Cross-country Hard Drive Transport

[rhouck]

I am moving from DC to CA in ~2 weeks and thus need to transport my computers. I am using movers so I won't have direct control over everything during the move so I need to make sure things are packed securely.

I am not worried about desktops/etc., but I am unsure how to best transport my Norco-cased server. Buy bubble wrap and individually wrap them all? Leave them in the server?

QUESTION: What is the best way to transport all the hard drives out of my Norco 4220?

Thanks for the advice.

 

[OldSchool]

If it were me (and I plan on moving soon also, although not as far) I would keep the drives in the case, and put the case in it's original box...

 

[ghost6303]

if you are fairly certain that the movers arent going to be throwing the case around or dropping it from the truck, the above idea is probably the easiest- just put the whole case in its origional box.

if you were shipping it UPS or FedEx, which state that the package must be able to withstand 6 foot drops onto concrete, you need to be much more careful. in this case i would buy a hard drive shipper, which is a specially designed foam insert that holds hard drives inside a thick cardboard box.

 

[adi]

I just moved from WY to WA (3 days driving). I just stacked my 3 main machines in my backseat, covered them in a blanket (was worried about them breaking the window). It was a Norco server, Supermicro workstation and a Corsair 800D (watercooled, just drained it and kept all the blocks in it, made it just fine as well).

So far everything is 100% fine, the main issue I would worry about is making sure they can't move/bounce, either by themselves or in a box. I also had some spare drives in a smaller rubbermaid box, but in a 10 drive Styrofoam container, and they made it just fine.

 

[parityboy]

@OP

It'll cost you money, but I'd get some of these. I recently bought 10 of these to store some HDs in the loft; they come with anti-static bags too.

Oddly enough, I couldn't find any on the US eBay site...

 

[Joe S]

After reading this thread I'm definitely going to make sure I hold on to the hard drive shipper that newegg sent me recently when I ordered 4 drives. At the time I thought it was a bit excessive packaging for just 4 drives. Best of luck with the move by the way.

 

[rhouck]

Sadly I don't have the original Norco box anymore (wish I had saved it, but didn't have room at the time). They will have packing materials to make something work for it, however.

I may just pull them and put them in something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Bulk-Hard-Drive-3-5-Boxes-Container-Shipping-Grd-A-/320643039686#ht_4192wt_1396 Not sure if I have enough anti-static bags laying around for each, I'll have to check.

It is a professional moving company so I would expect that they would handle things carefully, but you never know... and my bigger worry would actually be about any impact breaking the backplane connections. If it wasn't for the hotswap backplane, I'd be less worried.

Thanks for the ideas.

 

[plunger]

How about throwing the HD's in a cardboard box full of packing peanuts? Peanuts should help with any bumps.

 

[GeorgeHR]

Let the movers pack it. Then they are liable.

You did tell the moving company that this item needs special handling, didn't you?

---

Wooden crate with the computer suspended by springs or bungee cords.

Just toss it in the back of your car and drive.

 

[tdg]

Just leave them in the case and pack it securely in a box with at least several inches of bubble wrap or peanuts around all sides. I've moved drives and shipped drives bare and in cases all over the country and have never had a problem when they are properly protected.

 

[Computurd]

i once recived a HDD inside of the smallest USPS flat rate boxes. It worked fine, much to my surprise. there was ZERO packaging around it!
i wouldn't recommend that of course, just sayin...

 

[plunger]

Amazon gave me this in 2009. I ordered 1 WD Cavair Green 1TB + 1 WHS v1

 

[jschuricht]

Just moved 1600 miles from CA to TX a few months ago. As for my servers, I jsut stuck them in the rack and strapped the whole thing down in my trailer. Only issue I had was with my AV rack which has shelfs that only mount to the front rail. Had to spend a hour streightning the shelfs back out after the trip.

 

[treadstone]

I may just pull them and put them in something like this: http://cgi.ebay.com/Bulk-Hard-Drive-3-5-Boxes-Container-Shipping-Grd-A-/320643039686#ht_4192wt_1396 Not sure if I have enough anti-static bags laying around for each, I'll have to check.

Thanks for the ideas.

When I bought the 52 x 2TB drives, they came in 3 of those shipping boxes. They are great and I kept them all. They come in really handy for when I want to pull any drives from my servers.

You could go to your local computer distributor and ask them if they happen to have 'leftover' HDD packaging... Maybe you'll get a few boxes for free?!?

These where from Western Digital, so ask them for these (they hold 20 drives per box).

Also, antistatic bags would be a good idea, but aren't necessary if you put the drives into this foam shipper as long as the drives are still mounted in the Norco drive trays!!

They actually fit really nicely into this shipping box with the drive trays.

 

[rhouck]

Let the movers pack it. Then they are liable.

If they damage/dent the server case, then sure, I'll get them to pay for it (as yes they will be packing everything and liable for any damage)

But as we all know, the value of the hardware is negligible compared to the cost of the data I'd be far more pissed about having to do data recovery than arguing for damage reimbursement...

You could go to your local computer distributor and ask them if they happen to have 'leftover' HDD packaging... Maybe you'll get a few boxes for free?!?

These where from Western Digital, so ask them for these (they hold 20 drives per box).

Also, antistatic bags would be a good idea, but aren't necessary if you put the drives into this foam shipper as long as the drives are still mounted in the Norco drive trays!!

They actually fit really nicely into this shipping box with the drive trays.

Thanks, and great to know that I don't have to pull them out of the drive trays, that definitely makes the decision easier!

I wonder if Microcenter would have anything laying around? Trying to think of anyone else nearby that might have bulk HD boxes.

 

[GeorgeHR]

If they damage/dent the server case, then sure, I'll get them to pay for it (as yes they will be packing everything and liable for any damage)

But as we all know, the value of the hardware is negligible compared to the cost of the data I'd be far more pissed about having to do data recovery than arguing for damage reimbursement...

If you have this much doubt about your mover, hire a different mover.

There are people who do this type of move everyday. They are good at it.

----

Maybe you should build 4 or 5 identical machines and duplicate your data on each. Then you could ship them by different movers. I am sure that one would get through.

 

[wlvrne]

Good luck.............