Hard Drive Question

[barlav]

It seems like in order to get the best price for a good drive you have to buy an OEM bare drive (no cables, mounting hardware, software etc..) which is fine by me. I haven't bought a drive in a long time though and I notice that some retail versions say "Comes with installation software". What software is this referring to? I thought all I needed to do is connect the power supply and the cable from the hard drive to the IDE slot in the mobo, and then format or whatever using regular utilities like format.exe? The drive I'm looking at in particular is an IBM ATA/100 - 60 gig - 7200 RPM. Thanks for your input!

 

[sohcrates]

That "software" is usually proprietary partitioning software for those not so skilled with legacy boot disk stuff. For example, maxtor loves to package "maxblast" software for partitioning and formatting.

By all means though, if you're handy with fdisk and format.exe , i would definitely stick with it.

 

[CAMS]

The software is possibly Disk Manager. This is used to trick older motherboards into recognising large hard drives, or other trouble shooting utilities which can all be freely downloaded.

I never used them. Just Fdisk & format if your motherboard recognises your hard drive. I always buy OEM.


IBM software

 

[barlav]

Thanks! That's what I thought. I will be sticking with OEM and the nice low prices.

 

[cockeyed]

The IBM software included is called " Drive Guide." It can be used to set up the partitions and copy your old drive to the new drive; It makes it all real simple. The retail drive will include the install brackets and an 80 pin cable for ATA-66/100 use. Buying an IBM Retail drive will get you the 3 year warranty and a replacement directly from IBM. OEMs leave you at the mercy of the vendor, since IBM will not honor an OEM warranty. I bought the IBM 75GXP Retail and as I recall, it was not that much more than an OEM version. Visit the IBM web site to get a list of retail sellers that IBM will honor the warranty from. I believe that Outpost.com is one of them and sells at a fair price which includes free overnight shipping.

 

[Ulysses]

As indicated, if you get an OEM IBM drive from an authorized IBM HDD dealer it will have a 3-year warranty. I just bought 2 IBM 30 GB 75 GXP's from buy.com @ OEM (and buy.com @ Retail). Only the "retail" one came in an IBM box with all the trimmings, but for some reason both are considered OEM drives by IBM - nonetheless, they both have 3-year warranties by IBM, as verified on their HDD hotline @ 888-IBM-5214.

 

[Ulysses]

Just for the record:

Transferring your existing system to a new hard disk drive:

1. There are a number of ways to install a new hard drive and transfer your existing operating system, applications and data from your old drive to the new. Some may prefer to use full-featured imaging utilities such as Norton Ghost or Drive Image, but buying those programs really is not necessary just to install a new drive. All drive manufacturers provide free utilities for installing and configuring new drives. These utilities usually come with the retail versions of new drives, or may be downloaded from the manufacturer?s website.

2. Here are links for downloading drive manufacturers? free drive installation/configuration utilities:
IBM
Maxtor
Quantum
Seagate
Western Digital

3. A PC Magazine article explaining procedures for installing and configuring a new HDD may be found here.

 

[gerryko]

So Ulysses are you confident that your OEM purchase of the Deskstar from Buy.com will be replaced by IBM if it should fail? What exactly did the people at the hotline tell you?
Thanks.

 

[Ulysses]

Yes. If the drive goes bad in 3 years IBM will replace it under their warranty - you just call the hotline.

I think they can determine from the drive's serial number whether it was sold in the first place by IBM to an authorized retailer or to a true OEM PC manufacturer, and, if the drive was registered, whether the warranty claimant is the original purchaser.