not very happy with Western Digital at the moment

[toyota]

I bought my parents a brand new Compaq pc a little over a year ago and the hard drive is already going out. for the last month or so my mother kept telling me she was getting an error message from time to time that mentioned the hard drive. I finally get a chance to look at when I go visit for xmas and sure enough the hard drive is damaged. I ran hdtune and several damaged blocks showed up without me even finishing the check.

this is ridiculous for a hard drive that is only 15 months old. it wasnt from heat because I go over there every few months and blow out all the dust. heck I even had put a rear fan on there the day I bought it even though it wasnt necessary. it a very basic pc with just a 65 watt cpu 2gb ram and onboard video.

its funny because if I built the pc myself that same hard drive would have had a 3 year warranty. maybe I should be mad at HP/Compaq but to me its the Western Digital that made the hard drive. sure I can go buy another one from newegg for 50 bucks but that defeats the whole point of buying them a $300 pc in the first place.

Locked at the request of the OP.
-Schadenfroh (AT Mod)

 

[Rifter]

1st mistake: Buying a prebuilt

Anyways dont blame WD, you knew the length of the warranty when you bought the system. I know it sucks when a system builder has a lower warranty than WD but thats why system builders are so cheap, they buy drives for cheaper but with less coverage.

All drive makers have failure thats part of Mechanical drives, You should always have a backup plan.

 

[toyota]

1st mistake: Buying a prebuilt

Anyways dont blame WD, you knew the length of the warranty when you bought the system. I know it sucks when a system builder has a lower warranty than WD but thats why system builders are so cheap, they buy drives for cheaper but with less coverage.

All drive makers have failure thats part of Mechanical drives, You should always have a backup plan.

what does prebuilt have to do with anything? its the same exact hd you can buy separately so there should be no less chance of defectiveness. I will certainly still blame Western Digital since they are the ones that made it. sure stuff can break but that doesnt mean I cant be a little pissed at the company that made the product. I guess I do have a backup plan...I will be buying another hard drive. I mean what else is there to do???

 

[Makaveli]

I wouldn't blame WD for this either. Mechanical hard drives fail its just how it is.
I recently just had a WD 750GB drive fail on me after two years. I Advanced RMA'd the drive and they send me back a 1TB Black edition. That is only the second WD drive that has ever failed on me in 10 years of using them. And I will very well be going back to them with the excellent RMA services they provide.

And I still agree with the other guy, if you are on this site you should be building the computer for them not buying prebuilt. Most OEM's machines are junk and they often put sub par parts in them.

Good luck with the RMA.

 

[toyota]

I wouldn't blame WD for this either. Mechanical hard drives fail its just how it is.
I recently just had a WD 750GB drive fail on me after two years. I Advanced RMA'd the drive and they send me back a 1TB Black edition. That is only the second WD drive that has ever failed on me in 10 years of using them. And I will very well be going back to them with the excellent RMA services they provide.

And I still agree with the other guy, if you are on this site you should be building the computer for them not buying prebuilt. Most OEM's machines are junk and they often put sub par parts in them.

Good luck with the RMA.

dont blame Western Digital because hard drives can fail and thats just the way it is? lol. okay gaskets can fail too so I should not blame Nissan if it goes bad when out of warranty? funny after I called Nissan and complained they made the local dealership fix the $500 problem even though I was 3 years past the warranty. heck they have fixed numerous issues that should not have been covered but they wanted to do the right thing. and yes thats probably not a very good analogy. lol

I just personally think companies should stand behind their products and failing after just one year is not cool in my book. of course in this case I am sure WD doesnt give a rats behind but maybe Compaq will and it never hurts just to check.

there will be no RMA since it is now out of warranty. plus I have to find the recovery disc or spend more money getting those. not to mention having to drive all the way there(120 miles round trip) and spend hours reinstalling everything for them after changing it out.

also please knock off the pre built nonsense because that has nothing to do with the hard drive failing. not to mention I have prebuilt comps even from the late 90s that work just fine.

