dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek) (03/07/90)
Intended readership: anyone planning to buy a hard disk. These are my experiences with HDI. ----- Just over six months ago I bought an 80MB 28ms Seagate hard disk from Hard Drives International, (800) 234-DISK. With shipping and handling, the total came to $613. As I reported at the time, I received it within 3 or 4 days after I ordered. It came with all necessary cabling, formatting software, etc., and was easy to set up. The warranty was for one year. I was very satisfied. The next question, of course, is: what is the quality of HDI's tech support when something goes wrong? Well, I just got an answer to that, and the news is mixed--in fact, a combination of very good and very bad. The hard drive died recently. The problem was clearly the power supply, not the disk itself. Now, I do try to keep things backed up, but who among us would not lose SOMETHING when our hard disks crash? So there were some files on the disk that I hoped to recover. I called HDI, and after a lengthy (but not intolerable) time on hold, I talked with someone who told me, basically, to ship it back to them along with a check for $20. I asked whether they could just swap out the power supply and return the original disk to me. The person I spoke with checked with someone else and then returned with a rather confused answer, but she seemed to be saying yes, they could do that. I followed the instructions, and enclosed a note to be sure they understood that I would like the original disk back. The good news is that I got a disk back in just over a week. Taking transit time into account, I figure that they probably mailed the replacement almost immediately upon receipt of my disk. The bad news is, of course, that it was a new disk. Apparently no one had bothered to look at my note, check out the drive, or anything else. Now, if I had had a new power supply, I could literally have replaced the old power supply in ten minutes, armed only with a Philips screwdriver. So on the one hand, I am very favorably impressed with their promptness. On the other hand, I do feel that their attitude toward their customers' data is entirely too cavalier. (Or perhaps I'm the first person who ever wanted to recover lost data...?) BTW, the new disk is visibly different (it says POWERDrive on the front; the other had no visible name) but otherwise seems equivalent. It came pre-formatted (!), with System 6.0.4 on it. So there we are. Superb service as far as the hardware is concerned, nil service as far as data recovery is concerned. If you are considering the purchase of a hard drive from this company, here's another data point. -- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com) -- Unisys Corp. / Paoli Research Center / PO Box 517 / Paoli PA 19301 -- Any resemblance between my opinions and those of my employer is improbable. << Those who fail to learn from Unix are doomed to repeat it. >>