Re: Drive failure common at 1-year mark?

On Dec 27, 2011, at 8:35 PM, Daniel Hazelbaker wrote:

> According to this page: http://support.wdc.com/warranty/policy.asp most of their drives are 3-5 years.  It is only a few portable drives that are at 1-year (which is understandable since they are going to get beat around a lot more).
> 
> We always buy the WD Black or Enterprise drives and thus get the full 5-year warranty.  And WD is much nicer to work with with warranty replacement than Seagate.  WD you just fill out a form online.  Seagate I have had tell me over the phone (more than once) that they can't do anything because we are running Mac and I will have to install Windows on the drive first to see if that solves the issue. (Issue being the drive ticks and does not spin up)
> 
> As to your specific problem, I have indeed never seen that - though it is possible that is a new message in Lion or something.
> 
> Daniel

I have never had a problem getting Seagate replaced by filling out a form online (only).  And never once have the drives been in a Windows machine.  They have either been in unix servers or in Macs.  Most in unix servers.  I just describe the problem in the online form, get their labels they provide online, and send it in.   A few weeks later a new (or refurb) drive shows up.

I used to avoid WD due to some bad experiences back "in the day".  However, lately I have added them to my list of drives I buy.  My seagates also have 5 year warranties.  I only buy the "enterprise" versions of drives.