On Sat, 16 Jun 2018 14:36:09 -0000 (UTC), "Yes"
wrote:

No, as far as I know. I bought the original HD in April 2018. The
warranty extends till 2020. My impression when talking with the
Seagate representatives is that Seagate would continue to replace a
defective drive with a new one until I got one that worked. The
customer service experience I had after buying the drive and the
follow-up conversations were very direct, pleasant and satisfactory.

The "three times" is a reference that the original drive I bought was
DOA. The replacement drive (number two) Seagate sent me was DOA. The
replacement drive (number three) Seagate sent me to replace drive
number two works. "Crossing my fingers" was meant to convey my hope
that the drive will continue working for its expected life but that,
given that the first two drives were DOA, there is no certainty it will.

I have had very good luck with my hard drives in the past or just don't
put them to a lot of stress to wear them out quickly. In either case,
I don't have a need to buy them very often. Prior to this purchase, I
bought one hard drive (new) in December 2016 for a build. Before that,
I think 2010 was the last time I was in the market for a hard drive(s).
I wouldn't even have bought one now (2018) except that I wanted to add
another drive. So I build a new pc for myself about every seven years
and for the most part do my research when I'm at the point that I can
use the info to actually choose what to build/buy. That's when I start
asking questions in the NG. My impression is that your experience with
pc buuilding is much greater than mine, that you did/do this type of
activity either professionally or as a hobby.

I hope this clarifies what I wrote previously.

That counts, as I said, that you're getting through. Some apparently
don't, with Seagate taking the position they first demonstrate a HDD
fault condition to prove a sufficient clause exists -- their tools vs
possible 3rd-party HDD and SMART diagnostics. And the thread would
seem fairly recent.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder...hit_heres_why/

As well, from the horse's mouth
https://www.seagate.com/support/warr...nty-checklist/

To others with different expectations, I wasn't aware of how picky
Seagate can potentially be about the whole physical aspect of
qualifying a condition of a drive warranty. Not offhand that I should
be getting back any kind of "cap" indications on anyone being denied
their full warranty, because the manufacturer is tired of sending out
too many bad drives for replacement to people who can't seem to stop
complaining. Small wonder.

Not good at all -- two drives not powering up new and out of the box.
Although I've never experienced such, I'm not quite sure how far I
might go before pegging my concern-o-meter. Least to mention the
overall inconvenience factor, procedures and to an extent equipment
and demands, all for the one low price in addition to having bought
their product in the first place. They probably like you as well and
with good reason: Not everyone is going to be so agreeable.

You could have physically listened for the faulted drives to spin up,
although I can't imagine anyone actually would want to if the drive
does not subsequently initiate or cannot be picked up through the
BIOS.

I also enjoy building PCs for the most, although I don't now build as
often, to face the same technological changes after some inactivity
from an otherwise satisfactory machine, when that time then comes for
an update.

Nor do I always understand the full implications of a nature overall
of PCs, especially over time, wear and usage, to being more or less
impervious when lamely going about doing things exactly as expected,
if ever actually so performed prior.

HDDs now are equipped with SMART firmware diagnostic readouts. Which
we all will no doubt dutifully watch for reported fault conditions: of
some possible, perhaps, 40 discrete indicators whereby importance is
ranked for a severity among yellow "warnings", before the same, if not
others, turn into dreaded "reds" of eminent failure.

I fear, yes, even HDDs are prone overall to imperfections of a less
obvious nature, crossing our fingers, as you say, simply giving it but
one for an added measure, as I might. Apart from a backup strategy
integral to data, even to computers going back 180K floppies, a SMART
condition, one might wonder, really how smart can that be -- as if
anyone by in large is going to open up the HDD for a modular
replacement, a fix -- or simply turn to ignore it for as long as the
HDD continues to play its role and limp along.

People always have had exceptions, provisions and uncertainty when
dealing in HDDs. And it may be awhile for SDDs to pull them out from
the quagmire.