Hard drives.. OEM vs Retail

[Mr Bob]

Can someone explain the actual difference between OEM hard drives and Retail hard drives in terms of reliability?

I want to get a hard drive, and I need to make sure that I would be better off getting a retail one vs an OEM. But if I am wrong, I would be more than happy to save $40 and get the OEM one.

 

[Andres3605]

As far as i now both are the same quality, OEMS just lack cables and any back up software.

 

[Mr Bob]

They should be built exactly the same, yes... But I am mainly concerned with how they were handled.

 

[CraigRT]

Originally posted by: Andres3605
As far as i now both are the same quality, OEMS just lack cables and any back up software.

and sometimes warranty differences which IMO is the main notable difference.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Hard drives are the strange one, since unlike every other part the OEM drives sometimes have a longer warranty than retail. Many retail are 1-year while the OEM version is 3.

For drives, the OEM is just as good as retail, given the same warranty. It's not like video cards where OEM might mean clocked lower or cheaper RAM.

 

[drifter106]

i just got 2 200 gb seagate hd (retail kit) from frye's for $76.00(after rebate), rebate from seagate was $50.00. They came with disk, screws and ide cable. Both have 5 year warranty. OEM would not have cable or screws but they are simple enough to get at newegg (can get the round cables for about $3.00 but shipping is $4.00.)

 

[stevty2889]

Quality wise, there is no differance, OEM just doesn't come with the software or cables. I can't recall ever buying a retail hard drive.

 

[vegetation]

No difference. You're paying extra for the software backup license, cable, retail packaging, and related advertising expenses when you buy a retail drive. Save the money.

 

[Mr Bob]

I really thought that the OEM ones were handled differently than the others, guess I am wrong then.

Thanks for the info on this

 

[KBtn]

Yep, I agree. The only difference is the lack of software and cables, and sometimes no fancy box.

 

[spidermonkey486]

unless you are talking a MDT that is suppling refurbished drives and resellers are selling as oem/white label

quality is a problem
one company has already pulled their drives from MDT

and the warentee is just who they intend to install it
OEM="PRO" install and retail= DIY install

 

[Zebo]

seagate

 

[Kingofcomputer]

no definate answer.
decide by price and warranty.

 

[Myotis volans]

Hi guys and gals,

Was looking at the A8V Delux and it lists that it comes with 4 serial ATA cables...I assume I can use those for anything I choose, right? What I mean is, are they just "extra" cables that I could use to hook up a OEM hard drive that I may buy? If so, can I just download any appropriate software from the hard drive manufacturer's web site?

Thanks!

 

[Googer]

Yes, those cables can be used for any drive past, present and future drives(both oem and retail versions). Usualy the software included in retail box, is entirely unnecessary for the operation of the drive. The programs are intended to do either one of two things: Diagnose and trouble shoot or format and prepare a drive for some beginner who just did this for the first time and does not know the differance between Low Level and High Level formatting or how to copy data from his old hdd to his new one. I never advise anyone to buy OEM HDD's since most of the time the consumer gets screwed out of a warrenty should something go wrong. Trust me I have delt with this many times before. Yes they promise a warranty on OEM, but seldom do they deliver.
You will in the event of an OEM Drive falure get an earful of crap like this "You must deal with the OEM manufacturer since ACME Hard Drive Manufacturing only provides support for Retail Drives, all OEM Problems must be delt with through your OEM Provider" - Good luck on that one because your OEM source sets its own warrenty policy for the drive. OEM drives are more headache than they are worth. Retail Drives have 3-5 years of warrenty vs. a typical 1 year for OEM.


I have a Retail Hitachi 7k250 200GB 8MB Cache and It smokes all other 7,200 rpm drives
(except maxtor 400gb with 16mb cache.. )

 

[batmanuel]

I usually go retail instead of OEM because you can generally get the retail drives cheaper than the same drive in OEM form once you take sales and mail-in rebates into account (like the 200GB Western Digitals a lot of places had on sale for $50AR on Black Friday).

I did go OEM for the Seagate I got for my wife's new Intel 915PBL-based system because in-store specials on SATA drives are still relatively hard to come by and I wanted something with NCQ support. Cables are rarely an issue, though, since most motherboards come with all the cabling you typically need. I've got a whole drawer full of extra flat IDE cables, plus five leftover SATA cables, and a pair of molex-to-SATA power adapters - which should take care of my cabling needs for a few lifetimes.

