Seagate is cutting most Barracuda and Momentus warranty periods down to one year with others moving from five-year warranties to three.

Following on from Western Digital cutting some of its warranty periods to two years, we learn that Seagate is going further. In a letter to its authorised distributors, dated 6 December 2011, the company writes:

Effective December 31, 2011, Seagate will be changing its warranty policy from a 5 year to a 3 year warranty period for Nearline drives, 5 years to 1 year for certain Desktop and Notebook Bare Drives, 5 years to 3 years on Barracuda XT and Momentus XT, and from as much as 5 years to 2 years on Consumer Electronics.

The details of the new warranty periods are:-

• Constellation 2 and ES.2 drives: 3 years
• Barracuda and Barracuda Green 3.5-inch drives: 1 year
• Barracuda XT: 3 years
• Momentus 2.5-inch (5400 and 7200rpm): 1 year
• Momentus XT: 3 years
• SV35 Series - Video Surveillance: 2 years
• Pipeline HD Mini, Pipeline HD: 2 years

Mission-critical and retail products are not affected by this change. The new warranty periods will apply to shipments from 31 December.

Seagate says it is standardising warranty terms "to be more consistent with those commonly applied throughout the consumer electronics and technology industries. By aligning to current industry standards Seagate can continue to focus its investments on technology innovation and unique product features that drive value for our customers rather than holding long-term reserves for warranty returns".

Possible translation: Seagate needs to switch some warranty funding into product development. ®