Storage Solutions Western Digital Issues, RMA problems, Service deficiency Thread.

phunguus said:
i got a 500gb caviar blue on 10th Mar(13 days ago)...now the BIOS detects it but it isnt able to boot from it.
I dont know whats wrong with it but it gives some kind of a scratching sound every 6 seconds(kind of sounds like someone is on the ventilator in a hospital).
So what do i need to do? I live in Navi Mumbai, work in Mumbai. Should i call up the pickup guys or go drop it myself?

Also whats up with the 30 days replacement thing? I got it from a run of the mill computer shop. Am I entitled to get a replacement from him?
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Try running HDtune on it and check the SMART status first.

I hope someone can clarify about the 30 day replacement thing, cos if you send it to WD for RMA most probably they will replace it with a recertified drive. And getting a recertified drive for a 13 day old Blue HDD would be a bummer.
 
axis.meister said:
Try running HDtune on it and check the SMART status first.

I hope someone can clarify about the 30 day replacement thing, cos if you send it to WD for RMA most probably they will replace it with a recertified drive. And getting a recertified drive for a 13 day old Blue HDD would be a bummer.
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SMART is enabled and im not able to boot from the thing. So for running HD tune i would either need something to boot from or need to take it to some one else's desktop.
Right now ive shifted base to my laptop. Is there anything that i can do on my laptop(like preparing a bootable USB) which will help me to boot my desktop?
 
phunguus said:
SMART is enabled and im not able to boot from the thing. So for running HD tune i would either need something to boot from or need to take it to some one else's desktop.
Right now ive shifted base to my laptop. Is there anything that i can do on my laptop(like preparing a bootable USB) which will help me to boot my desktop?
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You can use any of the zillion Linux Live CDs out there to boot into linux via DVD/CD/USB disk. I would however recommend you try Hiren Boot CD, boot into the Gparted live distro and check what is wrong with the HDD. Last month one of my old HDDs crashed and that is what I did, there is a neat program in the Gparted distro that shows you the SMART status and other HDD related info.
 
I purchased western digital caviar blue 500 GB in January 2012 but it started giving problems few days back and finally I found that it has many bad sectors , So I decided to RMA the drive , Created the RMA from western digital website and choose drive to give at drop point location in delhi ..So I went to Nehru place on 22.3.2013 and handed over drive to the concerned department , it was a smooth process and I got job sheet in 10 mins .To my surprise the harddisk was shipped on 23.3.2013 through fedex courier and on 25.03.2013 I recieved my drive (first surprise ,never expected them so fast ) around 12 in the morning and was a western digital black 500 GB hdd (second surprise )... 2 days flat iam surprised earlier I had RMA'ed 4 western digital drives and they always took more than 1 month but this time it was great service from them ...I was thinking to dump western digital but I need to rethink again .I don't purchase seagate because they either give refurbished or repaired hard drives
 
ssdivisiongermany1933 said:
I was thinking to dump western digital but I need to rethink again .I don't purchase seagate because they either give refurbished or repaired hard drives
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Even WD replaces drives with recertified drives. Check your drive label for the small 'Recertified' text on it. And you need to be extra cautious since WD is allowing recertified drives to be sold as new too : case 1 , case 2.
 
Had submitted my WD MyBook 2TB at Pune drop off point on 23 March. Got new drive back on 1st April. No issues as such in RMA process.
New drive is rectified drive.
 
Hasn't it been the case for years? I'm pretty sure the drive I RMA'ed nearly 3 years back was replaced with a recertified drive.
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
Hasn't it been the case for years? I'm pretty sure the drive I RMA'ed nearly 3 years back was replaced with a recertified drive.
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No. WD for as long as i can remember replaced only with new drives.. (the last i RMA'd with them was somewhere in 2011). In fact this was also a major differentiator to their offering over Seagate! Seagate's pathetic el-cheapo attitude of replacing with "recertified" drives sucks. (Co incidentally similar to some aspects of the recent row between Apple and China on their warranty service)

Anyways.. I need a new drive soon & I was looking at the 1TB Black.. but not only is that out of stock most places, for some reason it's price has shot through the roof making it unattractive to buy right now.

