Need advice.

[drdeutsch]

Hey all,

I have a Western Digital 400gb hard drive that just died. (WD4000KD) Audible clicking, the whole works. I was able to save all my important data with Testdisk, but now I am left with a decision.

I can (A) RMA the drive, as it's still under warranty; or (B) Use WD's Customer Loyalty Program to upgrade and get a new 750gb hard drive (WD7500AAKS). for 215.00

I was planning on getting 2x 750gb hard drives or 1tb hard drives in the near future anyway, but the decision isn't as easy as it may seem.

1. I live in Taiwan. I can only RMA the drive in America, so they'll have to send it to an American address (my parents) and then send it to me. Obviously, packaging is important.

2. Since you don't have to send the old hard drive back when you upgrade, I'm thinking maybe RMA the drive, get a new one, and then upgrade. This will give me a new 400gb hard drive and then a new 750gb hard drive - but it voids the warranty on the 400gb hard drive.

I had this drive set as My Documents and pagefile, so now that I had to back everything up, I'm kind of running out of space, so I need some more hard disks soon. I can get the 7500AAKS here in Taiwan.. I just need to go deal hunting.

The other option I was considering was getting 2 of the 750gb or 1tb WD Green Hard drives. Kinda spendy now, but maybe worth it. Or perhaps wait until the price drops a little bit?

Any advice is appreciated.

 

[maddude]

Well, the price for the 750GB is $190.00 here, so not RMAing the drive and using their upgrade service doesn't make sense, but I'm not sure how much you'd be paying to get a 750GB drive down there. If you can get it for less then $215.00, I say RMA the drive and then buy another one.