WD Caviar Black

[Saljr]

bought a the new WD5001AALS Caviar Black retail harddrive. When i got it, it came in a OEM package. It turns out it was a website typo. Now i cant find this drive in a retail box anywhere. I dont like to buy OEM drives because i feel like they take more of a beating. What do you guys think?

 

[kimsland]

I don't understand the question.
If the drive is new, then it's as good as Retail or OEM or whatever. And should still come with the same manufacture warranty.

If you didn't get what you paid for, you are legally entitled to a refund (note this may be an exchange of parts)

 

[Saljr]

i mean i dont mind buying oem. i just dont like the way they are packaged. All they have is that anti-static bag. They should at least put some foam were the circuit board is. All it takes it one little drop and its cracked

 

[kimsland]

Oh, I see. That's true.

I've never liked that either to tell you the truth. Basically most retailers buy them in quantity and that's what they get.

 

[cutelz]

I've had quite a few OEM hard drives (just got my OEM WD Caviar Black 1TB drive the other day), and I've never had a problem with it.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

Should be fine, if you are going to have any problems they will show up sooner than later.

 

[xehqter]

I assume they bubble wrapped & included packing peanuts in the package? Personally as a repair shop I only order OEM however I've found them to be no more or less reliable than retail boxed drives.

I'll assume the site knows how to ship OEM hard drives. If they slapped a shipping label on the Anti-Static bag containing the hard drive I'd worry.

 

[kimsland]

Actually I had a tech shop for a number of years
And when I ordered these things all I got was a big box full of foam beads and every hard drive was only wrapped up in Anti-Static bag. No other packaging what-so-ever. I always felt strange selling them like this too. (on their own in an Anti-Static sealed bag)

 

[xehqter]

Yikes, that is a little scary.. When I order in bulk I usually get them in the foam container they shipped in from the manufacture or if I order one or two they come bubble wrapped with packing peanuts.

Hard Drives are "a little" resilient when their not powered on in that the drive heads are parked in a cradle to prevent damage to the platters, not sure how much of an impact they can withstand but if it turns on and runs I'm optimistic there is no problem.

That being said I'm sure we've all gotten DOA hard drives, not sure if that's due to shipping of manufacturing.

Generally I've found if the customer knows what a hard drive is and how to install it they don't generally care about packaging when they save money. Most retail box drives don't even include cables or a manual anymore, your lucky if you get some screws.