[Somenamehere]

I had a PSU blow a few months ago taking with it a Western Digital 750gb green drive. After deciding to stop being lazy and actually RMA the thing I came up with an idea. Why not have a RMA battle Western Digital vs. Seagate ? After a little rummaging through my closet I found it ! An old dead 160gb IDE seagate drive still in warranty

I have created 6 categories on which I will be judging both companies along the RMA process.

1. Starting the RMA Process

Both companies asked for the same information here. Reason for returning, serial number, address, etc...

However the one thing that did impress me was the fact that at the end of the RMA process, Western Digital let you quickly and easily purchase a UPS label with your RMA number and everything. All that needed to be done was find a box and slap the label on it.

Winner: Western Digital

2. Advance RMA

Both companies have Advance RMA options, where they will send you a new drive before you send in your defective one. Both needed a valid credit card on file in case they never receive your broken one. However Seagate likes to charge $9.95 + tax per drive for this option while Western Digital is free of charge.

Western Digital Advance RMA form

Winner: Western Digital

Sending and Receiving the Drives

Both packages were shipped the same day by the same method (UPS ground) from Pennsylvania. Seagates Facility is in Texas while Western Digitals is located in California. Naturally Seagate received their drive first (3 days after shipping) and Western Digital received theirs the next day (4 days after shipping).

3. Turn around

While having an extra day over Western Digital it took Seagate an entire week before shipping a new drive. While it took Western Digital just 3 days before they shipped a new drive.

Winner: Western Digital

4. Return Shipping Method

Western Digital sent their drive UPS 2nd-day air

Seagate sent theirs UPS ground (4 days)

Winner: Western Digital

5. Packaging

Both drives returned with very different packing

Western Digital looked like this.

and

Seagate looked like this.

They probably both offer similar protection, but seagates drive looks like it could take more punishment.

Winner: Seagate

6. Returned Drive

For Western Digital I sent in a 750gb green drive and I got back a 1tb green drive

For Seagate I sent in a 160gb IDE drive and got ... a 160gb IDE drive.( Not saying I deserved an upgrade I am happy I got anything back at all)

Also another note about the seagate drive. The S/N doesn't return any warranty information on their website. I have no idea what will happen if this drive dies again.

Winner: Western Digital

Total

Western Digital: 5/6
Seagate: 1/6

Overall Winner: Western Digital

Hope everyone enjoyed my little RMA review

 

[AliceInChains]

very nice. +rep. ive always bought wd drives. ive had a few seagate drives go way before there time. this rma review is extra incentive to buy wd.

all drives fail eventually. so this should definately help someone looking to buy harddrives.

 

[Capwn]

Interesting info indeed

Good work mate

 

[Somenamehere]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AliceInChains;12242449
very nice. +rep. ive always bought wd drives. ive had a few seagate drives go way before there time. this rma review is extra incentive to buy wd.

all drives fail eventually. so this should definately help someone looking to buy harddrives.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capwn;12242490
Interesting info indeed

Good work mate

Thanks.

My dad broke his Asus graphics card and I will be handling that RMA. Ill write a review of that soon.

 

[jak3z]

I worked at a computer shop handling the RMA process and I can confirm that Western Digital > All. Nice review.

 

[redalert]

Great review of the RMA process i'm not surprised that WD was the winner

 

[BLinux]

great review and i share the same experience. i'm in san diego so it only takes 1 day to get something to Riverside (WD's RMA facility) and they usually ship out the replacement that same day so I normally get it 2 days after I ship out the dead drive.

 

[Starbuck5000]

Use both Seagate and Western Digital at work and find them both very good. WD is perhaps a little faster but both are very good(but then this is from the business end so not that fair to compare to home end). Have received upgrades from both WD and Seagate. I see you also got a new drive; noticed in the past 2-3 months that instead of sending back green-stripes they are infact sending you back drives that appear to be new.

 

[Somenamehere]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Starbuck5000;12293171
Use both Seagate and Western Digital at work and find them both very good. WD is perhaps a little faster but both are very good(but then this is from the business end so not that fair to compare to home end). Have received upgrades from both WD and Seagate. I see you also got a new drive; noticed in the past 2-3 months that instead of sending back green-stripes they are infact sending you back drives that appear to be new.

Yeah I am happy I got a new drive. Previously (year ago) WD gave me a refurb.

 

[samuel002]

Very nice review now i'm not scared of owning more WD products

 

[CiX]

Nice RMA review

 

[StuffStuff1]

E-mail seagate and lets see what there response is.

+ 1 for western digital.

Even thought i use exclusively seagate drives and they havent failed me i dont see why i shouldnt try WD

 

[error10]

When I had to RMA my 1TB Caviar Black after finding a bug in its firmware and bricking it, I got a new drive back.

 

[BLinux]

argh... annoying. i sent 2 WD 500GB RE3 drives back to RMA and they only sent me one. But all the paper work says they were suppose to send me two... on the phone with western digital right now, but the person on the phone has a heavy accent, sounds mexican or something. i hope they make good on this...

 

[Somenamehere]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLinux;13113377
argh... annoying. i sent 2 WD 500GB RE3 drives back to RMA and they only sent me one. But all the paper work says they were suppose to send me two... on the phone with western digital right now, but the person on the phone has a heavy accent, sounds mexican or something. i hope they make good on this...

Thats unfortunate. Curious did you get a 500gb drive back or did they upgrade you ?

 

[BLinux]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Somenamehere;13157732
Thats unfortunate. Curious did you get a 500gb drive back or did they upgrade you ?

i sent back WD 500GB RE3 drives, and I got a WD 500GB RE4 drive back. The RE4 has better specs (64mb cache vs 16mb), so it's an improvement... just wish they would send me the other drive...

 

[drevin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by error10;12967826
When I had to RMA my 1TB Caviar Black after finding a bug in its firmware and bricking it, I got a new drive back.

Can you share your knowledge of this firmware bug? Could it cause a bricked drive in normal use?

 

[error10]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drevin Can you share your knowledge of this firmware bug? Could it cause a bricked drive in normal use?

No, you would never see it in normal use. It would only really happen if you repeatedly erased the disk using SECURITY ERASE UNIT.

 

[BLinux]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLinux argh... annoying. i sent 2 WD 500GB RE3 drives back to RMA and they only sent me one. But all the paper work says they were suppose to send me two... on the phone with western digital right now, but the person on the phone has a heavy accent, sounds mexican or something. i hope they make good on this...

just to follow up, the issue did eventually get resolved. but working with WD support via email is totally useless. they only seem to respond with canned responses; probably some automated system. if you actually need help, best to just call their number. but even then, their left hand doesn't seem to know what the right hand is doing... i normally have good experiences with WD support in the past, but they kind of disappointed me this time around... maybe the economic situation is finally getting to them?

 

[LastBucsfan]

Sigh... I hope I'm not one of the unlucky ones who has a problem with one of my Samsung drives now.