Buying hard drives, OEM v Retail?

Hey, I was just wondering if there is a whole lot of difference between the OEM and Retail hard drives that are on the market right now. I know that with CPUs, sometimes you can get ripped off with OEM, so I was wondering if this is also the case with hard drives? I am looking into getting an IBM 75GXP 7200 RPM 45 GB one, and the price difference between OEM an Retail is on the upwards of $20, a significant amount. Can anyone provide any insight as to this type of situation currently? Thanks.

that's why they are cheaper also... hehe

Post, we'll do the search...

for hard disks get retail with 3years warranty.
hd could fail after 1 year. Hd is the component which most needs warranty I think.
I had maxtor hd failed after 1 year.
for cpu, if it works at first, it works forever.
How did you get ripped off with OEM CPU?

correct

***check the jumpers 1st then check em again***

As far as warranty is concerned, I believe all manufacturers offer three years now (certainly true for Quantum, Maxtor, IBM).

It does not matter whether the product was sold to you as OEM or retail. I've returned drives to Quantum and Maxtor, they neither knew nor asked whether the drive was sold as OEM.

Quantum and Maxtor both allow you to check whether your product is under warranty on-line (either by serial number or part number).

There is a lot of nonsense spouted about OEM products being inferior, they are not.

Some OEM drives even come with a little manual inside the antistatic wrapping, for those that need them.

Just remember, a manufacturers warranty covers a product irrespective of how you purchased it.

Things may have changed in the OEM market (due to competition) but about a 4 months ago I read a note in MaximumPC Magazine regarding drive warranties. At the time Maxtor was supplying 3 year warranty on all drives, including OEM drives (if you complained enough). Western digital I think was the same. However, IBM was providing <b>no warranty service/replacement on OEM drives</b>, claiming the vendor or VAR has obtained drives at low price with the proviso that they warranty the drives, themselves. Service was provided only for IBM retail drives.

This does not ring true.

Even if you have a warranty with the vendor. They, in turn, are warranted by the manufacturer. When you return a product to the vendor, they return it to the manufacturer.

Some manufacturers do not like dealing with end users directly, they try to force the end user to deal with the vendor.

They will still deal with the customer directly if the product was OEM or retail.

If you have problems just say the vendor went out of business. Works for me!