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Harddrive RMA fun

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Breadfan

Inactive Moderator
Joined
Jan 4, 2001
Location
Northern VA
Well, I had a Seagate Barracuda IV die on me, so I decided to RMA it. It hadn't even been OC'ed and was less than a year old.

So I get my RMA number and everything is fine. So, I'm on my way to mail boxes etc. to pick up some "foam rubber" which they pretty much demand you ship it in.

I had some at work, in a box. But someone found it, and threw it out thinking it was garbage!

I have now learned that foam rubber is more like foam gold!

I drove all around town looking for foam rubber with no luck. Here's where I went:

Mail Boxes Etc (now The UPS Store)
Staples
Another Packing Store
Office Depot

Finally I decided to stop by the two computer stores here in town. I managed to get some free foam rubber from each place. Enought to cut and tape and have my drive packed the way it needs to be.

Now that doesn't sound so bad once I wrote it all down. Ofcourse, after I got the foam I needed, I drove back to Staples to pack and ship it.

The problem is, I began my search for foam rubber at 11am after running other errands all day. I finally had the package ready for shipping AFTER 130pm. Between that time was foam rubber searching.

I can't believe how big a pain it was to find that stuff. The one computer store told me they'd give me some only after they checked how much they had. They said they keep it around becuase it's so hard for them to find it.

So half a day and shipping costs later, I'm soon to be the proud owner of a [most likely] refurbished Seagate Barracudda IV. :rolleyes:
 
That is why I save the boxes my harddrives come in:D Although I have had so many drives die lately that I have had to wait for one RMA to get back to me to send another in:eek:
 
couch cushins my man.i bet even the so loved walmart has that stuff.if not try the bedding section for egg shell foam they use to sleep on over a matress.

i just went threw this so i thought the cheap and fast route.
i dont think my folks would have liked me hacking a cusion up but i found the egg shell stuff was great.

i also got my rma back from maxtor and guess what they used to ship my drive back in? hard plastic trays! what nim rods who cant follow their own stupid rma process.
 
im going to be rmaing my second maxtor drive soon and i like deathstar just save HD packaging......I have some of those platic "end cap" type ones that ill use for this one, or just whatever they send the new one to me in, since i used a credit card and they ship first, then when i get it i have 30 days to get them my HD
 
I have to send my Western Digital back tomorrow. I did the advanced RMA thing. WD sent a drive out 2 day UPS, and it's going to arrive tomorrow. I am going to keep the box and packaging because I want to sell it.
That leaves me nothing to put the bad drive in to send back. Right now the bad drive is in an opened anti-static bag. Is it okay that I tape it shut? WD said to package it good, and use no peanuts. Pretty funny considering Newegg ships them in peanuts.
 
Well I can say that I'm lucky...when I checked the warranty status I found out it's under warranty until 2005 which means I got a 3 year :)
 
EmTSea19 said:
I have to send my Western Digital back tomorrow. I did the advanced RMA thing. WD sent a drive out 2 day UPS, and it's going to arrive tomorrow. I am going to keep the box and packaging because I want to sell it.
That leaves me nothing to put the bad drive in to send back. Right now the bad drive is in an opened anti-static bag. Is it okay that I tape it shut? WD said to package it good, and use no peanuts. Pretty funny considering Newegg ships them in peanuts.

Just an FYI you are most likely going to be getting a reconditioned drive back. It should come in a plain brown box with nothing but the drive in a sealed antistatic bag. When you sell it you would be wise to mention the fact that it is reconditioned because there will most likely be a sticker on the drive statin that it is not new. Look on the WD site for info on how they want you to pack it.
 
I usually ship the HDDs in a "home made newspaper" box LOL, hasnt failed me yet!
 
Kendan, the Drive came in a grey anti static bag, just like the ones from Newegg.com come in. It was surrounded by foam. It has a March 10th Date on it.

What type of sticker would be on a refurbished drive, what does it say?

Some other people have gotten new drives back, so I would not be surprised if I did. Especially since I did the advance RMA thing, and they were going to charge me what seems like the price of a new drive to replace.
 
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