How would you ship a bare drive across the country?

About a week ago, I asked for a recommendation for external enclosures
for hard drives. One of my needs was to carry the drive enclosures on
a plane, either in a carry-on item or in luggage.

Some people commented that the enclosures provided no protection for
the drive, except for scuffing. So now I'm thinking that I could
spend less money by buying just one enclosure and shipping the
additional drives bare.

What do I need to do to pack a bare drive an external drive
enclosure, so that I can ship it safely via UPS ground or UPS
second-day air.

As always thanks in advance.

-AH

In article ,
Andrew Hamilton wrote:
About a week ago, I asked for a recommendation for external enclosures
for hard drives. One of my needs was to carry the drive enclosures on
a plane, either in a carry-on item or in luggage.

Some people commented that the enclosures provided no protection for
the drive, except for scuffing. So now I'm thinking that I could
spend less money by buying just one enclosure and shipping the
additional drives bare.

What do I need to do to pack a bare drive an external drive
enclosure, so that I can ship it safely via UPS ground or UPS
second-day air.


Any old anti-static bag inside a padded waterproof package.

Look up the full specs of your disk drive on the manufacturer's
website and you'll find it can sustain a large # of Gs when not
spinning,


--
Al Dykes
News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
- Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail

Andrew Hamilton wrote:

About a week ago, I asked for a recommendation for external enclosures
for hard drives. One of my needs was to carry the drive enclosures on
a plane, either in a carry-on item or in luggage.

Some people commented that the enclosures provided no protection for
the drive, except for scuffing. So now I'm thinking that I could
spend less money by buying just one enclosure and shipping the
additional drives bare.

What do I need to do to pack a bare drive an external drive
enclosure, so that I can ship it safely via UPS ground or UPS
second-day air.

I keep what it was supplied in when I bought it and can just reuse that.

I buy Samsungs and they come in a semi rigid camshell type container and
that is normally wrapped in bubble wrap in a solid cardboard postal box.

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:26:09 +1000, "jj" wrote:

Andrew Hamilton wrote:


I keep what it was supplied in when I bought it and can just reuse that.

I wish I had done that. From now on ...

-AH

I buy Samsungs and they come in a semi rigid camshell type container and
that is normally wrapped in bubble wrap in a solid cardboard postal box.

I guess I will use plenty, plenty of bubble wrap.

-AH

On 7 Sep 2009 19:10:28 -0400, (Al Dykes) wrote:

In article ,
Andrew Hamilton wrote:


Any old anti-static bag inside a padded waterproof package.

Look up the full specs of your disk drive on the manufacturer's
website and you'll find it can sustain a large # of Gs when not
spinning,

Al,

Thanks. I've seen your name in other groups. Always good, solid
advice.

-AH

In message Andrew Hamilton
was claimed to have wrote:

On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:26:09 +1000, "jj" wrote:

Andrew Hamilton wrote:

I keep what it was supplied in when I bought it and can just reuse that.

I wish I had done that. From now on ...

I buy Samsungs and they come in a semi rigid camshell type container and
that is normally wrapped in bubble wrap in a solid cardboard postal box.

I guess I will use plenty, plenty of bubble wrap.

The best choice after the rigid plastic shipping packaging is static
wrap followed by large blocks/bricks of foam, if you have any available.

If you're using bubble-wrap, this is probably obvious, but wrap in
several directions so that the drive can't slip out of the bubblewrap.
I'd also recommend using small bubbles first, then moving to larger
bubbles if you have them, and/or an outer layer of crumpled paper.

Don't use packing peanuts or similar, these do not hold items of weight
properly, the drive will end up on the bottom edge of the box with no
protection at all.

Andrew Hamilton wrote:
On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:26:09 +1000, "jj" wrote:

Andrew Hamilton wrote:


I keep what it was supplied in when I bought it and can just reuse that.

I wish I had done that. From now on ...

You should be able to get one from any operation flogging hard drives.

I buy Samsungs and they come in a semi rigid camshell type container and
that is normally wrapped in bubble wrap in a solid cardboard postal box.

I guess I will use plenty, plenty of bubble wrap.

Dont forget to put it in a proper antistatic bag first, and bubble wrap it in two
directions so it cant slide out of the tunnel of wrap when dropped on an edge.

Andrew Hamilton wrote:
About a week ago, I asked for a recommendation for external enclosures
for hard drives. One of my needs was to carry the drive enclosures on
a plane, either in a carry-on item or in luggage.

Some people commented that the enclosures provided no protection for
the drive, except for scuffing. So now I'm thinking that I could
spend less money by buying just one enclosure and shipping the
additional drives bare.

What do I need to do to pack a bare drive an external drive
enclosure, so that I can ship it safely via UPS ground or UPS
second-day air.

As always thanks in advance.

-AH

For ESD protection, use the original packaging or an ESD bag.

For Shock-proofing, an older recomendation by Maxtor is to have
5cm (2in) of foam rubber in any direction and between the drives
when shipping multiple ones. This may seem excessive, but it will
very likely keep the drives alive even if thrown around.

As for the (empty) enclosure, the original packaging should be fine.
If there is a drive in it, I would also use the 5cm foam fubber.

Arno

Andrew Hamilton wrote:
On Tue, 8 Sep 2009 13:26:09 +1000, "jj" wrote:

Andrew Hamilton wrote:


I keep what it was supplied in when I bought it and can just reuse that.

I wish I had done that. From now on ...

-AH

I buy Samsungs and they come in a semi rigid camshell type container and
that is normally wrapped in bubble wrap in a solid cardboard postal box.

I guess I will use plenty, plenty of bubble wrap.

For bubble wrap (not recommended by HDD manufacturers AFAIK),
also make sure to get at least 5cm (2in) in every direction
around the drives or enclosure with drive in it. But froam rubber
is prefferrable, as it cannot burst and degrade in the way
bubble wrap can when abused.

Arno

In article ,
Andrew Hamilton wrote:
On 7 Sep 2009 19:10:28 -0400, (Al Dykes) wrote:

In article ,
Andrew Hamilton wrote:


Any old anti-static bag inside a padded waterproof package.

Look up the full specs of your disk drive on the manufacturer's
website and you'll find it can sustain a large # of Gs when not
spinning,

Al,

Thanks. I've seen your name in other groups. Always good, solid
advice.

-AH

Always glad to help.

--
Al Dykes
News is something someone wants to suppress, everything else is advertising.
- Lord Northcliffe, publisher of the Daily Mail