Seagate changes warranty from 5 year to 3 year on some models

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StorageJoe

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Seagate Updates Warranty Terms
Effective January 3, 2009, Seagate will be making some important changes to its limited warranty terms for selected bare drive products.

The warranty period for consumer electronics, notebook and personal storage bare drives sold to Seagate Authorized Distributors will be changed from 5 to 3 years. Seagate believes that the new warranty period and terms better reflect current industry standards.

Seagate enterprise drives and Seagate and Maxtor external retail products that have 5-year warranty periods will not be affected by this change.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/warranty_&_returns_assistance/product_warranty_matrix/
 
StorageJoe said:
Seagate Updates Warranty Terms
Effective January 3, 2009, Seagate will be making some important changes to its limited warranty terms for selected bare drive products.

The warranty period for consumer electronics, notebook and personal storage bare drives sold to Seagate Authorized Distributors will be changed from 5 to 3 years. Seagate believes that the new warranty period and terms better reflect current industry standards.

Seagate enterprise drives and Seagate and Maxtor external retail products that have 5-year warranty periods will not be affected by this change.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/warranty_&_returns_assistance/product_warranty_matrix/
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That line sounds eerily similar to what WD said.
 
Oh, goddamn it. :mad:

At least my current drives won't be affected, but that 5 year warranty was a big selling point for me for getting Seagate drives in the first place.
 
Gotta love their "reasoning" for doing this:
Q. Isn’t this a step backward in terms of demonstrating your confidence in the quality of your products?

A. Absolutely not. Our product quality remains excellent, and, as the worldwide leader in drive storage, Seagate is committed to providing our customers with the most reliable storage solutions available anywhere. Based on our data, we know that 95% of all returns take place during the first three years, so by going to a 3-year warranty period (which is more in line with the rest of the industry and the needs of our partners and customers) we can make other aspects of our customer and warranty support programs more attractive, with negligible impact on customer product return needs.
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So, essentially, by Seagate's logic, by reducing the warranty, they're doing a service to their customers. At least be truthful and just come out with it, which is actually to save money in the long-run by cutting off those "5%" (if their statistics can be trusted) from submitting their drives in for warranty in its fourth or fifth year of life.

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
 
Syntax Error said:
Oh, goddamn it. :mad:

At least my current drives won't be affected, but that 5 year warranty was a big selling point for me for getting Seagate drives in the first place.
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WTF me too..

I guess ill just have to take a drive out when its 2.5 and drop it down the stairs and mail it in.
Hehe
 
Syntax Error said:
Oh, goddamn it. :mad:

At least my current drives won't be affected, but that 5 year warranty was a big selling point for me for getting Seagate drives in the first place.
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QFT

I don't have any particular preference (bad/good experiences) with any hard drive manufacturer, so I often have to look at what a hard drive offers for me to buy it.

The only major selling point Seagate had was an excellent 5-year warranty. Samsung and WD are often quieter, cooler, and don't seem any less reliable so I'll probably stick with those from now on.

Though Seagate is the only one with a 1.5TB hard drive currently - which are the only Seagate drives that I have bought recently.
 
I just remembered in that google hard drive study they found that drives with the highest failure rate had an age of 3yrs old. So when you drive turns three your warranty is up, right when failure rates are at the highest.
 
Seagates 5 year warranty was the thing that made them different from everyone else. too bad. :(
 
I always liked the warranty, but I never keep data drives for longer than 3 years anyways for the exact reason mentioned above...they start failing more after 3 years.
 
LOL. I have to say I keep them until they fail or they are too small to be useful... which normally happens long before they fail.

But I use Raid 6 in my servers so a drive failure (and I have had exactly one in 6 years) don't impact operation in any way.
 
It only makes sense from a business standpoint. The problem is that hard drives lasting five years is somewhat sketchy. Sure many of them do but I'd be willing to bet that after 3 years the hard drive failure rates for a given model beging to sky rocket.
 
