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WD Raptor 150GB - retail vs OEM


Stephen

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New Egg has the WD Raptor 150GB HD - both retail and OEM versions. The OEM version is $90 cheaper ($30 of that through a mail-in rebate). The OEM price seems hard to beat - so are the any advantages to getting the retail version? Is the warranty the same? What comes with the retail version besides the bare drive?

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New Egg has the WD Raptor 150GB HD - both retail and OEM versions. The OEM version is $90 cheaper ($30 of that through a mail-in rebate). The OEM price seems hard to beat - so are the any advantages to getting the retail version? Is the warranty the same? What comes with the retail version besides the bare drive?

 

 

All the OEM drives I have bought from NE are just the drive wraped in bubble wrap no book,papers of any kind or cables. Also click on the pic that is with each drive it showe's in some cases all that comes with the drive. Here is your retail box photo.

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=189

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When you buy retail, you get it packaged in a nice colorful branded box with information and perhaps manual and stuff.

 

When you buy OEM, you just get the disk wrapped in bubble wrap, no papers, manuals, or anything.

 

$90 cheaper is heavily cheaper though. =/

 

Don't know about warranty.

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Sometimes with OEM you get a floppy with Serial ATA drivers, since Windows XP cant install itself on SATA disks without SATA device drivers.

 

Sometimes you can also get a floppy or CD with S.M.A.R.T tools for monitoring the health of your hard disk.

 

Often tools, device drivers, manuals can be gotten from the manufacturers website.

 

As far as I know, most hard disk manufacturers have a warranty for 2-3 years. As far as I know, only Seagate provides 5 years warranty.

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They both have a 5 year warranty. If you need a manual for the OEM, they should have a download on WD's website. I'd go for it. Only problem should be finding firmware updates.

 

 

Why is it harder with the OEM version to find firmware updates?

 

 

Sometimes with OEM you get a floppy with Serial ATA drivers, since Windows XP cant install itself on SATA disks without SATA device drivers.

 

Sometimes you can also get a floppy or CD with S.M.A.R.T tools for monitoring the health of your hard disk......

 

I've read several places that claim Windows XP can install itself on newer SATA disks without SATA device drivers. Has anyone else heard this? What about Vista?

 

Regarding S.M.A.R.T. tools, can those be downloaded from the WD website for the Raptor?

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Why is it harder with the OEM version to find firmware updates?

I've read several places that claim Windows XP can install itself on newer SATA disks without SATA device drivers. Has anyone else heard this? What about Vista?

 

Regarding S.M.A.R.T. tools, can those be downloaded from the WD website for the Raptor?

 

It shouldn't be harder to find firmware for OEM version. Though, I never heard of anyone that flashed their disk with a new firmware.

 

I heard about motherboard BIOS, graphics cards, DVD-ROM, but never hard disks.

 

As far as I know, XP can't install itself on SATA disks without SATA device drivers, maybe if you slipped stream a CD with SP2 and SATA device drivers, I don't know. But SATA came after XP.

Vista most likely will be able to be installed without need any SATA device drivers.

 

I wont touch Vista though.

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Should have stated it better. Some OEM devices, in general, use the same firmware as the retail model but the device names are different. When you try to install the factory firmware update, you get a error message. Usually, you can find a patched version of the factory firmware on the net that will work. Been there, done that.

 

Western Digital has a 5 year warranty on the Raptor and Caviar RE2 hard drives and on Caviar RE drives that have a GD, SD, SB, YD, or YR Product Designator code.

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