 

[taltamir]

dont blame Western Digital because hard drives can fail and thats just the way it is? lol.

lol lol, I bought a drive from a crappy system build which got a drive with no warranty for less money, it broke, and that means the manufacturer sucks lol!111!!!

okay gaskets can fail too so I should not blame Nissan if it goes bad when out of warranty?

No you shouldn't. Welcome to real life, where you canont just materialize a perfect unfailing object out of thin air.
they give a warranty for that reason exactly.

you pay money for a product and a warranty. If it fails during the warranty they lost money on the sale and have to replace it. If it fails outside then you have to replace it. If you think the warranty is not fair, then pay more for a longer warranty.

If anything, the only person you have to blame is yourself for buying a warranty you were unsatisfied with.

 

[toyota]

lol lol, I bought a drive from a crappy system build which got a drive with no warranty for less money, it broke, and that means the manufacturer sucks lol!111!!!


No you shouldn't. Welcome to real life, where you canont just materialize a perfect unfailing object out of thin air.

grow up. I didnt say they sucked, all I said was that I was a little unhappy with them. they made the drive so I dont see how anybody else would be at fault here but thanks for the mature reply.

 

[taltamir]

what is there to be unhappy about? something broke, it happens, at least it is only 50$

 

[toyota]

what is there to be unhappy about? something broke, it happens, at least it is only 50$

yeah I guess 50 bucks is no big deal when its not yours. plus if you actually read the thread its going to be a lot of trouble just to get over there and install it for them. by the time I order a recovery disc, drive over there and back, spend hours reinstalling everything for them it will cost much more than just 50 bucks.

 

[Voo]

also please knock off the pre built nonsense because that has nothing to do with the hard drive failing. not to mention I have prebuilt comps even from the late 90s that work just fine.

Mechanical parts can fail, that's just how it is. There's no sensible way to avoid that - at least if you like paying 7Cent/gb (European prices though) and not twice or more.

But if you're that interested in reliability, every manufacterer has such drives.. though there's still no guarantee for anything.


And other than that, he's absolutly right, if the prebuilt pc has lesser warranty for the hard drive, exactly why should you be mad at the manufacterer? If HP didn't mention the lesser warranty you should be angry at them, but if they did (and I'm rather sure they do), it's your own fault for buying from them..

 

[toyota]

Mechanical parts can fail, that's just how it is. There's no sensible way to avoid that - at least if you like paying 7Cent/gb (European prices though) and not twice or more.

But if you're that interested in reliability, every manufacterer has such drives.. though there's still no guarantee for anything.


And other than that, he's absolutly right, if the prebuilt pc has lesser warranty for the hard drive, exactly why should you be mad at the manufacterer? If HP didn't mention the lesser warranty you should be angry at them, but if they did (and I'm rather sure they do), it's your own fault for buying from them..

I understand that HP is the one with a short warranty but the fact remains that WD made the drive so that is who I am upset with. really why would I cut them slack because I bought a pre built pc with their drive in it? it is their drive so thats really the bottom line to me. anyway of coarse i will just have to suck it up but having something fail this quick is still a lot of aggravation.

 

[Zap]

Wow, a lot of WD love. I wonder what this thread would look like if the OP had mentioned it was a Seagate drive.

 

[Cattykit]

Can't blame WD based on one incident. If you really want to blame, gather more samples.

HDDs fail and it's all about your luck unless we're talking about deathgate-like issues.

 

[ebaycj]

I understand that HP is the one with a short warranty but the fact remains that WD made the drive so that is who I am upset with. really why would I cut them slack because I bought a pre built pc with their drive in it? it is their drive so thats really the bottom line to me. anyway of coarse i will just have to suck it up but having something fail this quick is still a lot of aggravation.

OEM's (Compaq, etc..) do routinely buy drives from HD manufacturers that are lower spec than what the HD manufacturer sells through it's retail channels. If they can save $1 per PC by removing functionality that the OEM feels it's customers do not need and/or will not use, they will. Especially on a low-end PC.