I've never had a seagate drive failing on me this far. I've also been a long time preferring seagate drives but now it seems I will stay with WD for storage. I feel that the quality of seagate drives is lower than before, and know when they announce this.. it's just sad :( Though seagates' enterprise drives are still supposed to have 5yr warranty. Luckily my latest drives are WD Caviar Black drives, I like them much.
 
the 5 year warranty was always a big selling point for me. I agree that I rarely have drives for that long but just the fact that they are guaranteed for 5 years held them a level above the competition. It was always like seagate said, you may not have teh drives for 5 years, but we are confident they will last that long. It was like that old guy in Tommy Boy "the guarantee is on the box making the customer feel all warm, saying I wont break, and if I do Im going to make it aaalllll better" lol

 
While the people hear may actually look at the warranty and assign a value to it...the vast majority of the buying public is dumb. The average consumer can't see further than a few months because of rapid product development.

Therefore, they go into a store and see item A for $99 and item B for $109. The items are pretty much the the same. Item B may have a better warranty...but on average, item A will sell more.
 
If this affects their 1.5 and 2.0 lines I am OUT. :mad: Thanks a lot seagate :mad:
 
This might not really be news...

Within five years, I might not want to be using clunky hard drives anymore...

Actually, within three years, I might not want to be using clunky hard drives anymore...


Considering how Seagate treated customers in the first ~month of the 1.5TB firmware issue (denials and obfuscation), I'm surprised they aren't just telling their customers to ESaD...
 
Tolyngee said:
This might not really be news...

Within five years, I might not want to be using clunky hard drives anymore...

Actually, within three years, I might not want to be using clunky hard drives anymore...


Considering how Seagate treated customers in the first ~month of the 1.5TB firmware issue (denials and obfuscation), I'm surprised they aren't just telling their customers to ESaD...
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lol

What is your smallest drive you have right now? Odds are that it's more than 5 years old.

My clunky "500GB" drives are way older than 5 years now. My clunky 750's are almost 3 years old. In a few months my "clunky" 1tb drive will be almost 3 years also.
 
According to the company's new product warranty matrix, the change will take place on January 3, 2009, and it will affect Barracuda 7200 desktop drives and Momentus mobile drives. Barracuda and Momentus drives sold in boxed retail kits will continue to have five-year coverage, although those packages typically cost more than bare, so-called "OEM" drives.
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http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/16049
 
Well, if the 5 year warranty is that important to you, you still have the option of buying the retail version. :rolleyes:

Really a non issue to me. As was mentioned above, by 3 years, I have usually replaced the drives in my main systems.

Don
 
Ockie said:
What is your smallest drive you have right now? Odds are that it's more than 5 years old.
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750GB, about 2 months old...

Nothing I have that's currently running (or intended to ever run again) has an IDE drive in it anymore, though... 750GB was the end for IDE,.. Although IDE's cable routing was my final motivation to dump it all...

But now I think I am fine with my 6TB server full of 750GB drives... Actually, it's overkill, I don't have the time to watch what it holds, so it's just another waste of electricity to me IMO...

I have 3,000 blank DVD-R to still use, so I'll just burn and restore as needed, as before...

In my previous post I said "I", not "Ockie" for the user's need.

These 750GB drives have five years left of warranty... When that runs out, I think there's a very good chance I won't desire using hard drives anymore...

Not everyone is destined to be the storage king... Well, with hard drives, anyway... (I clarify that due to my having thousands upon thousands of burned discs... That storage is less prone to data loss issues than hard drives, IMO...)

But I'm guessing WD is in your future....
 
Tolyngee said:
750GB, about 2 months old...

Nothing I have that's currently running (or intended to ever run again) has an IDE drive in it anymore, though... 750GB was the end for IDE,.. Although IDE's cable routing was my final motivation to dump it all...

But now I think I am fine with my 6TB server full of 750GB drives... Actually, it's overkill, I don't have the time to watch what it holds, so it's just another waste of electricity to me IMO...

I have 3,000 blank DVD-R to still use, so I'll just burn and restore as needed, as before...

In my previous post I said "I", not "Ockie" for the user's need.

These 750GB drives have five years left of warranty... When that runs out, I think there's a very good chance I won't desire using hard drives anymore...

Not everyone is destined to be the storage king... Well, with hard drives, anyway... (I clarify that due to my having thousands upon thousands of burned discs... That storage is less prone to data loss issues than hard drives, IMO...)