So i switched to looking for a WD Caviar Blue thinking the 3yr warranty was a decent replacement.. only to see that almost everyone is specifying the warranty as 2 years! I checked WD site & they have a rather confusing segregation of 2years for Component drives only & 3yrs for retail kit (whatever that means)

So can anyone who's got a WD Blue confirm if the warranty is indeed 2yrs or 3?? Cos it would seriously suck if it was 2yrs!
 
Blue - 2 years
Red - 3 years
Black - 5 years

I was in purchase decision in a last month and had get this info at that time, I took 2 TB Red @ 7300
 
Currently WD does not replace the old drive with new drive but intstead with recertified Drives.
The chance of you getting a replacement new drive is now rare.
 
deaddevil said:
Currently WD does not replace the old drive with new drive but intstead with recertified Drives.
The chance of you getting a replacement new drive is now rare.
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So my fears have come true. With a duopoly now in the HDD market.. it was bound to happen. Now they're all out to screw customers..
 
but still WD offers better service in terms of warranty and replacement.

episode 1:
I submitted my HDD at accel for RMA (SEAGATE) they replaced it after 45+ days

Episode 2:
I created a RMA online on WD site, they told a pickup will be done within a week
No one came, I escalated as to why no one picked up
They responded that an advanced RMA will be done, wherein I got a recertified Hdd the next day through courier at home

Thus even tough we will now only get recertified HDD, WD is still good for service offered :)
 
mach9 said:
Seagate's pathetic el-cheapo attitude of replacing with "recertified" drives sucks.
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Is there any reason why a recertified drive shouldn't be as good as a new drive? If a drive has failed mechanically, as it does in most cases, they replace the entire mechanics - motor, heads, platters. Only the electronics and casing will be reused, which hardly suffer from age. Both my Seagate and WD recertified drives have lasted longer than the original too.
 
Crazy_Eddy said:
Is there any reason why a recertified drive shouldn't be as good as a new drive? If a drive has failed mechanically, as it does in most cases, they replace the entire mechanics - motor, heads, platters. Only the electronics and casing will be reused, which hardly suffer from age. Both my Seagate and WD recertified drives have lasted longer than the original too.
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I have an issue more with the principle involved in replacing with a "recertified" drive. For all you know, there could have been n number of things that was wrong with the recertified drive which were repaired and are then being provided to you. That's not the same as a TV or Fridge where if you have an issue with something in it, only that part is changed and you know there's nothing else which is being repaired it it and rectified.

If the failure rates are this high, it's more an indication of the kind of QA or a bigger malignancy in their business operating model. Now it seems that neither Seagate nor WD seem to really care about improving their failure at the root cause (just look at WD's issues with the Passport Drives). Rather it is now marked by a gradual shift to reduce warranty coverage and replaced faulty drives with "recertified drives" by abusing the fact that they're in a duopoly market and therefore are not threatened by the need to compete or improve at the pace they used to before. Therefore gradually there's hardly any differentiator when it comes to QA and product life cycle anymore
 
I registered a case on 15th for a WD HDD RMA. I got a reply on 16th that it will be picked up on 22nd April.

I was not hoping that it will be picked up today (based on my earlier 2-3 RMA experiences).

But it was picked up by Blue Dart today itself.

Good going WD. :)
 
15th April - Requested for RMA
16th April - WD gave me a date of pickup (22nd April)
22nd April - Defective HDD Picked up.
23rd April - Defective HDD reached WD/Flextronics Bangalore.
24th April - Replacement Drive couriered from Bangalore.
25th April - Replacement Drive received by me in Gurgaon.

Awesome. :)
 
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