Western Digital - Notice of Class Action Settlement email

[odb]

anyone else get this email? very interesting to say the least

You are receiving this notice because our records indicate that you purchased an aftermarket Western Digital Corporation ("WD") hard disk drive between March 22, 2001 and February 15, 2006. "Aftermarket" purchasers are those who purchased their hard disk drives separately rather than pre-installed by an original equipment manufacturer into a computer.

A proposed class action settlement may affect your legal rights. If the settlement is approved, you may be eligible to receive free hard disk drive backup and recovery software from WD. Read below for a summary of the proposed settlement. For a detailed legal notice and complete terms, please visit www.wdc.com/settlement.

A class action lawsuit entitled Safier v. Western Digital Corporation is pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The lawsuit claims that in the sale and marketing of its hard disk drives, Western Digital overstates the useable storage capacity. According to the lawsuit, when attached to most personal computers, a hard disk drive advertised as having "80GB" will only show an available capacity of "74.4GB." The lawsuit alleges that one reason for this disparity is the existence of two different measurements of a "GB," one of which is used by computer operating systems and another of which is used by hard disk drive manufacturers. The lawsuit seeks restitution, damages, punitive damages, and injunctive relief. The lawsuit is case number 05-03353 BZ.

WD has denied any wrongdoing or liability. WD believes that its marketing and advertising complied and continues to comply in all respects with the law. WD further believes that no Class Member, including the Plaintiff, has sustained any damages or injuries. Nonetheless, WD has concluded that further conduct of the Litigation would be protracted and expensive, and that it is desirable that the Litigation be fully and finally settled in the manner and upon the terms and conditions of the proposed settlement.

If the Court approves the settlement, WD will change how it markets and advertises the available storage capacity of its hard disk drives. WD also will provide eligible Class Members with free backup and recovery software to use with their hard disk drives. WD will be released from any further related claims by Class Members. Plaintiff's Counsel will ask the Court to award, and WD agrees to pay, an award of attorneys' fees of up to $485,000 and expenses of up to $15,000. Class Members will not be required to pay these attorneys' fees or costs.

You have four options about how to respond to the proposed settlement. Before making a decision, you should read the full explanation of the proposed settlement and release of claims at www.wdc.com/settlement. You have only a limited time to make your decision:

Option 1. Sign Up To Receive Free Software As Part Of The Settlement.
To get the software, you must fill out the Claim Form available at http://www.wdc.com/settlement no later than thirty days after Final Approval of the settlement. If you sign up for the free software, you give up your right to bring a separate lawsuit against Western Digital.

Option 2. Exclude Yourself From the Class
To preserve your right to bring a separate lawsuit, you must exclude yourself from the class. To do so, you must mail a letter by May 19, 2006, according to the instructions available at www.wdc.com/settlement. By excluding yourself, you won't get the free software.

Option 3. Make An Objection To The Settlement
To object to the settlement, you must serve legal papers on counsel for the parties by May 24, 2006, according to the instructions available at www.wdc.com/settlement.

Option 4. Do Nothing
If you do nothing, you won't get the free software. You also give up your right to bring a separate lawsuit against Western Digital.

To get more information about the settlement or about options 1-3, please visit http://www.wdc.com/settlement.

http://tr.subscribermail.com/cc.cfm?...f7b19ce2d9ad9c

[J-Mag]

Sounds like another "Hey lets give the lawyers everything and the consumer nothing!"

[mr_knowitall15]

what a buncha . Anyone who has enough knowledge to build a computer SHOULD know that the 80GB that the box says is assuming that a GB is 1000 MB, and what the OS sees is 1024MB to a GB, thus the F***ing difference!!!!!

[HelloIDistance]

what a buncha . Anyone who has enough knowledge to build a computer SHOULD know that the 80GB that the box says is assuming that a GB is 1000 MB, and what the OS sees is 1024MB to a GB, thus the F***ing difference!!!!!

QFT, that lawsuit is ridiculous.

[eddieate]

besides ALL HDD maufaturers do that, so lets sue them all, while we'r at it I had a p4 1.8ghz that cpu-z reported to be doing 1799.9mhz lets sue intel
/Ed

[[XC] MarioMaster]

It is rediculous but I see where it's coming from, I mean I lost 6 gb on my 120 just because they want to inflate the capacity to make it look better. Who want's to buy a 114 gb hard drive when you can call it a 120?

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

i say i have to agree. the average consumer WONT know this information. and we are not the average consumer, we are a small number.

hdd manu.s do this to fool the average consumer. as everywhere else one gig is counted as 1024mb.

