New HD's antistatic bag came torn. Return?

[Muse]

Bought new Western Digital WD800JB 80 GB IDE retail boxed HD at CompUSA two weeks ago and got around to installing yesterday and found that the antistatic bag was badly torn. It looked like it had been run through with a 2 inch sword - a hole on both sides of the bag 2 inches from the end of the bag. Does the drive work? Not sure yet. I'm having problems but they may be due to the fact that I switched out two HDs at once (not a good idea, I realize now). Well, I still have my old drives and I can do things over.

Would you return such a drive? The retail box was shrinkwrapped, so that's additional protection against moisture, which I suppose is a lot of what that bag is about (has desicant in it). I'm not knowledgeable, however, and I thought I'd seek advice here. The drive LOOKS OK, but it may have suffered damage, either from having the the opening in the bag or from the incident that caused the tear, so I'm concerned. Thanks.

 

[LouPoir]

No - I would not return it. As long as it works OK.

Lou

 

[Pardus]

Maybe someone returned that hd and compusa repackaged it? If the drive has a scratch on it, then someone might of used a box cutter to open the bag, in either case, test out the drive, see if it works, if it dies on you later on down the road, you can send it back to wd.

I haven't bought hardware from compusa since they put in place the 15% restocking fee some time ago.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: ActiveX
Maybe someone returned that hd and compusa repackaged it? If the drive has a scratch on it, then someone might of used a box cutter to open the bag, in either case, test out the drive, see if it works, if it dies on you later on down the road, you can send it back to wd.

I haven't bought hardware from compusa since they put in place the 15% restocking fee some time ago.

I realized yesterday what had happened. I had decided to bring it back and started putting it back in the box with the two end piece plastic supporters. It's obvious to me now that the rent in the AS bag happened when somebody (or maybe a machine?) shoved one of those end pieces on the AS bag enclosed drive. The plastic broke at exactly that point and the person didn't know. The box was probably shrinkwrapped shortly thereafter, and that should have kept the drive dry even in a damp warehouse or vessel cargo container. There was dessicant next to the drive, too.

They should redesign the packaging. Anyway, I think the drive is probably OK and I'll use it, but keep an eye on it (you always have to, anyway) and run a drive test on it, which is a good idea, anyway.

I got a super deal on the drives - $80+tax. Normally I don't buy at CompUSA.

 

[Peter]

You figured it out ... oftentimes you get torn anti-static bags on perfectly good drives simply because your vendor cut the bag to get at the drive's EAN code and serial number.

 

[MrPhelps]

Keep it, The new one would probably be a bad one.