Newegg finally gets it?

Just 10 years late. No biggie.

I wonder how many drives total they have on their conscience :)
 
All of my drives purchased from NE are still working but still it's about time they did this.
I am sure the DOA's were not only piling up but they were constantly getting feedback on their own site of how many people were complaining about bad packaging and DOA drives.
 
I giggled at the ad.

If I were to ever buy from NewEgg again, I suppose this would be a good thing. Day late, dollar short, but better late than never?
 
Hah... "Traditional Packaging" = "Us (newegg) for the Past Ten Years"
 
Your "news" is 4 months old.

Well it was news to me and I did not see any mention of it here.

As I have not bought a drive from NE in well over a year I was not aware of this "new" packaging.

Oh well, no harm no foul.
 
I received several drives packed that way in the past. I have 2 more coming today or tomorrow - They do that FedEx/USPS delivery.

But their old packaging was always good enough for me.
 
Well it was news to me and I did not see any mention of it here.

As I have not bought a drive from NE in well over a year I was not aware of this "new" packaging.

Oh well, no harm no foul.

Same here. I actually saw this not so new information in an email they sent me a few days ago.
 
Who is going to beta-test this new packaging? Not me!

I bought 4 3TB Seagates that came with the new packaging. No problems so far after a couple months.

The packaging is nice, each disk gets it's own small box with a bubble clamshell thing.
 
I've gotten a couple of 4TB WD Greens in that packaging - its pretty decent.

Now they need to work on the REST of their packaging policy - last month they sent me a $200 Samsung 256Gb Evo Pro in a damn padded envelope. Came complete with footprint on the outside. Fortunately, it was undamaged, but color me not at all pleased :mad:

-Tuthmose
 
Here is a serious question:

What kind of damage do you think happens when NewEgg ships a hard drive the 'traditional' way? Describe it. Explain it. Keep in mind the heads are parked and can not move across the platters. The platters are designed to spin at 5900RPM and are going 0.

I can't imagine there is any damage at all.

Some Seagate drives list a 300G shock limit. WD spec sheets show between 250G to 350G. From what I can tell at http://physics.info/frames/ that is in the range of 247G being equal to a test firing of a monkey on a rocket sled into a brick wall. Do you have any evidence that UPS or Fedex strapped your hard drive to a rocket and fires it into a brick wall?

Even a mere 70 to 100G is shown as the impact force of the Princess Diana crash. In other words, drive a car at high speed into a cement pillar. Does FedEx do that?

If typical Newegg shipping had any effect on the likely failure of a hard drive, don't you think the manufacturers would have found a way to void the warranty already for such a common activity?
 
A very valid point. For me, it's more a matter of physical damage to the outside of the drive, in particular the exposed circuit board underneath and the connectors at the rear. I've seem bare drives jumbled in with other items in a hodge-podge manner which could result in bad things happening if and when the UPS guy drops/throws/kicks the box. The SSD I mentioned them shipping in a padded envelope has no moving parts of any kind . . . but I'd still rather it have more between it and some dude's foot than 1/8" of bubble pack. The "new" package is probably overkill . . . but its better than underkill :)

I guess on a purely sentimental level, I think it shows a real lack of concern for your customer when you don't take the time and pennies to pack expensive gear well. It may well, as you aptly point out, not mean much in reality, but it does convey something of a contemptuous attitude towards the folks who just gave you their hard-earned cash. Just my two cents there.

-Tuthmose
 
Saw this the other day when I was browsing SSDs on their site. In one way it's nice they realize there was an issue but what the hell took so long. I never had any issues back in the day but I buy most drives locally now. Not so concerned about SSDs as far as shipping goes.
 
It is not hard to achieve G-shocks in excess of 1000 gees. Dropping a steel plate from about 1 meter onto a steel platform will easily exceed 1500g of acceleration on impact.

I have little doubt that dropping an HDD from a meter height onto concrete (depending on the orientation in which the HDD impacts the concrete) could produce G-shock well in excess of what the HDD is specified to handle.

Also note that the HDD companies themselves specify how HDDs must be packed when you send them back to them. Generally they specify having something like the plastic endcaps completely suspending the HDD inside a snug-fitting box.
 
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Newegg, been ordering from them sense they first started, they have turned the tides on us -- just another crappy service now days
 
I found this experiment that measured the G forces on a shipped package. Looks pretty mild:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/tec...-shipping-company-is-kindest-to-your-packages

For those who don't want to read it all, they didn't consider it worth measuring over 6G.

Agree that making sure items don't collide or rub against each other in the box is important; I just think it is worth understanding that hard drives can handle 'traditional' shipping without any problem whatsoever. In fact, if you believe these numbers, you can ship a running hard drive and probably have no problem, either.
 
