Hard Drives: Difference between OEM and Retail???

Retail is like going to a computer store and getting a drive that is in a box, has manual, tools disk, etc......

Oem is getting just the drive. No cables, power cables, manual, nothing but the drive..

The drive comes shipped, wrapped in bubble wrap in a box filled with packing peanuts.

Same drive just different packing.

So as a newbie, is it safe to assume that I really don't need the manual or and that I can just research and order whatever cables that I would need with the drive? (I must confess that I don't even know what the 'tools disk' is...do I absolutely need it???)

Thanks!

-J.

Most new motherboards will come with one ide cable, if its still using ide, and serial ata cables.

You can always buy better rounded ide cables at your local computer store if your adding a 2nd drive.

The tools disk is something that may have a simple drive clone program, utilities to repair a drive, etc..

You can get these off the manufacturers website if needed.

You dont need the manual if you know how to plug in a power cable and an ide/sata cable. If not its on the web.

Generally, there is one more difference. When you buy retail, the retailer has the responsibility of return policy and sometimes, support. When you buy OEM, these things fall to the manufacturer or to you.

For instance, if you purchase a hard drive and right out of the box it has bad sectors, if you bought it retail (from Fry's, for example), you can return it to Fry's and get another one. If you bought OEM, the retailer whom you bought it from is perfectly within their rights to make you go through the manufacturer's RMA process to get a new drive.

Support can work the same way. If you purchase a retail box Microsoft Windows Vista, and you have problems installing or working with it, you can call Microsoft for support. If you bought OEM, you cannot get support from Microsoft, because to them, your OEM manufacturer has support responsibility. (For example, if Toshiba loads Windows Vista on their laptop, Toshiba bought OEM copies of Vista from Microsoft, and when a customer has a problem, they must call and deal with Toshiba. Microsoft won't support them.) By buying OEM, you're shifting the support responsibility to yourself.

Thanks for the speedy reply's, guys. I think I'll be going with OEM and buying the rounded SATA cables. (I'll have 2 or 3 SATA hard drives with my set-up...)

Sata cables dont come "rounded" thats only for ide drive cables. Sata cables should be included with the motherboard. They will work just fine. no need to buy new ones.

  Heh! That's always good to know! I would have ended up spending some extra dollars that I didn't need to. Thanks, Sturm!  

Be certain that you will have enough SATA cables with your mobo before ordering...

Get the OEM is the same product but without the pretty retail packaging. Come to think of it, I've never bought a retail hard drive, I've always bought OEM drives.

As far as SATA cables go, get the ones with the elbow type connector on one end, I've found they are much easier to manipulate and make for cleaner cable management.

Good luck!

Yup...make sure you get a SATA cable that have one ends with a right-angle connector.

http://www.satacables.com/html/sata-latching-right-to-s...

It is sucks that we cannot post picture in a thread.  

Thanks, I'll look for those cables.   Anything to make my build go easier!

I was hoping to ask you a question regarding the length of SATA cables that I'll need with the P182 case. I'm looking at ordering the 18" cables (rather than the 24") with the assumption that 18" will be more than enough length for easy cable management. What do you think?

Here's the cables I'm looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Also (and this is probably an ultra-newbie question) I am assuming that the right angle connector will plug to the device and the straight connector to the motherboard to facilitate easy connection and removal. Do I have this correct?

Thanks for your help!

-J.

No reply button on last thread? oh well.

Don't rush when your putting everything in. Take your time, read the manual and make sure everything is seated good.
Once you have the cpu, memory and video card you can do a test run on the computer. Go into the bios and watch the cpu temp for about 15 minutes to make sure the heatsink is cooling correctly.
When installing windows I have found its best to only put in the hardware needed to run: cpu, memory, 1 hard drive, 1 cd-rom, and video card.
Once windows is up and running then put in any other additional cards you have one at a time with a reboot between each install.
Takes more time but will also allow you to know what messed up if something goes wrong.

There are 3 channels the same models will go through:

1. Enterprise - the best test drives go out to the best customers under contract
2. OEM - System builders get the second tier drives
3. Retail - the worst drives with better packaging

In some cases, OEM drives are sold with by companies allowed to buy x number of warranties for y of drives. X is less than Y, so the drives have to be returned to the seller, not the manufacturer.

In other cases, you get the same warranty.

In the case of retail, you get the longer warranty just like you get a longer warranty from an US auto manufacturer, most likely, you'll need it.