Kinda like, Ford doesn't sell 100% ethanol versions of the Ford Taurus to the public (even now, with E85, it's still 15% gasoline). However, the great state of Iowa has many, many public service vehicles that are Ford Tauruses that burn 100% ethanol. Do you really believe that ford offers them the same warranty terms (bumper-to-bumper, etc..) on these cars, as they do on their retail cars? No. Are they the same specs (horsepower/torque/etc...) as the retail vehicles? No.

Here's a question for you, if the power supply in that PC blew up (instead of the HDD), who would you be pissed at? Compaq for choosing a low-spec cheapo power supply, or the power supply company for manufacturing exactly what Compaq spec'd out? What if the power supply was only labeled as a "Compaq 300 Watt ATX Power Supply"? OK, now what about if the WD hard drive was labeled a "Compaq 300GB Hard Drive"?

 

[mav451]

Hmm didn't I already read this thread at [H]?

 

[toyota]

OEM's (Compaq, etc..) do routinely buy drives from HD manufacturers that are lower spec than what the HD manufacturer sells through it's retail channels. If they can save $1 per PC by removing functionality that the OEM feels it's customers do not need and/or will not use, they will. Especially on a low-end PC.

Kinda like, Ford doesn't sell 100% ethanol versions of the Ford Taurus to the public (even now, with E85, it's still 15% gasoline). However, the great state of Iowa has many, many public service vehicles that are Ford Tauruses that burn 100% ethanol. Do you really believe that ford offers them the same warranty terms (bumper-to-bumper, etc..) on these cars, as they do on their retail cars? No. Are they the same specs (horsepower/torque/etc...) as the retail vehicles? No.

Here's a question for you, if the power supply in that PC blew up (instead of the HDD), who would you be pissed at? Compaq for choosing a low-spec cheapo power supply, or the power supply company for manufacturing exactly what Compaq spec'd out? What if the power supply was only labeled as a "Compaq 300 Watt ATX Power Supply"? OK, now what about if the WD hard drive was labeled a "Compaq 300GB Hard Drive"?

way too many what ifs so lets go over the facts again... Western Digital made the hard drive so I am a little upset with them because its their product that has failed. its the same hard drive that can be purchased so again stop blaming it on the pc being pre built because that has nothing to do with it from a mechanical stand point. part of the reason I started this thread though was saying thats its funny that the hard drive would still be under warranty if I bought it separately. yes I obviously realize any hard drive or other part can be defective and fail but some of these comments are just silly. at least let me complain a little so I can feel better.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Its just bad luck, and there is nothing else to it unless we are talking about seagate drives .

Ive had two cases where memory I bought went bad after a week, but Im not going to hate/blame/rant about Corsair because of it. It happens because of the nature of semiconductor devices.

Regarding retail drives to ones used in pre built ones, Im sure there is a difference regarding quality (i.e lower warranty). Just like how most pre built PCs use average to pathetic PSUs.

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: Here's an example. Best Buy sells things with optional extended warranty. So a normal thingy comes with 1 year but an extended warranty comes with 2 let's say. You buy this thingy w/o the extra warranty and it breaks in 15 months. Are you going to be pissed at Best Buy for NOT replacing your thingy just because it's out of warranty? Because you would be buying the exact same thingy just with a lesser warranty to save on cost.

This is exactly what you did for your cheapy machine. You paid less money and got lesser stuff.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Go onto the manufacturer's website and see if it is still under warranty. If so, get it replaced. I presume the wise man had stuff of importance backed up. Of course, prebuilt computers often these days do not include preloaded software on optical media for you to recover from.

 

[CraigRT]

I wouldn't blame WD for this either. Mechanical hard drives fail its just how it is.
I recently just had a WD 750GB drive fail on me after two years. I Advanced RMA'd the drive and they send me back a 1TB Black edition. That is only the second WD drive that has ever failed on me in 10 years of using them. And I will very well be going back to them with the excellent RMA services they provide.

And I still agree with the other guy, if you are on this site you should be building the computer for them not buying prebuilt. Most OEM's machines are junk and they often put sub par parts in them.

Good luck with the RMA.

They do have good RMA services. I sent back a dead WD740 (first gen Raptor) and got a 150gb Velociraptor in return. It was also quite quick, and no questions asked.

I like WD.

