Qulaity of hard drive packaging for mail order

On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 17:56:13 +0100, Lem wrote:

I am based in the UK and I've had one or two hard drives sent to me
by mail order companies in the UK.

A hard drive is a delicate component so I would have expected good
packaging but sometimes I have been surprised at the difference in
packagig quality between companies.

I bought a drive from Hammer (trade-only) and the packaging was
simply superb. Hard box about 16 inched square, foam inserts, hard
drive in slot in the foam in the centre of the package.

OTOH I got a hard drive from Tekheads and it arrived wrapped in a
large roll of bubble wrap about 12 inches x 8 inches and in nothing
more than a plastic courier envelope!

Quite different.

Well, bubble-wrap works just fine if there's enough of it. It has
more cushion than most alternatives. If slick appearance is what you
want, it's not as nice...

On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 17:12:50 UTC, chrisv wrote:

OTOH I got a hard drive from Tekheads and it arrived wrapped in a
large roll of bubble wrap about 12 inches x 8 inches and in nothing
more than a plastic courier envelope!

Quite different.

Well, bubble-wrap works just fine if there's enough of it. It has
more cushion than most alternatives. If slick appearance is what you
want, it's not as nice...

That may ot may not bet so...the shock characteristics may be very
different. Note that IBM/Hitachi will not accept an RMA if bubble wrap
is used; they insist on foam. Any disk that arrives in bubble wrap is
deemed to be 'damaged by misuse' or some such, with no further testing.

--
Bob Eager
rde at tavi.co.uk
PC Server 325*4; PS/2s 9585, 8595, 9595*2, 8580*3,
P70...

Bob Eager wrote:

On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 17:12:50 UTC, chrisv wrote:




Note that IBM/Hitachi will not accept an RMA if bubble wrap
is used; they insist on foam. Any disk that arrives in bubble wrap is
deemed to be 'damaged by misuse' or some such, with no further testing.


The irony is that when IBM/Hitachi return your drive it comes in a box
with NO foam: the drive is simply suspended in the middle by plastic
bookend-like things at either end of the box

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 10:56:39 GMT, Tosser
wrote:



Bob Eager wrote:

On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 17:12:50 UTC, chrisv wrote:




Note that IBM/Hitachi will not accept an RMA if bubble wrap
is used; they insist on foam. Any disk that arrives in bubble wrap is
deemed to be 'damaged by misuse' or some such, with no further testing.


The irony is that when IBM/Hitachi return your drive it comes in a box
with NO foam: the drive is simply suspended in the middle by plastic
bookend-like things at either end of the box

If its those foam blocks to suspend the drive they are acutally quite
good. They stop imacts on the sides of the box going into the drive as
there is a big gap and are reasonable as absorbing an end on
whack/drop.

Bubble wrap if wrapped on tightly transmitts alot of the force
straight through. To help against dropping it needs to be loose
wrapped in a big box to decellerate the object inside rappidly but not
to a dead stop.
--
This post does not reflect the opinions of all saggy cloth
cats be they a bit loose at the seams or not
GSX600F - Matilda the (now) two eared teapot, complete with
white gaffer tape, though no rectal chainsaw

On 22 Oct 2003 17:17:19 GMT, "Bob Eager" wrote:

On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 17:12:50 UTC, chrisv wrote:

Well, bubble-wrap works just fine if there's enough of it. It has
more cushion than most alternatives. If slick appearance is what you
want, it's not as nice...

That may ot may not bet so...the shock characteristics may be very
different. Note that IBM/Hitachi will not accept an RMA if bubble wrap
is used; they insist on foam. Any disk that arrives in bubble wrap is
deemed to be 'damaged by misuse' or some such, with no further testing.

Well, that's likely because bubble-wrap is so "unscientific". With
foam, you have a precision-engineered thing, a known quantity. Bubble
wrap is variable depending on who did it. Things can go wrong. That
doesn't mean it can't do the job just fine...