Amidst the hard drive crisis which has been rocking the world in the past few months, more bad news comes for computer users and enthusiasts looking to buy a new hard drive.
According to various Western Digital partners, in a recent letter sent to its associates the US company has cut the warranty period of some of its hard drives.
“This new warranty policy will be effective for drives shipped from January 2nd, 2012,” the letter stated. “It is important that you take a moment to update your website(s) and collateral to reflect this change for effected drives shipped after January 1st, 2012.”
“All drives shipped to distributors prior to Jan. 2, 2012 will retain the current warranty terms,” the letter continued.” Because of existing inventory in the distribution channel there will be a short period of time when some drives with a 3-year warranty will be sold at the same time as drives with a 2-year warranty.”
The Western Digital Caviar Blue, Green and Black will have their warranties reduced from three years to just two years, while the Scorpio Black and VelociRaptor will retain their five-year warranties. Western Digital denies that warranties are being cut because of the recent Thailand floods.
Seagate was quick to follow Western Digital in warranty cuts as new 3.5-inch Barracudas and Barracuda Green drives will come with a one year warranty instead of the five years of warranty users enjoy now. The 2.5-inch Momentus at 5400 or 7200 rpm will see the same change. In contrast the Constellation 2 and ES.2 drives will have their warranty cut from five years to three years. The Cheetah line and all Seagate external drives will retain the current warranty plan.
“By aligning to current industry standards, Seagate can continue to focus its investments on technology innovation and unique product features that drive value for our customers,” the company said. This means the company will invest its funds in product development rather than upholding longer warranties.
Seagate warranty cuts will occur on December 31, 2011 but all drives shipped before this date will come with the longer warranties.
Source: Tom’s Hardware