You can't spend more than a few weeks on technical discussion forums without running
into someone who has had The Rude Awakening [tm]. It usually goes something like this:
"I have a drive made by manufacturer 'M' that I bought from retailer 'R'. It died,
and since it was within the 3-year warranty period that 'M' offers on their drives, I
called them for a replacement. They told me immediately that this was an OEM drive and
they could therefore not provide any warranty coverage for it. So now I am stuck, and I
have to go buy a new drive even though this one was only 15 months old. I am really
ticked off!"
(And that's a sanitized version. 
) The same thing can just as easily happen with a
drive in a "PC bought from company 'C'". Welcome to the hard disk "warranty
caste system". As far as warranty coverage is concerned, all drives are not always
created equal, even if the drives are physically identical.
The reason that this happens is that manufacturers sell drives in two distinct ways:
retail and OEM. "OEM" stands for original equipment manufacturer and
refers (in this context) to a company that builds PCs. Hard drive makers package some of
their drives for sale directly to the public, and some for sale in large lots to big
companies that make thousands of PCs a month. Due to the very different needs of these two
types of customers, the packages are very different. If you are not familiar with the
difference between retail and OEM packaging, read this
page before continuing.
Aside from the contents of the drive package, the other big difference between OEM and
retail hard drives for some manufacturers is the warranty provided on the drive.
Most drive makers with big OEM contracts sell those drives at a lower price to the OEM
because they are specifically excluding warranty coverage from them. Nothing
comes free in this world, including warranty support. The OEMs save money by not buying
warranties on the hard disks they use in their systems. The condition of the deal is that
the OEM will provide warranty coverage for the drive. It's important to understand that
this is commonly done not just for hard disk drives but also for many other components
used in PCs: optical drives, memory, video cards and even CPUs. If OEMs did not do this,
the people who buy PCs would be paying for all these individual warranties. Instead, the
PC maker provides a warranty that covers the entire system, and the buyer of the system is
supposed to go to the OEM for service.
The problem is that many of these parts being packaged for OEMs with no warranty are
ending up on the retail market; they are sometimes called gray market components.
Buyers who do not understand that OEM parts often do not come with warranty coverage
purchase them thinking they have the same coverage as retail drives bought in their local
computer superstore. They think they just got the deal of the century and wonder
why other people pay extra for those retail-boxed drives. These are the people who are
most susceptible to The Rude Awakening [tm].
The same thing often happens with PC buyers, because of another little problem: the
warranties most PC vendors provide for their systems are one or two years, while most
drive warranties are three or five years. PC buyers think they can call the drive
manufacturer to get the drive replaced if it fails after the PC warranty expires but
before the drive warranty does, or if the PC maker goes out of business or is just a pain
in the butt to deal with. Well, sometimes you can and sometimes you can't.
While similar in so many ways, the big hard disk manufacturers are very different in
their policies towards OEM drive warranty coverage. Some companies intentionally provide a
"no questions asked" warranty policy: if they made the drive and it is within
the warranty period, the drive is covered. Others will refuse to cover any drives not
specifically sold with warranty coverage included. Warranty policies can change, so you
must check before making your purchase to see what the warranty policy is of the
manufacturer you are selecting.
It seems strange that the hard drive makers, who are so competitive and are in a market
with relatively low margins, could be so different on this issue. How can the companies
that cover all their drives afford to provide warranty coverage on OEM drives when other
companies don't do this? Well, there's a simple answer: they can't. Their coverage of all
OEM drives means they can't cut their prices on OEM drives nearly to the extent that the
companies that refuse to cover OEM drives can. This means in general that they
are not cost-competitive with those companies and forego some of the big OEM business in
order to have simpler warranty policies and to engender the goodwill of the end user base.
As for the companies that refuse to provide end-user warranty coverage on OEM drives:
while the frustration of being surprised on this matter is understandable, I think these
companies get just a bit too much flak on the subject. Is it really reasonable to
expect a company to sell a drive at a lower price because no warranty is included, and
then expect them still to provide warranty coverage? Most of the people who expect hard
disk makers to do this don't expect it from the manufacturers of most other products. (I
will say this however: it is in my opinion inexcusable that companies such as IBM do not
provide any way for users to tell easily by looking at their drives whether or not they
come with warranty coverage. Surely putting some clear notation on the drive would not be
that difficult to do. At least, an online serial number warranty status check facility
would give hard disk buyers a fighting chance. Unfortunately, the party line on this issue
usually seems to be "if you want to be sure you have a warranty, buy a retail drive
from an authorized dealer". That's true, but they know that users are buying their
drives OEM and they should make it easier to check warranty status. Instead, they are
turning a blind eye to this problem.)
OK, now you understand what the issue is. The question then becomes: how do you avoid
making a mistake in this regard? Well, if you are buying a drive separately, the simplest
way is to either buy a retail boxed drive, or buy a drive from one of the manufacturers
that has a "no questions asked" warranty coverage policy. If you are buying a
PC, the situation becomes a bit more complicated. If it's a large brand-name PC, the
chances are close to 100% that the drive it contains is only covered by the PC maker's
warranty--plan for this. However, if you buy a PC from a small local shop, it's possible
that they will be using drives bought in small lots that do come with a full retail
warranty. You have to ask. Even if buying from a big mail-order company, you can
sometimes ask to have a drive from a "no questions asked" vendor substituted for
a small charge, but again, verify the status of the warranty.
Another issue related to warranty coverage has to do with stolen drives. Since
hard disks are so small and so expensive, large lots of drives are often the target of
thieves who steal the drives and then dump them back on the market for resale.
Manufacturers who lose drives this way will often refuse to honor the warranty on such
drives. The only protection from this is the first step you should always take anyway: buy
from a reputable dealer with a good reputation. If you are unsure about a drive you
have just bought, contact the drive maker's technical support department and they will
probably be able to check the drive's serial number against their database and tell you
its status.
Next: Third Party Warranty Support
