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No Retail Packaging from Newegg.ca Ebay Order?

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Jun 18, 2010
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No Retail Packaging from Newegg.ca Ebay Order?

I ordered a harddrive from the Newegg ebay website a few days ago. The box came in and it contains just the harddrive inside a blue plastic sleeve. There is no retail packaging from the manufacturer. No manuals or accessories. It is literally just a Newegg brown box containing the harddrive.

Is it supposed to be like this? The ebay listing says it's new but to me it seems like it is refurbished. The listing is below:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/WD-Performance-S ... 1896679145

I would appreciate it if anyone can clarify this for me.

Thanks!
11 replies
Deal Addict
Jan 31, 2008
1263 posts
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Markham
Hard drives are normally shipped to the store in large brown boxes with Styrofoam. Back when I worked at ncix we would put the drives in a anti static bag and give it to the customer. They should be in a sealed silver bag however from the manufacture.
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Apr 7, 2005
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townfries wrote: I ordered a harddrive from the Newegg ebay website a few days ago. The box came in and it contains just the harddrive inside a blue plastic sleeve. There is no retail packaging from the manufacturer. No manuals or accessories. It is literally just a Newegg brown box containing the harddrive.

Is it supposed to be like this? The ebay listing says it's new but to me it seems like it is refurbished. The listing is below:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/WD-Performance-S ... 1896679145

I would appreciate it if anyone can clarify this for me.

Thanks!
When I used to buy internal hard drives from computer shops they used to come in electro-static bags only since they are essentially OEM parts.

You shouldn't worry op. The listing description says packaging "Bare Drive".

Also if you google image search the item, there are no pics of any such retail packaging (not that I could find). Youtube unboxing search of similar WD internal drives show ppl unboxing their drives from the electro-static bags too.
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Deal Addict
Jan 21, 2014
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Hello OP,

You have two type of packaging in electronics : OEM and retail

OEM is for system integrators. Retail comes with a box, instruction manual, accessories etc.

It's not unusual for HDDs to be shipped in OEM packaging even for retail customers.

You can make sure that the HDD is new by checking the S.M.A.R.T. "Power-On Hours" attribute with a softwre like http://crystalmark.info/software/Crysta ... dex-e.html

You can also verify the warranty status here: http://support.wdc.com/warranty/warrant ... px?lang=en
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Jun 18, 2010
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Thank you guys for the clarification!
Deal Fanatic
Jan 5, 2003
5068 posts
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Toronto
Do internal HDDs even come in retail packaging anymore? It seems to me nowadays it's OEM internal drives in electrostatic bags in the Canada Computers/NCIX display cases vs. retail external HDDs in enclosures.

As others mentioned, just check SMART stats if you're worried.
Sr. Member
Jul 1, 2009
711 posts
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jm1 wrote: Do internal HDDs even come in retail packaging anymore? It seems to me nowadays it's OEM internal drives in electrostatic bags in the Canada Computers/NCIX display cases vs. retail external HDDs in enclosures.

As others mentioned, just check SMART stats if you're worried.
Surprisingly, yes. Our office ordered 6TB HGST drives from Newegg and they came in retail packaging. It could just be that drive though. Normally when I buy drives, its all OEM packaging.
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Sep 19, 2002
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jm1 wrote: Do internal HDDs even come in retail packaging anymore? It seems to me nowadays it's OEM internal drives in electrostatic bags in the Canada Computers/NCIX display cases vs. retail external HDDs in enclosures.

As others mentioned, just check SMART stats if you're worried.
Plenty of retailers like Best Buy, Fry's, and B&H carry drives in retail kit format.

But most retailers stock the bare drive SKU because it allows them to sell the $0.50 SATA cable for $4.99.
Deal Fanatic
Mar 21, 2002
6826 posts
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Manitoba
Because of the nice packaging and extras like cables and instructions retail drives cost more than the bare bones bulk packaged OEM drives. Everybody wants cheapest and everybody usually ends up ordering the OEM version whether they are aware of it or not. OEM and retail drives also used to have different warranties but I believe they're the same now, so it comes down to packaging and price.
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Aug 18, 2005
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nintendo wrote: When I used to buy internal hard drives from computer shops they used to come in electro-static bags only since they are essentially OEM parts.

You shouldn't worry op. The listing description says packaging "Bare Drive".

Also if you google image search the item, there are no pics of any such retail packaging (not that I could find). Youtube unboxing search of similar WD internal drives show ppl unboxing their drives from the electro-static bags too.
+1, as long as it came in that sealed electrostatic bag, that is a 100% normal OEM part. You should not expect to get a manual or fancy box in this case.

If you walk into NCIX or Canada Computers or most small computer shops, you will see the same thing.
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