Questionable Hard Drive Packaging - What to do?

[PC_User]

Ordered a drive from a (seemingly) reputable seller on eBay. It arrived today packaged securely inside a thick 1" bubble shell. The drive was nestled inside the shell and was not moving. This shell with the drive inside, however, was inside an ordinary thin bubble envelope. It was clearly flying around inside the envelope.

What do you suggest I do? Should I just return it and avoid the risk/headache/worry altogether? I plan to be storing very valuable data on the drive so the fact that I saved about $35 on the drive isn't nearly as much a concern as reliability.

Pics below... Thanks!

 

[drescherjm]

I plan to be storing very valuable data on the drive

Then make sure you always have backups. Any storage device can die at any time. Each year you do not want to gamble that your drive will not be in the 2% to 10% that fail.

Ordered a drive from a (seemingly) reputable seller on eBay. It arrived today packaged securely inside a thick 1" bubble shell. The drive was nestled inside the shell and was not moving. This shell with the drive inside, however, was inside an ordinary thin bubble envelope. It was clearly flying around inside the envelope.

The packaging looks fine to me.

What do you suggest I do?

Rigorously test the drive (or any other drive that you get) before putting any valuable data on it. At home and work I test every single drive I get regardless if it is new or back from an RMA. I use a 4 pass badblocks test which for 4TB drives takes 40 or so hours to complete. Before, during and after the test I examine the SMART raw data for changes in key parameters.

 

[NeilAndrew]

At home and work I test every single drive I get regardless if it is new or back from an RMA. I use a 4 pass badblocks test which for 4TB drives takes 40 or so hours to complete. Before, during and after the test I examine the SMART raw data for changes in key parameters.

not to hijack this thread or anything but do you have a link or tutorial for this?


OP
Take a drive right off the assembly line - it could or could not fail any sooner than the one you received.
If the data is of high value, ensure appropriate backup solutions.

 

[drescherjm]

not to hijack this thread or anything but do you have a link or tutorial for this?

Look for badblocks on this forum. I have described my testing dozens of times. I would normally search for you but I have a killer sinus headache at the moment.

 

[PC_User]

Then make sure you always have backups. Any storage device can die at any time. Each year you do not want to gamble that your drive will not be in the 2% to 10% that fail.



The packaging looks fine to me.



Rigorously test the drive (or any other drive that you get) before putting any valuable data on it. At home and work I test every single drive I get regardless if it is new or back from an RMA. I use a 4 pass badblocks test which for 4TB drives takes 40 or so hours to complete. Before, during and after the test I examine the SMART raw data for changes in key parameters.

I completely agree. Always have a backup. But still would like to take precautions where possible to ensure the chances of drive failure are minimized.

I would be fine except the drive in this bubble was inside an envelope and was moving around. The envelope itself also provides much less external protection compared to a cardboard box. Should this be a concern?

 

[darkunitzero]

hahha real talk. Why did you get a drive on ebay if you knew it was going to store valuable data?

I agree with drescherjm though, bad block will be key in this case.

 

[Wendig0]

I think you'll be fine. Just plug it in and see if it works, if it does then you should be ok. But if you want to be really thorough about it then you could stress test it. I just received seagate drives from tigerdirect and they were packaged worse than that. First, they were packaged in an oversized box, which looked like it had been kicked around and sat on (no joke), and then on top of that they were just in their own retail plastic packaging free to move around because the jokers at tigerdirect only put bubble stuffing in the box but nothing to actually keep the drives from moving around. So I have yet to see if these drives work but if they do then I'm going to let it slip. I plan to put them in a raid 1 setup anyway.

 

[bigdogchris]

It will be fine.

People create too much of a fuss about hard drive packaging. If the platters aren't spinning, the drive can be bumped around without causing damage. If they were that sensitive they'd never make it out of the manufacturing process.

 

[PC_User]

hahha real talk. Why did you get a drive on ebay if you knew it was going to store valuable data?

I agree with drescherjm though, bad block will be key in this case.

I think you'll be fine. Just plug it in and see if it works, if it does then you should be ok. But if you want to be really thorough about it then you could stress test it. I just received seagate drives from tigerdirect and they were packaged worse than that. First, they were packaged in an oversized box, which looked like it had been kicked around and sat on (no joke), and then on top of that they were just in their own retail plastic packaging free to move around because the jokers at tigerdirect only put bubble stuffing in the box but nothing to actually keep the drives from moving around. So I have yet to see if these drives work but if they do then I'm going to let it slip. I plan to put them in a raid 1 setup anyway.

It will be fine.

People create too much of a fuss about hard drive packaging. If the platters aren't spinning, the drive can be bumped around without causing damage. If they were that sensitive they'd never make it out of the manufacturing process.

Thanks for the reassurance guys. I'll be sure to test the drive out for many hours.

Noob question - is there a good Linux emulator out there that will let me run Badblock on Windows? Don't have Ubuntu set up on this machine.

Or I can use the WD Diagnostic Utility:
Extended Test
Write zeros (low level format)
Or both?

 

[drescherjm]

Noob question - is there a good Linux emulator out there that will let me run Badblock on Windows?

I think you can download a windows version of badblocks.

An alternate option that I recommend is to do a few full formats. It's not as good as badblocks but it will read and write every sector. HDTune Pro trial will also have the ability to test every sector of a drive. You can do a SMART long test (what WDC diagnostics does) however that is a read only test. Not as good as a read / write.

Don't have Ubuntu set up on this machine.

You can put systemrescuecd on a usb stick. If you have an extra PC somewhere. Then boot off the USB stick. I can help after that.

http://www.sysresccd.org/SystemRescueCd_Homepage

 

[pbassjunk]

It will be fine.

People create too much of a fuss about hard drive packaging. If the platters aren't spinning, the drive can be bumped around without causing damage. If they were that sensitive they'd never make it out of the manufacturing process.

This.

If there's anything cataclysmic-ally wrong with the drive it'll happen when you first start using it. If it starts fine, it's really just a numbers game until when it will eventually die.

 

[phis6]

People create too much of a fuss about hard drive packaging. If the platters aren't spinning, the drive can be bumped around without causing damage. If they were that sensitive they'd never make it out of the manufacturing process.

Yeah I Agree with this. Just run the stress test though to verify its health before you start storing your data to that drive.

 

[PC_User]

Thanks again guys. Definitely planning to do a full stress test (as always with hard drives).

Just a bit concerned that it wasn't even in a box and probably was roughed up during shipment. Might be my paranoia but part of me says return it to be safe.

 

[GeorgeHR]

...

If you are worried about how hard drives are shipped, go to a local store.

You failure rate will be the same.

 

[PC_User]

If you are worried about how hard drives are shipped, go to a local store.

You failure rate will be the same.

Good point! as they are shipped everywhere once they leave the production line.

Perhaps I'm a bit old fashioned in believing that these drives are delicate creatures and need to be very securely packaged. Since this drive was in a thick bubble enclosure, I'll give it a thorough testing and hopefully it works out.

 

[ep0x73]

I use HDtune to run a block check, first quick and then the long that checks them all.
Large drives, 2TB+ it will take hours and put some stress on the drive/heat.

It it comes back clean and survives it['s probably good.