The_Dude

I'm tryin to buy a new hard drive and i see that some have "white labels" and some dont.

i'm NOT trying to buy a retail box.


can somebody plz explain this to me? thanks.

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arch13

I assume you got the term off pricewatch or a similar site.
It's a generic term for OEM, Origional Equiptment manufacturer. It has NO warranty as it's only meant to be purchased in bulk by companies such as dell or compaq which provide their own in house support to customers. The "white label" refers to the fact the the drives sticker in white with a serial number only and no branding or mention of the manufacturer. tupicaly they will use a sub-companies name in small print such as matshita for panosonic white label drive.
That being said, maxtor's white label line has alway proven exceptional to me and i've never had a bad disk from them. In all the computers in my family, they all run white label maxtors and i haven't had a single faluire in five years.

Just remember, if bad sectors show up after a few months, the white label company (maxtor, WD, etc...) is under no legal obligation to acknowledge your existance, much less repair or replace the product.
From a legal standpoint, they are only legaly supposed to be used by computer makers for use in a commercial product (think tivo's and computers), but the company's could care less that some bulk orders are broken up and sold peice meal on sites such as pricewatch.

All in all, the value is great since the difference between say my 80 white label maxtor for $75.00 last year and the best buy price of 125.00 before rebates is that that extra money is paying for customer support and a warranty. Gives you a good idea of what those services cost a comapny per sale.

Go for it, just remember that no company's customer service will listen to you if it breaks. Great deal though.

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The_Dude

ah! i knew what OEM was, but i couldnt put 2 and 2 together.

i am currently running an oem product (i think the site gave me a 60 day warranty maybe).

i'm seeing this 60 gb hardrive for about 50 bucks (7200 rpm) on pricewatch and i'm really tempted to go for it. (i need a new drive so i can start learning linux).

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Melllvar

I usually heard the term: White Box as well.

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Bonesaw

Depends on the store you are at too. At Fry's Electronics (online they are Outpost.com) there are boxes of everything in the store that have "white labels". Typically those products have been purchased previously and have been returned. Either because the previous buyer was too stupid to figure out how to get the device working or there is an actual defect.

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oblar

i just missed a really cheap price for a hard drive... went to the hospital with my girlfriend.. if i hadn't and gone straight there they would have had some left..

160gig westerndigitals for 30$... ahh gotta love pricematching + rebates.

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