Hard drive mailers

[FatalException0E]

I'm having to RMA several drives. (I just went through the stack at the office, and have one of my own)

I don't have any decent HD mailers (the boxes with foam rubber that fits the drives like a glove)

Does anyone know of a source to get those? None of the packaging places around here have a clue what I'm talking about.

[Ferrit]

I usually use a few wraps of bubble wrap + packing tape and then fit them in a box that holds the wrapped +taped drive tight

[FatalException0E]

I usually use a few wraps of bubble wrap + packing tape and then fit them in a box that holds the wrapped +taped drive tight

I've done that for a tape drive. I wasn't sure if it was good enough for HDDs. You haven't had any manufacturers refuse a drive packaged that way?

[RejectionMan]

WesternDigital used to tell me that a minimum of 2 inches was all that was required when I RMA'd there stuff. therfore 3 inches of buble wrap should be sufficient.

Remember that tight is not necisarily good, as it reduces the abbility to absorb any shock and just transfers it through. "snug" would be a better descriptor, drive is inthere, can move abit, but by no means is it going to escape or shuffle around so it has less than the recomented sourounding packaging.

[Archangel42069]

I usually use a few wraps of bubble wrap + packing tape and then fit them in a box that holds the wrapped +taped drive tight

This is how many vendors ship their OEM HDD's - Newegg is the first that pops to mind, but I am sure others do as well. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me.

[ShadowWynd]

I try and make sure that anything I ship would survive the "Castaway" test - if the plane falls into the ocean, I want one of the guys to use my package as a buoy and live.

That, and we have gotten parcels from the major couriers flattened, some with a boot print clean through the box, that sort of thing, so I also try and make sure it withstands the "kick it around in the shipping depot" test.

That said, hard drives are usually wrapped in several inches of bubble wrap and packing-taped until airtight. That is then bundled along with whatever stray bits of styrofoam I can find inside another layer of bubble wrap and packing tape. I then fill a box several inches with packing peanuts, place the giant wad of tape and bubble wrap into the box, proceed to fill the rest of the box with peanuts, then tape the box and all edges shut, usually taped two or three times for good measure.

No complaints from vendors thus far.

[Tekboy]

I try and make sure that anything I ship would survive the "Castaway" test - if the plane falls into the ocean, I want one of the guys to use my package as a buoy and live.

That, and we have gotten parcels from the major couriers flattened, some with a boot print clean through the box, that sort of thing, so I also try and make sure it withstands the "kick it around in the shipping depot" test.

That said, hard drives are usually wrapped in several inches of bubble wrap and packing-taped until airtight. That is then bundled along with whatever stray bits of styrofoam I can find inside another layer of bubble wrap and packing tape. I then fill a box several inches with packing peanuts, place the giant wad of tape and bubble wrap into the box, proceed to fill the rest of the box with peanuts, then tape the box and all edges shut, usually taped two or three times for good measure.

No complaints from vendors thus far.

I NEVER throw away a box from a HDD manufacturer. There is one from Seagate under my desk now, for the next drive I have to RMA.

[FatalException0E]

..
No complaints from vendors thus far.

Except that it takes them an hour to unwrap the thing

Great, now I have even more drives to send back. How did I end up being Mr. RMA?

[arch0nmyc0n]

Just to prove a point once, to my supplier we RMAd a hard drive in a 21" monitor box... the supplier asked that there be at LEAST 4 inches and I asked why not the usual 2 inches and he went on and on about how to properly ship things and spewing off statistical analysis or something like that... so I asked him " at LEAST 4 inches right" he replied yes and I hung up the phone. One of the tech guys I've talked to at the supplier before called me when the package arrived... it took them 2 hours to get the hard drive out of the "secure" mess we'd imposed on them. That box was the Fort Knox of packaging, we even reinforced the box with stronger stuff around to avoid it getting crushed. Staples, tape, glue... everything... our shop became known as the liberators as they became more lax on the 4 inch rule afterwards...

[jeradsyn]

Fatal;

If you do end up using the bubblewrap, try and use the 'pink' stuff (anti-static) to minimize any guff from the manufacturer.

[ilovetheusers]

Except that it takes them an hour to unwrap the thing

Great, now I have even more drives to send back. How did I end up being Mr. RMA?

WD will actually send you a shipping box if you do advance RMA.

[thirdfey]

This is how many vendors ship their OEM HDD's - Newegg is the first that pops to mind, but I am sure others do as well. If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me.

Yeah, and they definitely don't hold up to the 2" standard. They have 2"s around the outside of the harddrives but inbetween stacked hard drives they only do one layer of bubble wrap. Those drives were rma'd within a month.

Great, now I have even more drives to send back. How did I end up being Mr. RMA?

Because you showed initiative which is a bad thing in the modern "office space."