Better than nothing, considering Toshiba only bought the assets and not the whole company. That they are offering this level of support is potentially above and beyond their legal requirements, depending on the specific details of the contract. And as they only bought the SSD part it's no surprise they aren't supporting the rest, since for one they probably don't have the existing stock or manufacturing capabilities to support the products even if they wanted to.
Well, they did bu the companies name as well as these product lines. They want to continue the name, and products. How do you think it would look to current, and potential customers if they hadn't homered those warranties? It wasn't nice of them. It was prudent.
Pro: Maybe my 3rd RMA Agility 4 will work properly... Con: I lost 8 months of warranty for RMA 8 through 11...
Not surprised the Octane/Petrol units aren't covered, the failure rates were almost comical (some retailer data reporting almost 50%). Anyone who thinks OCZ's problems are ancient history should read through buyer comments on Newegg for those drives (that drive is only 2 years old).
I am a bit confused I guess. Does this cover PC Power and Cooling (under OCZ umbrella)? I ask because if you go to their site their is no mention of zero warranty and they even introduced new products this week? I am not sure where one part of bankrupt OCZ ends and another begins?
Bidding on PCP&C is still under way, it's still in bankruptcy last I heard. If the former founder takes over I expect all PCP&C models to be covered but most OCZ dropped. Makes sense on the models that will continue to be made and sold at least. Depends on how the proceedings and bidding go and what kind of backing they have after emerging though.
Hey Kristian! Did OCZ confirm who were interested in the PSU-business? I think It would be great if Dodson took over again, but I haven't seen anything about who is involved in the bidding.
It wasn't up to OCZ, Toshiba made the decisions here. Since they only bought OCZ's SSD divisions, they have absolutely no reason to support OCZ's PSU business. Besides, OCZ has a buyer for its PSU business so it's likely that the new owner will honor outstanding warranties to at least to a certain degree.
That warranty chart summarizes OCZ's SSD woes and subsequent demise quite well. What a mess! Far too many product lines, lack of focus, lots of segmentation for marginal differences in performance, market confusion, and lack of support for existing product lines.
Will be a case study somewhere, someday as a strong referendum for a streamlined, focused business model over one that offers too much variety and not enough substance.
End the end, it doesn't really matter for me if my warranties are extended or not. I won't be going with OCZ again.
While my motivations are somewhat personal, there are also better players in the industry right now. OCZ was nice for offering well performing SSDs for the price, but they don't fill that role anymore. Samsung's EVO line was rather disruptive, and it doesn't appear that there's anything that can compete with it for the price.
While I'm by no means an industry expert, I imagine that we'll see some of the smaller players in the industry get squeezed out. The OCZ brand name is lucky to survive through Toshiba's buyout, but really the industry has lost a key player, and I'm doubtful that this is the end of it.
Oh, we'll definitely see consolidation and in fact it's been in action for a while already (e.g. Patriot exited the SSD market). It's how markets work: many players enter the market when it's still a niche but the profits are great. The more players, the harder the competition and the lower the profits and in the end only the best companies (which usually have the advantage of scaling like NAND fab owners in this case) stay in the business.
SSDs are still a rapidly growing business but I've seen some predictions that the move to 3D NAND will shake the market quite a bit (i.e. many will drop out).
I think this perception (of the samsung evo 840) is false: certainly around here (EU) it is, and has always been, considerably more expensive than the crucial m500 (which, due to power-loss protection, is in any case probably the better buy for a desktop).
I really hope samsung doesn't end up dominating the ssd business single-handedly, because that's almost certainly bad for all us (consumers). I get the impression that they somewhat undeservedly get lots of press - which is great for them, of course - based on this not entirely valid idea that they're cheap, and of course because they truly are fast - not that you'll notice the performance difference unless you're doing something quite unusual.
