GMAN wrote
JimR wrote

What is the difference between a bare drive vs. one that
appears to be in consumer packaging? Is it just the packaging.
For 5 bux difference, I can skip the glossy box.

Alot of times the bare drive only has a warranty thru who sold it to you.

Hardly ever, actually.

In other words, if it was a bare drive meant to be installed in dell computers or
a manufacturer, and you buy that drive from some street vender or strip mall store,
you might be out of luck if they go out of business or dont backup their drives.

And that hardly ever is the case.

If you buy a retail package drive , you get the full warranty of the manufacturer.

You do with bare drives most of the time too.