Seagate has always had some of the best warranty in the business for computer hard drives. Buying a quality Seagate drive from a reputable source meant getting a 5 year warranty.
If anything happened to the drive during the 5 year warranty, simply go to Seagate’s website, validate the warranty and get an RMA; then ship it to them and wait for the replacement.
I have often touted the benefits of buying Seagate enterprise drives (in the Barracuda, non-enterprise have an “AS” in the model number whereas enterprise have an “ES”) for the increased reliability. Now, buying an enterprise bare drive means longer warranty also.
For non-enterprise bare drives the warranty is being reduced from 5 years to 3 years (includes Maxtor brand also). This does NOT effect retail external products.
Here is the release:
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.
If you have any questions, please contact your Seagate Authorized Distributor or consult the Seagate Partner Warranty Information page
For great prices on Seagate and Maxtor hard drives, I recommend Buy.com.