[Weee]

In all fairness, the prefix giga means 10^9 in a mathematical sense. We should sue whoever decided that 2^30 was close enough to 10^9 for confusing the consumer. Boule I'm coming to get you.

Edit: But if they are going to play that game, I think they should be forced to call a Byte 10 bits, even though that also really has nothing to do with the storage size, so instead of getting 7% less than what you think, you are actually getting 16% more than advertised at the end of it.

[Jamo]

they have no chance of winning that suit against WD surely, isnt it something to do with the file allocation table anyway? back in college i asked my computing teacher why there was this descrepency and he fobbed me off with some crap about the file allocation table, he was abit of a nob really, if it wasnt in a book he didnt know, also he thought 'overclocking posed a significant risk to hardware' lol

[Nanometer]

What ass hats they are..

[mr_knowitall15]

i say i have to agree. the average consumer WONT know this information. and we are not the average consumer, we are a small number.

hdd manu.s do this to fool the average consumer. as everywhere else one gig is counted as 1024mb.

uh huh. But it specifically said aftermarket HDDs, not ones used in premade systems. If someone has enough knowledge to be using a blank drive that they have to install an OS on, they should be smart enough to know that. I deal with people at work (circuit city) that come to me in the GAMES dept. and ask about upgrading their memory or something. (because _____*, my____** said i need more(*Proper Noun, **relation)) so i ask if they know what kind of ram they have now (hoping to god im NOT dealing with a complete tech know nothing) and my usual answer is a number, either amount of MBs, or sometimes even 120GBs, and the most popular answer is its a Dell. Most of the time they dont know their model number either so they have to come back jsut so we can be sure their system uses whatever RAM. I usually reccomend that they pay our tech dept and have stuff professionally installed.
The worst is video cards. Customer dipshizzle comes in and informs me that he wants a new video card so his kids can play games. After explaining the naming scheme of video cards, and what the numbers generally designate, we decide on how much they need vs. what they wanna spend. Theres the easy part. Then they ask how hard it is to install. When i tell them its no different that installing a PCI card, and i get silence and blank stare, and they reply, is it liek plugging something into to the back of the computer? Ill say, well its kinda in the back yes. They say " like a "UBS" cord?
*Dies*
*reccomends professional installation*

[OmegaMerc]

It IS being marketed as a false claim, avg consumer won't know or feel the diffrence, its a shame only WD gets hit by it, should be all HDD mfg's. Seeing if this passes through, most likely all HDD mfg's will be hit with the same lawsuit.

[Crazy Chuckster]

I got one but I toosed it. bunch of crap... like suing mcdonalds because you spilled hot coffee on your lap and there not being a warning saying it was hot...

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

I got one but I toosed it. bunch of crap... like suing mcdonalds because you spilled hot coffee on your lap and there not being a warning saying it was hot...

actually there is a warning for just that reason. also lawsuits have been won where they claimed it was too hot and they were scalded.

[WeStSiDePLaYa]

uh huh. But it specifically said aftermarket HDDs, not ones used in premade systems. If someone has enough knowledge to be using a blank drive that they have to install an OS on, they should be smart enough to know that. I deal with people at work (circuit city) that come to me in the GAMES dept. and ask about upgrading their memory or something. (because _____*, my____** said i need more(*Proper Noun, **relation)) so i ask if they know what kind of ram they have now (hoping to god im NOT dealing with a complete tech know nothing) and my usual answer is a number, either amount of MBs, or sometimes even 120GBs, and the most popular answer is its a Dell. Most of the time they dont know their model number either so they have to come back jsut so we can be sure their system uses whatever RAM. I usually reccomend that they pay our tech dept and have stuff professionally installed.
The worst is video cards. Customer dipshizzle comes in and informs me that he wants a new video card so his kids can play games. After explaining the naming scheme of video cards, and what the numbers generally designate, we decide on how much they need vs. what they wanna spend. Theres the easy part. Then they ask how hard it is to install. When i tell them its no different that installing a PCI card, and i get silence and blank stare, and they reply, is it liek plugging something into to the back of the computer? Ill say, well its kinda in the back yes. They say " like a "UBS" cord?
*Dies*
*reccomends professional installation*

ok. among all of that crap you spewed(learn how to peice together a statement), all you managed to do was further prove my point. so good job buddy. keep up the good work. advice for next time you try to disagree with someone, your supporting evidence SHOULDNT prove the other persons point even more.