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POLL + rant

E

Eeezee

Diamond Member
My HDD is throwing a SMART error, so I want to be prepared for the RMA that I will eventually have to file.

Seagate's return policies look pretty strict, they don't specify that I need to buy this stuff, but they do specify that I need to find something very similar.

Go Here and look at the single Seagate Return Pack. It's just a box with some special foam cut-outs!

I have a Hitachi box with special foam that I got for buying this PATA drive. It was free after rebate (woot Fry's). The Seagate drive could easily fit in this box, and it would be very well cushioned and *should* meet their standards.

What should I do? I could risk shipping them my drive in the Hitachi box or some other similar box+foam package for cheaper, but then if it's not acceptable my warrantee is voided and I'll have to pay Seagate to have the drive shipped back to me. This drive is 6 months old, and a 5 year warranty would be a terrible thing to waste.

Curse you Seagate! I've always bought Seagate drives, and this is a fairly new 7200.8 Serial-150 drive. None of my other, much older drives are having any problems, but all of these fine print details in the Returns and Warrnty section are starting to really piss me off. Why is it so important that the drive be cushioned in this exact fashion? They already specify that a certain number of Gs (so any large dents) voids the warranty. Is it really necessary to have all of this extra padding to protect a dead drive? And why are they so specific on how exactly the drive must be sent? Isn't the Hitachi box+padding good enough? It's almost identical, but the box is slightly smaller (which doesn't matter for shipping one drive).

I have a spare computer that I'll be running until the replacement arrives, but losing 250 GB worth of storage is a pain. Where am I going to keep all of my pr0n???
 
Originally posted by: OdiN
The hitachi box should be fine. Just make sure it's in an anti-static bag or the sea-shield.
Click to expand...

I still have a sea-shield, it just doesn't fit perfectly into the Hiatchi foam (but it could work). If I used the Hitachi plastic guard (basically a different-shape of sea-shield), then it would fit perfectly.
 
When I rma'd a drive to Maxtor they sent the new drive and I used that box to return the old one Seagate may do the same.
 
Originally posted by: Chiller2
When I rma'd a drive to Maxtor they sent the new drive and I used that box to return the old one Seagate may do the same.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a great idea, I could get Seagate to advance ship me a new one, but that would cost an extra $25! I think I might do this just to be safe though 🙁 And then I don't have any down time
 
When I RMA'ed my sister's laptop HDD, I put it in a priority mail flat rate envelope with some packing peanuts. I sent it from MI to CA and figured it'd get there in pieces and they'd just deny my RMA.

I got a brand-new drive in the mail from Hitachi a month later. 😀
 
that's why i keep my boxes for electronic things like that. I'd just pack it well and not worry about it.
 
Originally posted by: TGS
Where's the "I should have used RAID 1" option?
Click to expand...

RAID 1 is probably the worst idea for someone not running a server with no need for serious backups. I've already gotten all of my data off of the SMART error drive. Frankly, the best form of data backup is to use separate drives and only backup important files as you come across them. I don't need to backup my entire OS, all of my programs, etc. etc. It doesn't take that long to reconfigure everything. The only kind of RAID I'd even consider is striping, data protection be damned 😛

BTW, I think I'll go with the Hitachi box, but since Seagate won't tell me whether or not my drive is okay to be replaced, I'll wait until the drive actually dies. I'm running my OS on it, but all important data has been retrieved and stored on an external drive. I get the SMART error with any boot, so presumably any day now it'll die.
 
dont mean to hijack the thread, but why do both my seagate drives (7200.7 120gb ide and 7200.8 250gb sata) both have lower than full fitness when i use smart in speedfan?!
 
Originally posted by: Eeezee
Originally posted by: Chiller2
When I rma'd a drive to Maxtor they sent the new drive and I used that box to return the old one Seagate may do the same.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a great idea, I could get Seagate to advance ship me a new one, but that would cost an extra $25! I think I might do this just to be safe though 🙁 And then I don't have any down time
Click to expand...

$25? That's weird, I've RMA'd drives to Maxtor and WD IIRC, both times I was allowed to do this by giving them my credit card info, so they could charge me in case they didn't get the bad drive back. I would think Seagate would have a similar policy...
 
