Scott warns you to use stickers rather than Sharpies to label your hard drives, because a pen mark is apparently all it takes to invalidate your warranty.

He writes:

For the last week I have been trying to return two SATA drives to Seagate. The serials do not come up in their web based RMA system, so I had to call in. I was told according to their records, they are no longer in warranty. There is a 3 year warranty on the drives. However, as long as my receipt is less than three years old, I am fine.

I spent a week looking around for a small scrap of paper that was the receipt for the now out of business store that I bought these drives from. Seagate’s request was to email in a copy of the receipt, as well as a photo of the drives so they can see the serial.

I had a sticker on the drive as a label, as they went into a RAID. Everyone labels their drives with a sticker, or they just write on the drive. I am told I have voided my warranty by placing writing on the drive. I have seen many repair shops from Best Buy to Apple write a customer name on a drive to make sure they are not mixed up. I have received drives back from Drive Savers, one of the most known data recovery experts in the USA, all of which have written in sharpie on the drive.

I guess this is a warning to all computer users out there. Do not allow anyone to write on your drive, it will apparently void the warranty.

Here is a copy of the email:

Scott [redacted],

Thank you for the pictures. Unfortunately, I am unable to read the serial number for either drive, and the writing on the one drive would void any warranty for that drive. If you can please send more clear pictures, I will do my best to have this issue resolved. Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

If you have any additional questions, let me know or call us at 800-732-4283 Monday through Friday 8:00AM – 6:00PM (CST). For your convenience we also have on-line chat assistance.

Does anyone know whether there’s any technical reason for ink scribblings to scuttle a warranty?

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