Shipping a HDD

zel · 21 Mar 2016 at 12:18

Advice pleaase, am I being paranoid?

I've just bought a new WD Red 3TB OEM drive.

I was delivered by DPD.

It came packaged in a box sized 18x15x4.5 cm, the drive is 15x10.5x3 cm. Inside the box the drive was wrapped in one sheet of large-bubble bubble wrap. All the bubbles were burst and the drive was moving around in this box when delivered.

This box was then wrapped in medium-bubble bubble wrap and packed in a second box 20x18x10 cm (all this bubble wrap was fine).

I've never before received a drive packaged like this. Historically they used to be in rectangular cardboard boxes packed with foam, recently in plastic sleves and packed in bubble wrap. I've never received a drive that moved freely when I shook the packaging.

Should I send this back or am I being overly paranoid?

Justintime · 21 Mar 2016 at 13:18

Horrible packaging, i'd be tempted to send it back. I've historically had hdds delivered in frustration free packaging from the green guys and they worked fine and never reported SMART errors etc.. over their useful lifetimes but i really would not accept that anymore. Recently a mate dropped a NAS with 4 WD red 6 tbs in them, about a foot unto carpet, oddly they all passed diagnostics and read/write tests by hdd sentinel with no SMART errors, but within a month all died of bad sectors, so the problem may not be apparent now but develop over time.

zel · 21 Mar 2016 at 14:02

Think I'm going to return it.

From googling I've found this link https://www.hgst.com/support/hard-d...ng-instructions/acceptable-packaging-examples showing acceptable packaging which indeed matches with what I've received in the past.

I agree, not worth the risk.

andicole0 · 21 Mar 2016 at 14:10

Does it power up, if so I think it will be fine. Modern disk have auto park heads so with no power they will be fine.
If it doesn't power up then yes I would blame the packaging.
Andi.

zel · 21 Mar 2016 at 14:12

Not opened the packaging, this way I can return it under Internet Sale of Goods within 14 days no questions asked.

Justintime · 21 Mar 2016 at 14:19

andicole0 said:
Does it power up, if so I think it will be fine. Modern disk have auto park heads so with no power they will be fine.
If it doesn't power up then yes I would blame the packaging.
Andi.

Not so, dropped or mishandled disks can produce bad sectors or have pcb issues, on or off. There is a G limit even when parked.