I find it a bit odd the way they decided what to warranty and what not to. I mean you would think they would choose products from the last x number of years and not just "all Vertex, Vector and Revo; oh and Agility gets some warranty". I mean I get it from a performance-tier standpoint but realistically most of these drives regardless of being "lower end" were always pretty similar in price with the exception of Revo perhaps. And many unsupported drives are newer than older Vertex and Agility products.
I think consumers would be more understanding (and less confused as well) if they just said, "look if you bought the drive in the last two years..." Or all these drives, which were released within the last x # of years..." But instead they decide to honour warranties on Vertex and Vertex 2, the vast majority of which are probably out of original warranty by now anyway. OTOH if you own an Octane or a Petrol you might be screwed.
While personally I have several OCZ SSDs of different generations (all either Vertex or Agility--never any problems *knock on wood*), I wouldn't care if they weren't "honouring the warranty" on my old Vertex and Vertex 2 drives, because they're out of warranty now anyway! However if I had bought an Octane and it was still in its original warranty period, I'd be a bit PO'd.
To say they're honouring [3yr] warranties on products that were current 4-5 years ago, is a bit pointless.
I think the reason behind the choice is that OCZ/Toshiba is looking to keep the Vertex, Vector and RevoDrive brands in the future, whereas everything else will be buried. I agree that it's kinda odd to support drives that are very likely out of warranty anyway but it looks better to have it listed with future in mind. In the end, brand image is about small things and consistency, listing e.g. Vertex 2 as unsupported drive would have sent a confusing message.
Outstanding warranties my ass, I have a Power Supply from them that died. I tried to get them to replace it or at least help me diagnose it. Their home performed "tests" they told me to do in the forum using a multimeter all said it was good.
After going through a lot of hell, testing it on various PC's, I found out yes, it was the bloody OCZ power supply... every time if I took it out of the equation, and swapped in a different power supply, the system worked flawlessly. Put the power supply back in, and the system would fail to post with video. I told them if they made a product, they need to stand behind it forever, esp. considering I paid a pretty penny for it and it was a "premium" name branded power supply. That's what I do with my software I develop.
They told me, quite frankly, to fuck off.
I will never buy another OCZ product again. Ever. I recommend you to do the same.
Oddly enough, the only bad OCZ experience I've ever had was a PSU, which they refused to replace. For everything else, never had problem. Ages ago I bought a RAM kit off eBay which went bad, they were happy to replace that. Since then I've obtained dozens of OCZ SSDs (almost 40), none of them have gone wrong, not a single one (Vertex2E, Vertex3, Vertex4, Vector, various capacities from 60GB to 512GB).
I can't help wondering if these different sides of OCZ's business ever creates internal friction, ie. bad rep caused by one type of product impacting on something else which from a design perspective is completely separate (perhaps separate re marketing & support aswell).
Managed to RMA four sticks of SLI-ready DDR2 PC1066 RAM ( 4 x 2gb) like a month before OCZ declared bankruptcy. They didn't have replacements but gladly sent me a refund (via PayPal) for the current market value of equivalent RAM. The best thing is the current market value is more than what I've paid for years ago.
I'm sorry that OCZ ever was able to buy PC Power & Cooling. At one time they were one of THE best power supplies available.If you're a long time reader of Anandtech, you'll probably know what I'm talking about. I had several, never a problem. I'm hoping someone comes in, purchases the company, and has the ability to turn it around and make it a great company producing great power supplies again.
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Lonyo - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
Better than nothing, considering Toshiba only bought the assets and not the whole company.That they are offering this level of support is potentially above and beyond their legal requirements, depending on the specific details of the contract. And as they only bought the SSD part it's no surprise they aren't supporting the rest, since for one they probably don't have the existing stock or manufacturing capabilities to support the products even if they wanted to.
melgross - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
Well, they did bu the companies name as well as these product lines. They want to continue the name, and products. How do you think it would look to current, and potential customers if they hadn't homered those warranties? It wasn't nice of them. It was prudent.Bob Todd - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
Pro: Maybe my 3rd RMA Agility 4 will work properly...Con: I lost 8 months of warranty for RMA 8 through 11...
