Smart errors on a 6-month old Seagate SATA150 drive

[Eeezee]

The drive just barely broke the threshold for Spin Retry Count (value 96, threshold 97). There have been a few problems with the drive though, like random crashing for the last few days resulting in a MACHINE CHECK ERROR.

So the drive has a Smart Error, will Seagate accept it for RMA? They're not open today, so I'm asking all of you 🙂

 

[Db2012]

they should have 1yr not sure though

 

[Eeezee]

Seagate drive has a 5 year warranty, but does a SMART error constitute an RMA? The drive is still in working order, I just don't want to waste my time+money shipping and generating the RMA if Seagate probably won't take it back

 

[Slowlearner]

Seagate has some online tools to check their hds - run them first then go thru their on line rma process.

 

[bendixG15]

Thats right.....go to Seagate web site and follow the rules for RMA....

Its not hard....

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: bendixG15

Its not hard....

Yeah, except that their troubleshooter has no details on SMART errors. And there's no information anywhere about SMART errors being covered by the warranty.

So actually, yes, it is hard when there is no information available

 

[redbeard1]

See if their downloadable Seatools disk will work on your system. It will do a SMART test. Seagate has generally been easy to deal with when it comes to warranty issues. SMART is supposed to be an indicator of looming failure, so they should warranty it.

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: redbeard1
See if their downloadable Seatools disk will work on your system. It will do a SMART test. Seagate has generally been easy to deal with when it comes to warranty issues. SMART is supposed to be an indicator of looming failure, so they should warranty it.

Seatools threw up a smart error on the website and bootable versions. I'll call them in the morning just to make sure that it's acceptable for an RMA.

Kind of sucks that I'll have to pay to ship this thing, but it's better than having a dead hard drive 🙁

 

[Eeezee]

Jesus, Seagate wants me to send it to them in better condition than I purchased it! I purchased this thing online and there sure wasn't all of this extra foam stuff.

 

[montag451]

Probably explains why it is throwing up errors, if it was shipped to you without padding.

 

[Eeezee]

Seagate Tech Support is the most frustrating service in the world, no one will tell me if SMART errors are enough to get the drive replaced. I've tried the Tech support and Warranty support departments, but no one there seems to even know what a SMART error is. The drive works, it just might fail in the near-future!

Come on Seagate!

 

[Eeezee]

Originally posted by: montag451
Probably explains why it is throwing up errors, if it was shipped to you without padding.

It was shipped from Newegg with packing sheets of air bubbles, but apparently Seagate requires all of this special foam if you're going to send them any OEM drive 😵

 

[imported_Phil]

As long as the Seagate tools report an error code, you're golden. Just give them the results and they'll take care of it. You might have better luck acting as a clueless noob - "but it says something about a SMRT error with your See Tools thing?"

 

[QueBert]

I HATE Seagates RMA process, if you didn't buy a retail drive, you probably won't have the material needed to pack it to send it back. They do offer advance replacement, where you'll get what you need to send it back which is nice. but they charge you 25 bucks!!! I honestly didn't feel like calling a bunch of stores looking for the stuff I needed to ship it back, so I just paid 25 bucks and waited a few days.

 

[cubby1223]

Seagate is not that strict in terms of accepting rma's with less than specified packaging. I would just call their tech support and ask what you should ship it with.

Probably the better thing, if you bought it from like Newegg, just rma it with them. You'll get a new drive back quickly, and they are much more lenient on packaging (that does not mean package poorly).