OEM hard drive - how can I tell if it's used or new?

I bought an OEM hard drive from ebay.. it was advertised as OEM anywy.
It arrives.

No manufacturer's box. Just a hard drive in an antistatic bag sealed
with a label that says "this contents is made in china".

It looks nicely sealed. But technically somebody could have taken a
used drive and wrapped it up and put a label like that on it and sold
it as new.

Is there any way I can tell that I can tell if it's new?
I'll check the SMART data.. any ther ideas?
Do OEM drives not come with a box? (I guess perhaps not. OEM windows
doesn't)



Thanks in advance

q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> I bought an OEM hard drive from ebay.. it was advertised as OEM anywy.
> It arrives.
>
> No manufacturer's box. Just a hard drive in an antistatic bag sealed
> with a label that says "this contents is made in china".
>
> It looks nicely sealed. But technically somebody could have taken a
> used drive and wrapped it up and put a label like that on it and sold
> it as new.
>
> Is there any way I can tell that I can tell if it's new?
> I'll check the SMART data.. any ther ideas?
> Do OEM drives not come with a box? (I guess perhaps not. OEM windows
> doesn't)
>

Not always. Especially if the OEM buys in bulk. Big box with a lot of
drives in it.


Anyway, the real test is: does the drive work or not?

>
>
> Thanks in advance

q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk wrote:

> I bought an OEM hard drive from ebay..
> it was advertised as OEM anywy.
> It arrives.

> No manufacturer's box. Just a hard drive in an antistatic bag
> sealed with a label that says "this contents is made in china".

> It looks nicely sealed. But technically somebody could have taken a
> used drive and wrapped it up and put a label like that on it and sold
> it as new.

> Is there any way I can tell that I can tell if it's new?
> I'll check the SMART data.. any ther ideas?

That is all you can really do.

> Do OEM drives not come with a box?

Correct.

> (I guess perhaps not. OEM windows doesn't)

Hardware is completely different. Hard drives
come in pallet loads packaged that way.

q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk wrote:
> I bought an OEM hard drive from ebay.. it was advertised as OEM anywy.
> It arrives.
>
> No manufacturer's box. Just a hard drive in an antistatic bag sealed
> with a label that says "this contents is made in china".
>
> It looks nicely sealed. But technically somebody could have taken a
> used drive and wrapped it up and put a label like that on it and sold
> it as new.
>
> Is there any way I can tell that I can tell if it's new?
> I'll check the SMART data.. any ther ideas?
> Do OEM drives not come with a box? (I guess perhaps not. OEM windows
> doesn't)
>
> Thanks in advance

That sticker does not have to be applied at the factory. I bought
a couple drives from a large retailer on the net, and on the drive
itself, the retailer had affixed a label, with info suitable for
warranty purposes. The anti-static bag had the "the content is
made in china" stuck on it, to seal the bag. That tells me that the
drives come in a box, and the labels are separate. The person unpacking
the OEM box of disks, apparently is able to handle the disks, then put
them in the bag and apply the label.

The last PCI card I bought, was hermetically sealed in its anti-static
bag, and at least with that, I know that no one outside the factory
handled it. Not so with the Seagate OEM disks and their non-hermetic
packaging - anyone could have handled it, then put it back in the bag.

At one time, the Seagate disks shipped in a hard plastic shell. When
manufacturing moved to China, the hard plastic packaging concept
disappeared, and was replaced by the anti-static bag plus inkjet sticker.
So what you received, is consistent with how Seagate packages their
OEM product.

SMART would be the only way to get some info from it.

Paul

<q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1168012700.395774.204930@v33g2000cwv.googlegr oups.com...
> I bought an OEM hard drive from ebay.. it was advertised as OEM anywy.
> It arrives.
>
> No manufacturer's box. Just a hard drive in an antistatic bag sealed
> with a label that says "this contents is made in china".
>
> It looks nicely sealed. But technically somebody could have taken a
> used drive and wrapped it up and put a label like that on it and sold
> it as new.
>
> Is there any way I can tell that I can tell if it's new?
> I'll check the SMART data.. any ther ideas?
> Do OEM drives not come with a box? (I guess perhaps not. OEM windows
> doesn't)
>



If it has a lot of dust on it...
it's probably used.

Also...is it an MFM drive, 20megs?
Probably used.

<q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1168012700.395774.204930@v33g2000cwv.googlegr oups.com...
>I bought an OEM hard drive from ebay.. it was advertised as OEM anywy.
> It arrives.
>
> No manufacturer's box. Just a hard drive in an antistatic bag sealed
> with a label that says "this contents is made in china".
>
> It looks nicely sealed. But technically somebody could have taken a
> used drive and wrapped it up and put a label like that on it and sold
> it as new.
>
> Is there any way I can tell that I can tell if it's new?
> I'll check the SMART data.. any ther ideas?
> Do OEM drives not come with a box? (I guess perhaps not. OEM
> windows
> doesn't)


So what went through your head when comparing the prices for an OEM
versus a retail model as to the reason for their difference in price?
With OEM: no fancy expensive box rife with marketing glitz, no cables,
maybe no instructions, and definitely no support. You got it cheaper
because you only wanted the drive and nothing else that otherwise gets
crammed into a retail box to placate your ego as to why you paid the
higher price for the retail version.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origina...t_Manufacturer

As to what you got from a seller at eBay, well, that depends on the
seller. So what's the URL to the eBay auction?

On 5 Jan 2007 07:58:20 -0800, "q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk"
<q_q_anonymous@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:

>I bought an OEM hard drive from ebay.. it was advertised as OEM anywy.
>It arrives.
>
>No manufacturer's box. Just a hard drive in an antistatic bag sealed
>with a label that says "this contents is made in china".
>
>It looks nicely sealed. But technically somebody could have taken a
>used drive and wrapped it up and put a label like that on it and sold
>it as new.

Maybe, but you could claim the same about any OEM part that
IS new, if the only standard was whether it had the full
retain packaging.


>Is there any way I can tell that I can tell if it's new?

Can you see the details on the drive label? It may have a
manufacturer's date, serial number you can look up from
manufacturer (website or call them).



>I'll check the SMART data.. any ther ideas?
>Do OEM drives not come with a box? (I guess perhaps not. OEM windows
>doesn't)


Some do (but not the large fancy retail box) and others
don't.