 

[Modelworks]

Consumer electronics circumvent all other warranties to consumers on parts inside. If a hard drive fails on a DVR box then you have to deal with the maker of the DVR box not the manufacturer of the HD. The way they are able to cut costs and sell parts cheap in bulk usually doesn't involve lowering quality but by removing warranties and all customer support from the items. If WD knows that they will never have any future cost associated with the sale then they can sell cheaper. If you buy from them direct they know from past sales that a certain percentage will fail and that when it does they have to cover the cost. By doing OEM deals they put that extra cost on companies like compaq.

So compaq chose to give up warranty coverage on the drives because they decided it was cheaper to just replace them at cost than pay WD for the extra warranty. When you design something like a pc you calculate the cost of returns vs paying more the part and getting a warranty. I have seen things like power supplies that only came with a will run when exiting the assembly line warranty with an allowance of 10 out of 1000 failures.

 

[pjkenned]

by the time I order a recovery disc, drive over there and back, spend hours reinstalling everything for them it will cost much more than just 50 bucks.

This is pretty basic IT sadly. You can pay little up-front and skimp on backups/ redundancy/ support... but you are risking paying more later. PC components fail... they just do. You may not know when... but they will at some point. Even with daily backups, I still have everything on raid 1/5/6 just to prevent downtime, because a few bucks up front is always worth avoiding the hassle later on.

 

[RebateMonger]

its funny because if I built the pc myself that same hard drive would have had a 3 year warranty.

Hard drive warranties are basically worthless anyway. The disk maker won't recover your lost data and won't re-install your OS and applications.

In the future, if you want to minimize the pain of disk failure:

1) Make sure you have System Recovery disks for the PC BEFORE the disk fails. If System Recovery disks aren't included with the PC, they can usually be burned with a utility that comes on the PC.

2) Make periodic backups of important data and/or the entire system. All versions of Windows include some form of backup program, although not all will do system backups. There are a couple of great image backup programs that can be purchased. It's easiest to make the backups to an external USB drive. Image backups make recovery of the whole system, including data and installed applications, easy and fast.

 

[toyota]

Hard drive warranties are basically worthless anyway. The disk maker won't recover your lost data and won't re-install your OS and applications.

In the future, if you want to minimize the pain of disk failure:

1) Make sure you have System Recovery disks for the PC BEFORE the disk fails. If System Recovery disks aren't included with the PC, they can usually be burned with a utility that comes on the PC.

2) Make periodic backups of important data and/or the entire system. All versions of Windows include some form of backup program, although not all will do system backups. There are a couple of great image backup programs that can be purchased. It's easiest to make the backups to an external USB drive. Image backups make recovery of the whole system, including data and installed applications, easy and fast.

there is nothing important on their pc so that isnt really an issue.

also wd even has advanced replacement during the warranty period so I certainly would not call that worthless. I am going to get the serial number from the hd just to see if by some chance I can rma it. I have a feeling though that the serial number will indicate that it is not available for regular rma.

 

[RebateMonger]

I am going to get the serial number from the hd just to see if by some chance I can rma it. I have a feeling though that the serial number will indicate that it is not available for regular rma.

It never hurts to try. The arrangement with various PC makers and disk makers varies. Sometimes the disk makers will honor their standard OEM warranty on such disks. And sometimes they won't. It depends on the terms of the original contract and, maybe, on public relations.

By disk warranties being "worthless", I'm saying:

"Returning a disk is likely to cost you $10-$20, depending on whether you have the required shipping materials and whether you do an Advance RMA. Plus the time to apply for the RMA, the time to package the drive, and the time and gas to drive it to a shipping office. And what you get back will likely be a refurbished drive."

"A brand-new disk from Newegg could be as little as $40 (obviously it depends on the disk capacity needed), only takes a few minutes to order, and will be delivered, brand-new, to your door, in three days."

Either way, the cost of the disk is insignificant compared to the cost and/or time of diagnosis, removing and replacing the disk, and restoring the OS, applications, and data. I've never found a case where it seemed worth it to me (personally), and certainly not worth it to my clients, to RMA a failed disk.