 

[Myotis volans]

Thanks...I ended up going retail for the warranty, and ATA instead of SATA for the price. The rebates on those Seagates have just been too good. Can't complain about paying 50 bones for a 160gig drive. SATA can wait!

 

[Shenkoa]

I beileve a manufactorer will stand by a OEM waurentee, especially if it fails. Thats what its there for right?? I mean it would defeat the purpose for WD, Seagate or Maxtor to not take a dead HDD and issue an RMA. I can understand if you were to RMA a drive cause maybe bubble gum got on the platter or something.

 

[Triforceofcourage]

My OEM 120 Gig 8 meg cache maxtor hard drive from Newegg has a 3 year warranty so it is untrue that Retail drives have longer warranties than OEM. Just depends on the drive and manufacturer.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Shenkoa
I beileve a manufactorer will stand by a OEM waurentee, especially if it fails. Thats what its there for right?? I mean it would defeat the purpose for WD, Seagate or Maxtor to not take a dead HDD and issue an RMA. I can understand if you were to RMA a drive cause maybe bubble gum got on the platter or something.

You missed the point to my previous post. When Technolgy companies make oem products they were never ment to be sold directly to the public and were intended to be sold to companies who will be putting them in their machines (i.e. DELL, HP, Compaq, eMACHINES, ETC) and since they are sold at a steep discount they compleatly pass off all warrenty responsibility to the OEM not the supplier. In the case of newegg.com and others they are working under a sort of contract loophole that alows them to sell oem to the public while they not the SUPPLIER (manufacturer) are responsible for 100% of the products support. So be careful where you buy since policies can be extremely varied between merchants. With retail the Products Manufacturer PROVIDES 100% OF THE SUPPORT FOR THE PRODUCT. RETAIL SUPPORT IS SUPERIOR TO OEM, SINCE WITH OEM YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET UNTILL SOMETHING GOES WRONG.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: Triforceofcourage
My OEM 120 Gig 8 meg cache maxtor hard drive from Newegg has a 3 year warranty so it is untrue that Retail drives have longer warranties than OEM. Just depends on the drive and manufacturer.

No, IT Depends on the the OEM company (newegg in your case is your OEM) to provide warrenty and technical support for the drive. I could buy the same oem drive from the same PRODUCTION LOT and get, lets say..... only one year from OLDeggs.com (not a real company) It all depends on the OEM.

 

[mauiblue]

When I received my OEM Western Digital hard drives from Newegg, they were in sealed anti-static bags with bubble wrap around them. No pretty display boxes or DIY instructions. This was the first time I had purchased OEM equipment. But I knew that I didn't need any of the frills just the thrill of saving some green stamps and having the same performance as the retail stuff.

BTW, another positive aspect of going OEM is that I didn't have that much more trash (retail packaging and shipping containers) to deal with when I received my product..

Aloha to all in the group.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: mauiblue
When I received my OEM Western Digital hard drives from Newegg, they were in sealed anti-static bags with bubble wrap around them. No pretty display boxes or DIY instructions. This was the first time I had purchased OEM equipment. But I knew that I didn't need any of the frills just the thrill of saving some green stamps and having the same performance as the retail stuff.

BTW, another positive aspect of going OEM is that I didn't have that much more trash (retail packaging and shipping containers) to deal with when I received my product..

Aloha to all in the group.

You are right about the enviromental thing there. The only trade off other than accessories is ALL SUPPORT you get comes from the retailer and not the manufacturer and the retailer set their own guidelines for Technical and Customer Support. So Warrenties can vary greatly depending on who you choose to buy your oem drive from. (unlike oem: with retail box, better support and warrenty are proveded by the manufacturer)

 

[Kingofcomputer]

For harddisk, OEM (we call it OEM but it's not actually OEM, a real OEM HD is the one used in brand name computers with their sticker replaced) has same warranty as Retail, some even has better warranty than Retail (sometime ago Maxtor OEM 3 yr vs Retail 1 yr).

Harddisk's OEM/Retail warranty logic is very different from other major pc parts.

 

[overclock]

Seagate has a 5 year warranty on its OEM drives. I bought mine thru Dell. They came in the box that Seagate used to ship them to Dell, a special HD box.