I received several drives packed that way in the past. I have 2 more coming today or tomorrow - They do that FedEx/USPS delivery.

But their old packaging was always good enough for me.

Same here.

I think that NewEgg-bashing seems to be the new "hot thing" around here. Does any other retailer do better in their packaging? Amazon? Tiger Direct? MicroCenter? Joe's Hard Drives and Bait and Tackle Shop?
 
In fact, if you believe these numbers, you can ship a running hard drive and probably have no problem, either.

BIG IF... IF the HDD is packed as well as their test device (and has similar weight). You seem to be ignoring the fact that how well it is packed is the variable that is being discussed.

The key with packing HDDs is that every corner and edge (and side) of the HDD needs to be protected from impact with the shipping box or other contents of the box. Any exposed corner or edge is a problem waiting to happen. If the HDD is the only thing in the box and a corner is exposed (and the drive can move in the box, or the corner is against the box), then you can imagine that it is possible to have an impact equivalent to dropping a bare HDD onto a thin piece of cardboard sitting on concrete from a height of 1 to 2 meters. If there are any other metal objects in the box with the HDD (or other HDDs) and they are able to move around, then it is possible to have an impact equivalent to dropping a bare HDD onto metal from a height of about half the size of the box.
 
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Got my 2 greens from Newegg today.

NIce box. Nice air bags.

Nice internal boxes. Nice air packs around the hard drives.

1 works well.

1 DOA. Just an occasional click.

I will do an RMA to Western Digital. Get a replacement this week.
 
BIG IF... IF the HDD is packed as well as their test device (and has similar weight). You seem to be ignoring the fact that how well it is packed is the variable that is being discussed.
That depends on whether we're talking about the running hard drive, or the non-running. If the running, yes, obviously, great care should be taken or you could exceed the running G-limit as you describe.

The main point is that for non-running drives the G-limit is so far up there that it borders on superstition to even think it is a factor in whether your hard drive is going to have problems once you receive it. (With the exceptions of your points about collisions inside the box between other hard items that could destroy the circuit board, connectors,etc.) But even those exceptions would all be visible damage. There is no non-visible damage that can happen to a non-operating hard drive in shipping that wouldn't leave significant evidence of damage to the cardboard box itself.

I think it is interesting to guess what the breakpoint is at 300G. The heads fly out of park? The spindle warps? The platters warp/crack? The arms warp?

The key with packing HDDs is that every corner and edge (and side) of the HDD needs to be protected from impact with the shipping box or other contents of the box. Any exposed corner or edge is a problem waiting to happen. If the HDD is the only thing in the box and a corner is exposed (and the drive can move in the box, or the corner is against the box), then you can imagine that it is possible to have an impact equivalent to dropping a bare HDD onto a thin piece of cardboard sitting on concrete from a height of 1 to 2 meters. If there are any other metal objects in the box with the HDD (or other HDDs) and they are able to move around, then it is possible to have an impact equivalent to dropping a bare HDD onto metal from a height of about half the size of the box.

Yep, agree with that. So hopefully it isn't a running drive.
 
The main point is that for non-running drives the G-limit is so far up there that it borders on superstition to even think it is a factor in whether your hard drive is going to have problems once you receive it.

False.

As I have already explained, it is not difficult to get shocks in excess of 1000 gees when metal impacts metal, or somewhere around that with metal on concrete. If a corner of an HDD is exposed inside a box (and the HDD is not suspended by something like plastic endcaps), then if the box is dropped onto concrete or metal from a height of a meter or two, it is quite plausible that you could get an impact in excess of what an HDD is specified to endure. A sharp metal corner can easily punch right through cardboard (which is mostly air between thin paper pieces).

There is a reason why the HDD manufacturers specify that HDDs should be shipped with the drives completely suspended by plastic endcaps in a snug fitting box. Suspending the drive prevents the corners from punching through the cardboard, and the endcaps act as shock absorbers, spreading the impact out over a distance of millimeters instead of microns, drastically reducing the shock of impact.
 
Few years back I bought a pair of Samsung F3's from NE which were in their own plastic clam shell, both had their own cardboard covering, wrapped in bubble warp and they were in a large box with peanuts.

The drives were well protected and did not shift, both still work to this day.

That was the only time I seen this style of packing though.
 
Those plastic clamshells are pretty good. They are not sufficient for shipping by themselves, but they do keep the HDD corners from punching through cardboard, and the raised bubbles and ridges in the plastic provide a bit of shock absorption. Wrap one of those clamshells in a layer of bubble wrap and put it in a snug fitting box, and you have a well-protected HDD.

