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Seagate RMA

Tsavo

Tsavo

Platinum Member
Ok, I have a Seagate 500GB that's getting ready to wet the bed.

Shock, I know!

It's still under warranty, but I'm wondering if it is worth it at all to RMA it and wind up getting a "refurbished" drive that's probably no better than the one getting ready to go Tango Uniform.

Anyone have good luck with Seagate RMA?
 
I used Seagate recertified drive and no issues. I think refurbished drives are reliable as the new ones. At least I haven't heard any bad stories about refurbished drives.
 
Refurbished HD are never as good as new. I definately dont want to buy drives from someone who selling refurbed and probably not telling you that they are refurbed.
 
robertk2012 said:
Refurbished HD are never as good as new. I definately dont want to buy drives from someone who selling refurbed and probably not telling you that they are refurbed.
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If the drive has been fixed by Seagate, then you have nothing to worry about.
 
"Repaired" items are never as good as new items off the assembly line. That's a truism from process control/quality handbooks.

There's no way that refurbished drives will be "better" than new production. At best, they might be "as good". Maybe. That'd be if Seagate only re-uses the housings. Assuming that the housings haven't been bent by a drop.

I know nothing about how Seagate creates "refurbished" drives. But I can't imagine them re-using heads or platters. There's too many bad things that could have happened to those parts. They probably re-use motors and PCB boards, since those items could reasonably be tested.

They likely take in "bad drives" and trash those with visible damage. They then likely test the circuit boards and maybe the motors. They put all the viable parts into an assembly line that uses "refurbed" parts, keeping those isolated from the "new" stuff. Just a guess...
 
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When I hear refurbished, I think of a sofa that's been reupholstered.

Anyway, the drive passed Seagate's tests, which I now assume are too lenient because the drive is pretty flaky.

I'll leave it as a scratch disk until it decides to die.
 
Tsavo said:
Ok, I have a Seagate 500GB that's getting ready to wet the bed.

Shock, I know!

It's still under warranty, but I'm wondering if it is worth it at all to RMA it and wind up getting a "refurbished" drive that's probably no better than the one getting ready to go Tango Uniform.

Anyone have good luck with Seagate RMA?
Click to expand...
Last December I bought four 1TB 7200.11 Seagate drives. I did not realize this was the particular product that suffered from bad firmware. I purchased through NewEgg, received the goods well packaged, and tested them.

One of the four drives was DOA and NewEgg replaced it. Shortly thereafter the sh!t hit the fan about the firmware for this product and newEgg removed any evidence they ever sold it. Within another couple of months two more drives failed and I used the RMA with the manufacturers.

Concluding that whatever deal I got from NewEgg was now void, I paid the luxury RMA process and was advanced two new drives with new firmware. These drives have run just fine during the last few months.

I just had the forth drive fail and plan on doing a Seagate RMA again, but this time I will do it the slow method since I just bought a couple of Western Digital 1.5TB drives.

If you do an RMA with the manufacturer you will get a new drive. If you choose to use the luxury return process and get advanced a replacement unit the package you receive will include a prepaid return and the package is really nice--like it is needed for a failed drive.

BTW, I have RMA'd many drives over the years by Seagate, Western Digital, Maxtor and Quantum (last two are now owned by first two) and have always gotten new drives. I wouldn't expect anything less.
 
I've been using refurb Seagates for a while now with zero problems. (three 1TB drives and two 1.5TB drives).
All were the result of the .11 firmware deal and Seagate replaced them no questions asked and I didn't have to pay for a thing.
 
BarkingGhostar said:
If you do an RMA with the manufacturer you will get a new drive. If you choose to use the luxury return process and get advanced a replacement unit the package you receive will include a prepaid return and the package is really nice--like it is needed for a failed drive.

BTW, I have RMA'd many drives over the years by Seagate, Western Digital, Maxtor and Quantum (last two are now owned by first two) and have always gotten new drives. I wouldn't expect anything less.
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Your dreaming. You always get recertified drives, unless they happen to be out of stock, which will almost never be the case.
Read http://seagate.custkb.com/seagate/com.instranet.InstraServlet?Command=com.instranet.CmdBlobGet&DocId=106130&SecMode=1&Admin=0&FieldName=Answer&DocLinkParams=Tab%7Csearch%7CModule%7Cselfservice%7CFirst%7Ctrue%7CssdFilterCommunity10%7C368%7Cpage%7C1%7CTargetLanguage%7Cselfservice&DocLinkTarget=_parent#5
If you return your drive to Seagate, your original drive will NOT be returned, and all data and software on your drive will be overwritten pursuant to Seagate's standard repair processes. For additional security, please remove all data from your drive before returning it to Seagate. You will be sent a recertified replacement drive. If you need the data on your drive, consider data recovery services, before you replace the drive.
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As for how reliable those refurbished drives are, I would say it depends. I have had multiple RMA failuers as in, drive dies again in X weeks, RMA that, another HD comes, and X weeks later it dies again... then again, one RMA is still going OK, but I still don't use it for anything important.

AFAIK, WD, Samsung, and hitachi all send back 'recertified' drives, and the warranty period also changes.

edit*
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/support/warranty/Support_Warranty.html
SAMSUNG may replace defective drives with a recertified drive, this recertified HDD has been tested by the most stringent Samsung test process.
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http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/warr_faq.htm
Q: Will I be receiving the same hard drive in return?
A: No. You will receive a different hard drive. All data and software on your returned hard drive will be lost. You may be provided with an approved alternate part number if Hitachi GST does not have stock of the same part number. In some cases, the replacement product will be made using new and/or serviceable used parts. If the defective drive is part of a RAID environment, please contact the Support Center in your geography.
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I am too lazy to find WD's statement, but it is also the same as the rest of them.
 
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I'm about to RMA a Seagate 500 7200.11 that died on me after about 16 months or so.

I bought a 1TB WD Black from Best Buy because I don't have the time to wait.

Whenever i get the 500gb back, i'll give it a test, then sell it or keep for an external enclosure.
 
If you do an RMA with the manufacturer you will get a new drive......

BTW, I have RMA'd many drives over the years by Seagate, Western Digital, Maxtor and Quantum (last two are now owned by first two) and have always gotten new drives. I wouldn't expect anything less.
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I would say you are the luckiest guy alive!

I gotten both new and recertified but I always expect recertified because you are guaranteed nothing more.
 
Yeah, I don't quibble about getting refurbs outside of a certain time window, say 60 to 90 days. You send in an old drive, you get back an old drive. I've received refurbs from WD that still work perfectly to this day. There's no guarantee that a brand spanking new drive won't fail in 3 months any more than a 'Furb...

Well, I've got to call in a 500 GB 7200.11 of my own tomorrow, ran fine for 10 months after a firmware flash, but now it's getting wonky. I've owned all Seagate since 2002 and this is my first sick one. Seagate used to be freakin' awesome.
 
Elixer said:
Your dreaming. You always get recertified drives, unless they happen to be out of stock, which will almost never be the case.
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I do not think I am dreaming. If it arrives looking like a new sealed OEM drive, acts like a new drive, then I'm happy to call it as such.

No consideration that the statement might actually be to protect the manufacturer in terms of perceived excessive liability?

Maybe this is because the re-certification manages to make sure the drive works, is low-level formatted, etc., but I've never gotten a formatted drive to suggest (ahem, hint) of former use, and I have never had a manufacturer-supplied (by RMA process) fail on me.
 
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