Sending Hitachi Drive back under warranty

[atct86]

My 7200rpm 60gb Hitachi laptop drive failed, and is under warranty.

They state that the HD will be erased as soon at it arrives at their location. Has anyone gone through this before? Is my data safe?

They also say I cannot use packaging peanuts, and must use hard foam material. Does anyone know what this is or where to get it?

[jdhurst]

I had a Hitachi drive fail under warranty and returned it for a replacement.

1. It took some months for Hitachi to replace it.
2. I packed it in plastic and put it in a cardboard box. I did not use foam. The drive was broken, after all.
3. I have no idea if the data was deleted, but I expect the drive was scrap.

That happened a couple of years ago (Air bag debacle) and the new drive has performed flawlessly. ... JD Hurst

[DIGITALgimpus]

I advise keeping HD packaging for this reason. It's much easier to deal with then.

I have a feeling they just scrap the physical drive... they may salvage the circuit board if it's still good, but that's about it. I doubt it's worth their effort to keep the rest, and risk another failure (that's just more cost for them).

[Kyocera]

Our company gets hard drives from various sources and they all come packaged in different configurations. Some use cardboard origami, some use peanuts, some use foam blocks cut to the size of the box and have a slot cut in them for the drive. You could check places like UPS store, staple, office max, or buy a large soft sponge and cut a hole in the middle and find a box to fit.

[pianowizard]

I had a Hitachi drive fail under warranty and returned it for a replacement.

1. It took some months for Hitachi to replace it.

It seems that they are faster now. I returned one (a 07N8326 30GB drive) back in February and got the replacement drive in about two weeks.

[skippy]

You won't get your own drive back if you send it in for repair so make sure you backup anything you need!

Basically the drive goes back to a logistics centre who then passes it onto the Hitachi repair centre in batches. The logistics centre places an order for another drive of the same part number which gets sent back to you. The replacement drive would normally be a refurb/repaired drive - you can tell from the part number printed on it - if it is prefixed with a W then its been repaired (Repair can be anything from having discs/motors/pcb changed, to a something as simple as firmware upgrade)

You should package the drive properly before sending it back. Ideally place in a ESD bag, and place into a cardboard box surrounded by foam inserts - that way the drive doesn't move around. Its possible for the logistics centres to reject a drive that's not been packed properly.

When the drive gets to the repair facility, its screened to check functionality (its amazing the number of drives coming back that are good). Faulty components are changed if required (discs, motor, pcb). All data on the drive is wiped by the testing equipment - at no stage is the drive 'plugged' into a PC - so no-one will actually look at (or recover) any data that's on it!

A repaired drive will then be put into stock awaiting an order from the logistics centre.

[BillMorrow]

these HDD's are tough..
the heads park on a ramp now, like in the BIG drives of 30 years ago, so they are safe..
you COULD just slap a stamp and address label on the drive and drop it in the mail..
of course, that sort of packaging would raise eyebrows and hair of the hitachi receiving department..

so, like skippy suggests, a box with some padding is called for..
bubblepack from the local UPS store will do..
they are worried that the box will be crushed and physically damage the drive..

2 inches of foam or bubblewrap or the like, on all sides of the drive, will do..
ship with the RMA# on the box and ship with UPS or fedex ground at lease so you get a signature when it arrives..

if this drive is under IBM or lenovo warranty then you should have a replacement nearly overnight, especially if you guarantee the return of the dead drive with a credit card..

[BillMorrow]

these HDD's are tough..
the heads park on a ramp now, like in the BIG drives of 30 years ago, so they are safe..
you COULD just slap a stamp and address label on the drive and drop it in the mail..
of course, that sort of packaging would raise eyebrows and hair of the hitachi receiving department..

so, like skippy suggests, a box with some padding is called for..
bubblepack from the local UPS store will do..
they are worried that the box will be crushed and physically damage the drive..

2 inches of foam or bubblewrap or the like, on all sides of the drive, will do..
ship with the RMA# on the box and ship with UPS or fedex ground at lease so you get a signature when it arrives..

if this drive is under IBM or lenovo warranty then you should have a replacement nearly overnight, especially if you guarantee the return of the dead drive with a credit card..