But the best thing is still to use the plastic endcaps to suspend the drive in a snug-fitting box. Or even better, suspend a plastic-clamshell enclosed drive on the endcaps in a snug-fitting box, since I think the plastic clamshells are helpful for protection when people are handling the drives and preparing them for shipment.
 
False.

As I have already explained, it is not difficult to get shocks in excess of 1000 gees when metal impacts metal, or somewhere around that with metal on concrete.
Yes, I agree. But will there be no visible evidence of 1000G passing through the corner? That is where I think people get lost, thinking their drive can be damaged in shipping (i.e. taking 300G+) and having no visual sign of it.

The drive shells appear to have mounting holes drilled out, so I presume the metal is not on the hard end of the spectrum.

Starting to think some test drops might be interesting.
 
Received 10 drives (2 shipments of 5 each) today from Newegg in this new packaging. Had 4 boxes with 2 drives each and 2 boxes with 1 each. Drives were packaged tightly with no movement whatsoever. Haven't had a chance to test the drives yet, but hopefully no DOA.
 
I love this new packaging. I got a Seagate a week ago that was bundled up in it's own box inside the shipping box. Very nice improvement.
 
Here is another question. If the JoeComp position is right, that this has always been a potential problem, then why do they pick the year 2014 to fix it? Are hard drives about to become more fragile?
 
They probably got sick of hearing everyone complain about it, saying they are going to pay more at Amazon just to get it home safely.
 
I remember ordering drives from NCIX a few years ago...the SSDs were merely thrown in the box with zero padding with only one crumpled up piece of brown paper on top. I also ordered a couple of magnetic drives (back in the 1TB days) and it was like they were loosely tossed into a box of packing peanuts. Proper drive packaging is an absolute must and I can't believe it's taken them this long to figure that out. I never ordered a drive from Newegg, based largely on reports of their less-than-stellar packaging. Now if only NCIX would figure it out as well...;)
 
Same here.

I think that NewEgg-bashing seems to be the new "hot thing" around here. Does any other retailer do better in their packaging? Amazon? Tiger Direct? MicroCenter? Joe's Hard Drives and Bait and Tackle Shop?

Agreed, but the proof will be in the pudding.

Let's wait and see what the difference is on Newegg DOA drives.

The sheer amount of threads should drop substantially.
 
Here is a serious question:

What kind of damage do you think happens when NewEgg ships a hard drive the 'traditional' way? Describe it. Explain it. Keep in mind the heads are parked and can not move across the platters. The platters are designed to spin at 5900RPM and are going 0.

I can't imagine there is any damage at all.

Some Seagate drives list a 300G shock limit. WD spec sheets show between 250G to 350G. From what I can tell at http://physics.info/frames/ that is in the range of 247G being equal to a test firing of a monkey on a rocket sled into a brick wall. Do you have any evidence that UPS or Fedex strapped your hard drive to a rocket and fires it into a brick wall?

Even a mere 70 to 100G is shown as the impact force of the Princess Diana crash. In other words, drive a car at high speed into a cement pillar. Does FedEx do that?

If typical Newegg shipping had any effect on the likely failure of a hard drive, don't you think the manufacturers would have found a way to void the warranty already for such a common activity?

There is serious damage. I ordered 4x drives from NE a couple of years ago. They arrived with large dents in them from bouncing against each other during shipping. Only one of them worked. I RMA'd all 4 of them.
 
Who is going to beta-test this new packaging? Not me!

I just bought a WD Black 1TB from Newegg for $72.98 & it works like a charm! Came with the new packaging & it's pretty sweet. Comes with this solid think bubble-wrap envelope with a prefect cardboard box that's meant for a HD. Newegg got smart & stepped-up.
 
I just bought a WD Black 1TB from Newegg for $72.98 & it works like a charm! Came with the new packaging & it's pretty sweet. Comes with this solid think bubble-wrap envelope with a prefect cardboard box that's meant for a HD. Newegg got smart & stepped-up.

Just to add to this. I bought 10 drives 2 days ago. All came without any physical damage and passed all SMART tests.

Didn't expect any less though...not sure why people expect to get DOA drives so "often".

I don't think I've ever gotten a drive DOA.
 
Been ordering from NE from the start. Never had a dead drive and ordered 20+ for just myself over the years. Ordered many more for businesses, before this special packaging i ordered 16 4tbs for work, they sent me the bulk pack they get from manufacturer. Its just a styrofoam block with holes for the drives, they wrapped teh whole block in crapload of bubble wrap, all work great in heavy usage.
 
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