Retail or OEM drives?

[evophile]

Hi all,

I was wondering if there was any difference in reliability between OEM and Retail drives?
I am building a new rig and frankly Newegg's packing of OEM drives scares me. I just RMAed a WD Green 1TB at work from them that arrived DOA.

Personally I've only ever used Retail at home. Is retail any better just because its packed/protected better? I know it costs more.

And I know that you should be backing up, but still having a HD die on you is no fun.

Especially with 1TB drives, all I ever see is how they aren't reliable at all, etc. Is this true? Are they not worth getting?

Thanks!

 

[atbnet]

Retail just means it comes in a box with manuals and cables. OEM is just the drive. I've always bought OEM and have never had any problems.