigs never hurt nobody🙂

I think I am going to get a retail box becuase I dont trust some of these companies. They could so easily sustitute a OEM with a fualty drive or used drive. I guess they can really do that with retail but shrink wrapping would be a pain in the but and the extra work involved might deter them from substituting retail boxes.

Thanks again for the responses guys.

 

[Floydian]

My OEM IBM has a 3 year warranty, why doesn't yours?

 

[Kingofcomputer]

they use the word "OEM" for both OEM and bare drive.
real OEM hd has no warranty from hd manufacturer like the one selling by dell for dell system upgrade.
bare drive hd has same warranty as retail.

for bare drive, some brands come with screws,manual and disk too.
the main benefit of retail is the ide cable, especially the ATA66 cable from ATA66 or later model.
sometimes there are hot deals on retail hd making its price even being better than bare drive.

 

[whitelight]

i bought an oem ibm 60gxp from newegg and i haven't had any problems since i bought it a few months ago. if you buy an oem harddrive from a reputable dealer, there shouldn't be any differences between the oem and retail (in terms of the drive only).