External Harddrive

[mallyrd]

Last September (2011) I purchased a Western Digital (500GB) external drive. In April this year I started having trouble accessing the information on the drive. As a precaution I backed up all the drive info which proved to be a god send as a couple of days later I could not access the drive at all.

I bought the drive from IT City in Pattaya and on the off chance that it could be repaired I returned it to them. They said it would have to go to BKK and that it would take around three weeks to either get it back or get a new 500GB drive. "Oh yeah" I says to myself.

IT City called me last week and told me to come in and pick up my external harddrive. Low and behold when I went in yesterday they gave me a brand spanking new 500GB drive.

Good on em.

[Sateev]

Standard operating procedure in the West is worthy of praise as above the call here? You should expect no less.

[h90]

Most probably it tells "refurbished" on the sticker....

I feel the refurbished one work longer than the normal one :-)

[rakman]

I am curious what the warranty was quoted when you bought the drive?

Most computer modules are never really "fixed", they are exchanged, the bad one ends up either in the repair cycle (which is long) or junked depending on value.

Since computers are "globallly" manufactured by nature, the shipping and repair cycle would be too long for good customer service.

Even big server modules are almost never "new" when replaced. Its just the value inherent the the modules for this industry.

As h90 mentioned, the refurbished units are sometimes better and last longer since the components have been "extensively previously tested". Usually only the bad components are replaced, but somethings, like platters or motors will be new if they need to be replaced.

[xen]

Just a question regarding the "refurbished" Hard Drives. Does this mean that there could be somebody else's data on yr hard drive , or yours if your old hard drive is refurbished end up in somebody else's hands. I know there are methods of wiping clean hard drives but never completely. Bottom line is , worst case scenario, could you end up somebody else's kiddie porn or other nasty stuff on your hard drive that you never put there . Or am i just being paranoid ?

[miksguevara]

well unless said data has been bleached there probably will be ....

[rakman]

Just a question regarding the "refurbished" Hard Drives. Does this mean that there could be somebody else's data on yr hard drive , or yours if your old hard drive is refurbished end up in somebody else's hands. I know there are methods of wiping clean hard drives but never completely. Bottom line is , worst case scenario, could you end up somebody else's kiddie porn or other nasty stuff on your hard drive that you never put there . Or am i just being paranoid ?

Possible, but probably not likely. Usually the whole drive is rebuilt with new platters and heads. Then reformatted and tested.

[astral]

Usually the whole drive is rebuilt with new platters and heads. Then reformatted and tested.

Is that even cost effective?

I suspect they are just recycled on the junk tip.

[mallyrd]

Most probably it tells "refurbished" on the sticker....

I feel the refurbished one work longer than the normal one :-)

It is not a refurbished drive and the sticker certainly does not say so. The previous drive was red colour but this new one is black.

[fabianfred]

three years ago I lost 6 drives...2x 200gb; 2x 500gb; 2x 750gb

They were all under guarantee and replaced and the replacements also went down.

all were Seagate

the 750gb ones were server ones which should have been stronger and cost twice the price of normal ones.

some were new replacements and some refurbished.

I never had problems with my old 40gb and 60 gb drives...I think they try to pack too much in and it gets more problems.

[h90]

Most probably it tells "refurbished" on the sticker....

I feel the refurbished one work longer than the normal one :-)

It is not a refurbished drive and the sticker certainly does not say so. The previous drive was red colour but this new one is black.

Mine the outside sticker didn't say so as well, but when you open the plastic housing the HD inside said "refurbished".

I exchanged 2 normal big HD and one of the "passport" portable one and all were refurbished. One of the refurbished was bought 2003 and is still 12-24 hours a day in business. Since it was refurbished 2005 or 2006 it vibrates a little.

(I know the drive of the portable is refurbished because an idiot taxi driver drove over it and than I took the drive out of the housing.)

[astral]

I notice that when my external disk is plugged into the WDHD box the power

light is ON, even if the box is in standby.

So I always unplug the disk when I finish watching, hopefully to get a longer life.