But I'm guessing WD is in your future....
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What I basically mean to say is that as long as the warranty carries you, you will be inclined to keep the drives.

I typically sell right before or right after warranty expiry date, but if they made it longer, I will keep the drive for longer. I guess this whole "applies to bulk drives only" is coming to bite us in the ass because a lot of us are buying bulk drives in lots for our file servers, rather than going for their enterprise line where they can double profits and we keep them until they typically die.
 
nitrobass24 said:
WTF me too..

I guess ill just have to take a drive out when its 2.5 and drop it down the stairs and mail it in.
Hehe
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How about some hard disk hockey?


Every 7200 rpm drive I've purchased in the past 4 years (approximately 15) has been a seagate. That will be changing in 2009. As long as WD still offers a 5 year warranty on their caviar black drives, I will be buying those exclusively.
 
Trepidati0n said:
I always liked the warranty, but I never keep data drives for longer than 3 years anyways for the exact reason mentioned above...they start failing more after 3 years.
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Dan_D said:
It only makes sense from a business standpoint. The problem is that hard drives lasting five years is somewhat sketchy. Sure many of them do but I'd be willing to bet that after 3 years the hard drive failure rates for a given model beging to sky rocket.
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did you guys not see the statement from seagate above that 95% of returns are in the first 3 years?
 
EnderW said:
did you guys not see the statement from seagate above that 95% of returns are in the first 3 years?
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It doesn't matter if 95% of the returns are in the first three years because it is not put in context. I don't care about the failures, I care about failures in which the lifespan I use the drive that aren't covered. I swap all my drives after about 2.5-3.0 years in order to keep drive count to a reasonable number.
 
EnderW said:
did you guys not see the statement from seagate above that 95% of returns are in the first 3 years?
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Of course they said that....its called PR

They also said the 1.5tb issue didnt exist.
 
wonderful. looks like i won't be getting seagate when i build my 15 drive raid 6 array :mad:
 
The amount of angry faces in this topic is astonishing... But I agree with Dan D. While the 5 year warranty was wonderful, it makes more sense this way, from a business standpoint, even if the consumers aren't particularly happy with it.
 
Smart for Seagate yes

BUT IM NOT SEAGATE

therefore its bad for me
I guess Ill just have to buy WD Blacks
 
What does Seagate do when you send them a broken hard drive? Do they fix it or send you a refurb?

Assuming a 5 year warranty, if after 4.5 years it broke... what would they send you? After 54+ months, they would have to give you something bigger, no?
 
drive prices will hopefully drop a few bucks as a result due to lower demand.
 
MScrip said:
What does Seagate do when you send them a broken hard drive? Do they fix it or send you a refurb?
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They almost always send a refurbished drive (you can tell because of the prominent teal "Factory Recertified" sticker on the hard drive's label).

They still stock smaller hard drives. Heck, I've send back a 40GB drive or two fairly recently and got back 40GB drives. They were newer drive models though.
 
For some reason, I've never considered Seagates good HD's anyway. I've had too many failures with them, and this warranty issue just solidifies my opinion. Anyway, I think everybody will be using SSD's
in the next couple of years anyway, so the warranty issue may be a moot point.
 
ZV3001 said:
For some reason, I've never considered Seagates good HD's anyway. I've had too many failures with them, and this warranty issue just solidifies my opinion. Anyway, I think everybody will be using SSD's
in the next couple of years anyway, so the warranty issue may be a moot point.
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Not in a couple of years.


SSD's can't match raw storage capacity and wont get there for at least 5 years IMO.
 
Back to Hitachi. If I'm going to get a drive with a 3 year warranty, I'm going to get one I know will last it.

By the way, Seagate's 5% claim is garbage. Especially on their enterprise drives. I have IBM rebrands in statistically significant numbers - we're talking well over 200 drives. We lost 10% to failure within the first three years. At 38 months, we're losing 2 drives a week. And these are at 30-40% load for ~ 8 hours a day, on 15K and 10K FC drives. The 'Cuda 250.11's at home, I'm on my third pair - all having electrical failure. Only one of 10 has lasted more than a year.
 
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