Not surprised the Octane/Petrol units aren't covered, the failure rates were almost comical (some retailer data reporting almost 50%). Anyone who thinks OCZ's problems are ancient history should read through buyer comments on Newegg for those drives (that drive is only 2 years old).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N8...
hoyty - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
I am a bit confused I guess. Does this cover PC Power and Cooling (under OCZ umbrella)? I ask because if you go to their site their is no mention of zero warranty and they even introduced new products this week? I am not sure where one part of bankrupt OCZ ends and another begins?SunLord - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
The last news update for PC Power and Coolign was from Jan 28th 2013 so a little over a year they're deadPenti - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
Bidding on PCP&C is still under way, it's still in bankruptcy last I heard. If the former founder takes over I expect all PCP&C models to be covered but most OCZ dropped. Makes sense on the models that will continue to be made and sold at least. Depends on how the proceedings and bidding go and what kind of backing they have after emerging though.Kristian Vättö - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
OCZ has a buyer for its PSU business but the cooling division (as well as everything else like RAM, USB drives..) are dead.Penti - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
Hey Kristian! Did OCZ confirm who were interested in the PSU-business? I think It would be great if Dodson took over again, but I haven't seen anything about who is involved in the bidding.Kristian Vättö - Sunday, February 2, 2014 - link
They did not. The acquisition is still in process but once it completes in about two weeks we'll get more details.Owls - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
Well, now I regret buying OCZ again thanks to them not supporting PC&P PSUs. Note to self, don't buy anything OCZ ever.Kristian Vättö - Sunday, February 2, 2014 - link
It wasn't up to OCZ, Toshiba made the decisions here. Since they only bought OCZ's SSD divisions, they have absolutely no reason to support OCZ's PSU business. Besides, OCZ has a buyer for its PSU business so it's likely that the new owner will honor outstanding warranties to at least to a certain degree.chizow - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
That warranty chart summarizes OCZ's SSD woes and subsequent demise quite well. What a mess! Far too many product lines, lack of focus, lots of segmentation for marginal differences in performance, market confusion, and lack of support for existing product lines.Will be a case study somewhere, someday as a strong referendum for a streamlined, focused business model over one that offers too much variety and not enough substance.
Homeles - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
End the end, it doesn't really matter for me if my warranties are extended or not. I won't be going with OCZ again.While my motivations are somewhat personal, there are also better players in the industry right now. OCZ was nice for offering well performing SSDs for the price, but they don't fill that role anymore. Samsung's EVO line was rather disruptive, and it doesn't appear that there's anything that can compete with it for the price.
While I'm by no means an industry expert, I imagine that we'll see some of the smaller players in the industry get squeezed out. The OCZ brand name is lucky to survive through Toshiba's buyout, but really the industry has lost a key player, and I'm doubtful that this is the end of it.
Homeles - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
In the end*Kristian Vättö - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
Oh, we'll definitely see consolidation and in fact it's been in action for a while already (e.g. Patriot exited the SSD market). It's how markets work: many players enter the market when it's still a niche but the profits are great. The more players, the harder the competition and the lower the profits and in the end only the best companies (which usually have the advantage of scaling like NAND fab owners in this case) stay in the business.SSDs are still a rapidly growing business but I've seen some predictions that the move to 3D NAND will shake the market quite a bit (i.e. many will drop out).
emn13 - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
I think this perception (of the samsung evo 840) is false: certainly around here (EU) it is, and has always been, considerably more expensive than the crucial m500 (which, due to power-loss protection, is in any case probably the better buy for a desktop).I really hope samsung doesn't end up dominating the ssd business single-handedly, because that's almost certainly bad for all us (consumers). I get the impression that they somewhat undeservedly get lots of press - which is great for them, of course - based on this not entirely valid idea that they're cheap, and of course because they truly are fast - not that you'll notice the performance difference unless you're doing something quite unusual.
rgreen1983 - Friday, January 31, 2014 - link
What about the enterprise SSDs like Deneva and Talos?DanNeely - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
A poster over at Ars Technica reported that he just successfully RMAed 2 Talos drives.http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2014/01/toshiba-wil...
