Flasherly wrote:

On Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:15:49 -0000 (UTC), "Yes"
wrote:

wrt Seagate, I have just finished installing a Seagate BarraCuda
ST3000DM007 3TB internal hard drive. It took three tries. The
first two drives were DOA. The third time the drive seems to be
working; only time will tell. As I understand it, this drive (3TB
size) is fairly new.

I'm not happy that it took three times to get one that works. I
bought the first drive through newegg but contacted Seagate
directly with regard to the replacement/warranty process. I placed
the order with newegg in late April and finished getting and
installing the working drive around June 2. The reviews at newegg
suggested that about 25% of the users panned Seagate for DOA
drives, so I did have some warning that DOA drives were a problem.
Looking at reviews for Western Digital drives, I got the impression
that WD had a similar problem, just not as big - may 20% of the
reviews citing a DOA drive.

The only good thing was that I was very satisfied with the the
service at Seagate Support. Their reps answered my questions about
the return procedure and what I should expect to happen. The
shipping worked as expected. The reps had their notes on hand to
see what we had talked about from the previous conversations.

The other thing is that I chose to deal directly with Seagate to
handle the warranty replacements. Seagate will replace the
defective drive but not substitute. I could have done the RMA
through newegg but figured it'd be faster all around to use
Seagate. After the 2nd DOA drive, I felt like I made a mistake; I
began thinking that I should have gone through newegg to have the
option of refund, replacement or substitution. My initial thinking
was that it would take less time to resolve the problem and that
surely I wouldn't be hit with multiple DOA drives. Sigh.

John

Tiered for their pricing, they're using increments of a one terabyte
at 25% less for the most common drive sizes on the EZRZ series I
bought, i.e. $44 for 1T, $60 @ 2T, and $75 @ 3T. At 4T linear pricing
allowances change to closer to a 40% increase, initially at least,
perhaps due to a change from build constraints, such as newer
"shingled" track read/write technology.

Is this your first time up with a 3T installation? Were you given a
RMA for no shipping costs, if not at your expense, to return the
drive, having to print your own shipping label, a shipping agency
recognizes as paid for and legal, or did Seagate sent you box no
different then to place a HDD to be returned, for you to deliver the
box to a shipping agency physically located near you?

Paying shipping on a new drive is another 25% cost increase, but
straight-down depreciation. Which I'd already factored on mine from
prestated assurances, I would not be charged, by an intermediary
jobber policy interests to be honored for 30-days after haven taken
delivery of a contract.

At times I don't get far behind an anonymous browser, not that I need
to if failure rates are sensitive and difficult for manufacturers to
represent themselves. IT lobby interests may also bear some relevance
for what drive failure abstracts they may provide.

And then their are the models, an IT's specialty in part his bread and
butter, in knowing to equip customers with relative serial numbers
known characteristically secure for longevity and lack of problematic
issues.

I can as well see the numbers you're citing, although the question
remains, how much incontrovertible faith are you willing to place in
what you are told by others, and what you are told by slick-gloss
experts published in trade material, or as much the manufacturer and
how they are to account a benefit derived from your buying their
product.

Perhaps it is time now that a 3T HDD ought to be as plain, at least as
plain is to me, as it is determine with very little doubt a
distinctiveness apparent between an operational 2T HDD and one that
exhibits deficiency.

I should think. To have even one 3T, or larger, HDD among stacks of
HDDs I do keep. Which I don't.

If I'm understanding your questions correctly,
1. the drive was and is under warranty
2. the cost of returning the defective drive was $0. Seagate provided
a pre-printed shipping label with the replacement drive for where
to return the HD. I was not charged anything because it was
was under warranty. All I had to do was put the defective drive
in the box that the replacement drive came in, wrap the box
and use the shipping service (UPS in my case) to return it to
Seagate. seagate recommended using a staffed UPS store so that
I could get a receipt as proof of return in case for some reason
Seagate did not receive the returned drive.
3. I don't have need to buy hard drives (or other eqpt. FWIW) very
often. I rely upon responses to questions I pose in this NG,
reading articles gleaned from googling, and looking at what's
'popular' or 'best selling' per newegg and a few other vendors.
I built my existing pc around 2010 and the hd was to be the
first major addition I planned to make to it since 2010. It's
not like I buy or install a lot of software. It was built for
use with Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit. I intended to add the HD in
anticipation of learning more about VMs and perhaps resume
learning more programming.
4. The statistics I cited were based on my observation after reading
of the comments at newegg for both the Seagate and the WD models
that had interested me. They're not from the manufacturer or
some independent testing lab. As far as I can tell, the mfrs do
not publish that type data. My methodology was to look at the %
of 1-star ratings, and read through 20 or so reviews (most recent
first) to get a "feel" for what people were complaining or
praising. My overwhelming impression about the 1-star ratings
was that the person gave that rating because the drive was DOA.
5. In lieu of recognized third party labs publishing actual numbers, I
am left with doing what has continually been recommended in this
NG - use them cautiously.
6. My previous experience using a Seagate drive was around 1997. I put
two Seagate Barracude SCSI drives because they were rated as best
of class for enterprise environment at that time, and my thoughts
were that if major businesses were using them based on quality
and reliability and I could afford it, then that was sufficient
reason. I value reliability and quality. The next build I moved
to using WD drives to fit a more modest budget and because
IIRC the qualty of Seagate drives, as WD IIRC, was starting to
decline given what users were saying.
6. It was my first experience with a 3TB installation. I chose the 3TB
model because newegg offered it a price that was reasonable when
compared to what they had on sale then, and I was not interested
in a larger drive due to price and unfamiliarity with using those
sized drives. I still had 1TB across three drives in reserve, so
a really large drive (4+TB did not make sense given my usage.

So as a sample size of 1, my experience wrt the DOA drives could just
be one of those outrageous outliers. All I can say is that I'm
crossing my fingers and hope that I don't experience any more problems
with the HD.

John