Originally posted by: Zugzwang152
Originally posted by: Eeezee
Originally posted by: Chiller2
When I rma'd a drive to Maxtor they sent the new drive and I used that box to return the old one Seagate may do the same.
Click to expand...

That sounds like a great idea, I could get Seagate to advance ship me a new one, but that would cost an extra $25! I think I might do this just to be safe though 🙁 And then I don't have any down time
Click to expand...

$25? That's weird, I've RMA'd drives to Maxtor and WD IIRC, both times I was allowed to do this by giving them my credit card info, so they could charge me in case they didn't get the bad drive back. I would think Seagate would have a similar policy...
Click to expand...

Nope, go read it for yourself. They charge something like $25 for a "handling fee" to ship you a factory refurbished replacement, and then you send the defective drive back to them. Either way I get a factory refurbished replacement, but if I let them charge $20+ to my credit card then I can get the drive a little bit early.

They have all sorts of warnings on the RMA page that your credit card WILL be charged for this service.
 
Originally posted by: Eeezee
Originally posted by: TGS
Where's the "I should have used RAID 1" option?
Click to expand...

RAID 1 is probably the worst idea for someone not running a server with no need for serious backups. I've already gotten all of my data off of the SMART error drive. Frankly, the best form of data backup is to use separate drives and only backup important files as you come across them. I don't need to backup my entire OS, all of my programs, etc. etc. It doesn't take that long to reconfigure everything. The only kind of RAID I'd even consider is striping, data protection be damned 😛

BTW, I think I'll go with the Hitachi box, but since Seagate won't tell me whether or not my drive is okay to be replaced, I'll wait until the drive actually dies. I'm running my OS on it, but all important data has been retrieved and stored on an external drive. I get the SMART error with any boot, so presumably any day now it'll die.
Click to expand...


RAID 1 isn't a backup though. RAID 1 would give you the availability of your protected storage. That way you wouldn't have to worry about when you have to RMA drives. 🙂 The point being is I understand you don't mind taking the time to reinstall, I would assume once on a secondary or external drive, and again when the replacement arrives from seagate. I'm just saying a simple two disk RAID 1, would save you that time when a drive failure occurs. You've said that your important files have been moved, but what happens if you had a head crash and you data was destroyed? If you don't do regular backups, RAID 1 could save you a lot of headaches there, as well as giving you time to put the data in a safer location.
 
Originally posted by: Chiller2
When I rma'd a drive to Maxtor they sent the new drive and I used that box to return the old one Seagate may do the same.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I keep all the Maxtor boxes I get back.. they come with great packaging for use with any hard drive..
 
Originally posted by: TGS
Originally posted by: Eeezee
Originally posted by: TGS
Where's the "I should have used RAID 1" option?
Click to expand...

RAID 1 is probably the worst idea for someone not running a server with no need for serious backups. I've already gotten all of my data off of the SMART error drive. Frankly, the best form of data backup is to use separate drives and only backup important files as you come across them. I don't need to backup my entire OS, all of my programs, etc. etc. It doesn't take that long to reconfigure everything. The only kind of RAID I'd even consider is striping, data protection be damned 😛

BTW, I think I'll go with the Hitachi box, but since Seagate won't tell me whether or not my drive is okay to be replaced, I'll wait until the drive actually dies. I'm running my OS on it, but all important data has been retrieved and stored on an external drive. I get the SMART error with any boot, so presumably any day now it'll die.
Click to expand...


RAID 1 isn't a backup though. RAID 1 would give you the availability of your protected storage. That way you wouldn't have to worry about when you have to RMA drives. 🙂 The point being is I understand you don't mind taking the time to reinstall, I would assume once on a secondary or external drive, and again when the replacement arrives from seagate. I'm just saying a simple two disk RAID 1, would save you that time when a drive failure occurs. You've said that your important files have been moved, but what happens if you had a head crash and you data was destroyed? If you don't do regular backups, RAID 1 could save you a lot of headaches there, as well as giving you time to put the data in a safer location.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it could certainly save me some time, but I already do regular backups of important data onto separate hard drives. Keeping redundant data of only important files is the most storage-efficient way. RAID 1 is nice if running a server or if you have many important files that are being manipulated daily and would require too much time to regularly backup. Frankly, I'd rather do a RAID 5 in that case.
 
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