ES_Revenge - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
I find it a bit odd the way they decided what to warranty and what not to. I mean you would think they would choose products from the last x number of years and not just "all Vertex, Vector and Revo; oh and Agility gets some warranty". I mean I get it from a performance-tier standpoint but realistically most of these drives regardless of being "lower end" were always pretty similar in price with the exception of Revo perhaps. And many unsupported drives are newer than older Vertex and Agility products.I think consumers would be more understanding (and less confused as well) if they just said, "look if you bought the drive in the last two years..." Or all these drives, which were released within the last x # of years..." But instead they decide to honour warranties on Vertex and Vertex 2, the vast majority of which are probably out of original warranty by now anyway. OTOH if you own an Octane or a Petrol you might be screwed.
While personally I have several OCZ SSDs of different generations (all either Vertex or Agility--never any problems *knock on wood*), I wouldn't care if they weren't "honouring the warranty" on my old Vertex and Vertex 2 drives, because they're out of warranty now anyway! However if I had bought an Octane and it was still in its original warranty period, I'd be a bit PO'd.
To say they're honouring [3yr] warranties on products that were current 4-5 years ago, is a bit pointless.
Kristian Vättö - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
I think the reason behind the choice is that OCZ/Toshiba is looking to keep the Vertex, Vector and RevoDrive brands in the future, whereas everything else will be buried. I agree that it's kinda odd to support drives that are very likely out of warranty anyway but it looks better to have it listed with future in mind. In the end, brand image is about small things and consistency, listing e.g. Vertex 2 as unsupported drive would have sent a confusing message.mrstarr - Saturday, February 1, 2014 - link
Outstanding warranties my ass, I have a Power Supply from them that died. I tried to get them to replace it or at least help me diagnose it. Their home performed "tests" they told me to do in the forum using a multimeter all said it was good.After going through a lot of hell, testing it on various PC's, I found out yes, it was the bloody OCZ power supply... every time if I took it out of the equation, and swapped in a different power supply, the system worked flawlessly. Put the power supply back in, and the system would fail to post with video. I told them if they made a product, they need to stand behind it forever, esp. considering I paid a pretty penny for it and it was a "premium" name branded power supply. That's what I do with my software I develop.
They told me, quite frankly, to fuck off.
I will never buy another OCZ product again. Ever. I recommend you to do the same.
mapesdhs - Monday, February 3, 2014 - link
Oddly enough, the only bad OCZ experience I've ever had was a PSU, which they refused
to replace. For everything else, never had problem. Ages ago I bought a RAM kit off eBay
which went bad, they were happy to replace that. Since then I've obtained dozens of OCZ
SSDs (almost 40), none of them have gone wrong, not a single one (Vertex2E, Vertex3,
Vertex4, Vector, various capacities from 60GB to 512GB).
I can't help wondering if these different sides of OCZ's business ever creates internal
friction, ie. bad rep caused by one type of product impacting on something else which
from a design perspective is completely separate (perhaps separate re marketing
& support aswell).
Ian.
RanDum72 - Thursday, February 6, 2014 - link
Managed to RMA four sticks of SLI-ready DDR2 PC1066 RAM ( 4 x 2gb) like a month before OCZ declared bankruptcy. They didn't have replacements but gladly sent me a refund (via PayPal) for the current market value of equivalent RAM. The best thing is the current market value is more than what I've paid for years ago.JoBalz - Tuesday, February 18, 2014 - link
I'm sorry that OCZ ever was able to buy PC Power & Cooling. At one time they were one of THE best power supplies available.If you're a long time reader of Anandtech, you'll probably know what I'm talking about. I had several, never a problem. I'm hoping someone comes in, purchases the company, and has the ability to turn it around and make it a great company producing great power supplies again.