Hard Drive shipping quality - recent experiences?

[freshfeesh]

Drives are finally at a doable post-flood price, so I need to complete my sorely needed Freenas box. Next step, buy a slew of the new WD Reds (http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/Western-Digital-Red-3TB-SATA-SOHO-NAS-Drive-Full-Review). I usually like having an excuse to buy new gear, but buying hard drives always makes me nervous. I have never seen a hard drive packed so well as the BROKEN one that I had to pack per Seagate's warranty replacement terms in order to be given a refurb unit. Everything else, not so good (including the working one they sent back to me). Newegg has been stellar for me (and most), except with hard drive packaging, where it's the most important. Amazon: spotty. My favorite was Directron, but they failed, were dead for a while (RIP), and now have apparently been resurrected but I have yet to get anything from who I assume are new, different owners of the brand.

I haven't bought a drive in over a year now, so everything is probably different all over again. What have been people's recent experiences, with Newegg and others? Some of the first reviews of the Reds on their site criticize their HD packaging. I can't stand the thought of the hidden faults due to a rough past, lurking in the delicate things that I've entrusted all my precious data to. With this purchase, I'm certainly willing to pay a few bucks more for a known good.

 

[cyberjock]

I've had good luck with Newegg. If you buy more than 5 or 6 drives expect a very nice big box that holds 20 drives. It's REALLY handy for storing old hard drives!

Personally, I'm going to avoid the Red drives until I see what other people think of them. I'll let other people be the "beta test" for WDs RED drives. I'd hate to be the one that spends 1k+ on hard drives to figure out they are somehow not a good reliable drive for FreeNAS servers. Yes, I have spent more than $1k on drives that were not compatible, and I figured it out AFTER we were past the return date. The drives worked great for about 75 days, then problems began...

Edit: Picture added of my box from Newegg!

 

[jgreco]

We used to be able to get these really nice foam drive sleeves, basically 1/2" thick foam made into a box-for-a-drive. I haven't seen a source for those in several years, alas.

Don't get too thrilled about the multipak shippers, for the most part, they just barely conform to the lowest common denominator for most manufacturer's shipping requirements. They're fine if you're shipping drives in quantity via freight on pallets, where the boxes are not likely to get crushed, thrown around a terminal by disgruntled shipping company employees, etc. but a bunch of expensive, heavy drives packed in a single box is always a dicey thing.

 

[cyberjock]

I used to have boxes like those. I always gave them away. LOL. I love the big box personally. One single place for easy access to all of your drives.

 

[paleoN]

This is my main concern when ordering HDs. I usually split my order in two, wait for the first to ship and order the 2nd half. That way I would only need to RMA half the drives. I haven't actually had any shipping caused failures for any of my personal drives yet, knock on wood.

I haven't bought a drive in over a year now, so everything is probably different all over again. What have been people's recent experiences, with Newegg and others? Some of the first reviews of the Reds on their site criticize their HD packaging.

I ordered 2 drives this last March. I thought Newegg was getting better, but it was too early for me to be comfortable ordering from them. Amazon supposedly cleaned up their act and that's who I wound up picking.

I had some other things in the order and everything came in a normal large box. The hard drives were each secure within their own smaller box, but their boxes were somewhat loose in the larger box.

 

[freshfeesh]

I just placed one order with Amazon and one with ExcaliberPC.com. I'll post the outcome. Here's a chat I just had with Excaliber on their packing methods:

Chat Content:
Steven: Thank you for contacting EXCaliberPC.com real-time support chat. How can I help you today?
justin: What is your policy for packaging bare hard drives for shipment? They're very delicate, and I'm concerned about damage.
Steven: we pack them well
justin: Thanks. In order to alleviate my anxiety, can you give details? I've had problems with other vendors, who said they would pack them well, and then said that they would improve their packaging when I notified them of their insufficient methods, then shipped again the same way as the first time.
I can call if that would be easier.
Steven: we always use bubble wrap
or retail box that we have
justin: Are the wrapped drives packed sufficiently within the outer shipping box to prevent shifting/banging around?
Steven: yes
we NEVER had a customer complain about our shipping
we really are good
you can give ia try to see
unless we drop ship
what drive are you looking for
i can tell you if we are going to ship
or distribution
justin: WD Red 3TB, qty 3
Steven: that would leave from here
distribution is all dry
you are very safe
justin: OK, good to know. Thanks much. That's it.
Steven: ok, thanks!

 

[freshfeesh]

For anyone interested, here are pics of the packaging as received:

Excalibur PC (box of 3 drives)



Amazon (single drive):


I'd say both are good enough, but don't meet the 2" packing on all sides requirements that manufacturers require of returning dead drives for RMA. I'd vote the ExcaliburPC packing higher if they had included thicker packing on the top side. They cut a bulk plastic carrier down to fit the three drives I ordered and a standard box, leaving only 1" on the top side, which they filled with foam blocks. The Amazon packing uses a similar plastic carrier, but it's not as deep on every side as the Excalibur one. It's also a box within a box, but a snug fit, so that the outer box only affords the protection of an additional layer of cardboard. Also, one side has excess space between boxes that they filled with air pillows. The pillows made it to me in tact, but the weight of the drive I think is enough to pop them in some situations, which would leave the inner box slopping back and forth on one axis.

 

[cyberjock]

Thanks for the post. The pictures look pretty much like all of the other packaging I've received from Tiger Direct, Newegg as well as Amazon.