Hard drive manufacturers cutting warranties

[smason]

From ITWorld Canada

By: Lucas Mearian On: 09 Jan 2012 For: ComputerWorld (US)

At a time when the price of hard drives is going up, two of the biggest makers of drives are ending five- and three- year warranties on some lines
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- In a bid to save money or redirect funds to product development, Seagate Technology LLC and Western Digital Corp. are cutting hard drive warranties -- in some cases from five years to one.

Seagate's warranties on certain drives were shortened as of Dec. 31, and Western Digital followed suit on Jan. 2. All drives shipped prior to those dates will continue to carry the warranty term in effect at the shipping time.

First reported by The Register , a London-based technology Web site, the reductions mean some of the vendors' most popular PC drives will no longer carry three- or five-year warranties.

Seagate said it is reducing warranty periods as a way to redirect cash flow to product development. The manufacturer said there is no change in the warranties of "mission-critical" enterprise drives including the Cheetah line. But warranty periods for the Momentus XT hybrid drive and nearline products including the Constellation 2 series are being cut from five years to three.

Warranties for some of Seagate's desktop and notebook drives, including the Barracuda, are being cut from five years to one.

Western Digital announced that it's cutting warranties for Caviar Blue, Caviar Green and Scorpio Blue drives from three years to two, but it didn't offer an explanation for the changes.

SM: just when you thought HDs couldn't get any worse... Who wants to bet that reliability gets even worse?

[dood]

Re: Hard drive manufacturers cutting warranties

I thought the general consensus here was that if it lasts a year, it'll last 5?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Hard drive manufacturers cutting warranties

I thought the general consensus here was that if it lasts a year, it'll last 5?

I've never heard of even thought that - when it comes to drives.
[On non-mechanical electronics that's probably right - except for caps issues.. LOL.].

IMHO the longer the warranty is the better the drive's build quality is.
.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Hard drive manufacturers cutting warranties

From ITWorld Canada

By: Lucas Mearian On: 09 Jan 2012 For: ComputerWorld (US)

At a time when the price of hard drives is going up, two of the biggest makers of drives are ending five- and three- year warranties on some lines
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- In a bid to save money or redirect funds to product development, Seagate Technology LLC and Western Digital Corp. are cutting hard drive warranties -- in some cases from five years to one.

Seagate's warranties on certain drives were shortened as of Dec. 31, and Western Digital followed suit on Jan. 2. All drives shipped prior to those dates will continue to carry the warranty term in effect at the shipping time.

First reported by The Register , a London-based technology Web site, the reductions mean some of the vendors' most popular PC drives will no longer carry three- or five-year warranties.

Seagate said it is reducing warranty periods as a way to redirect cash flow to product development. The manufacturer said there is no change in the warranties of "mission-critical" enterprise drives including the Cheetah line. But warranty periods for the Momentus XT hybrid drive and nearline products including the Constellation 2 series are being cut from five years to three.

Warranties for some of Seagate's desktop and notebook drives, including the Barracuda, are being cut from five years to one.

Western Digital announced that it's cutting warranties for Caviar Blue, Caviar Green and Scorpio Blue drives from three years to two, but it didn't offer an explanation for the changes.

SM: just when you thought HDs couldn't get any worse... Who wants to bet that reliability gets even worse?

They took a hit with flooded factories.
Seems to me the -real- reason for them to do this is to keep from going, um, under water...
.

[acstech]

Re: Hard drive manufacturers cutting warranties

Has anyone heard how their rebuilding is going after the flooding? Are they shipping HD manufacturing to Mainland China Fly Apart Co. LTD?

If I had to speculate, I'd say manufacturing is moving elsewhere, causing reliability to go down. The last few Seagate drives I've got have had that neat little "The content is made in China" sticker on the electrostatic bag.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: Hard drive manufacturers cutting warranties

Last I heard production won't be fully back until 2013 and they won't be caught up [so to speak] until 2014.
.