How to ship: With or without drives installed

[Muzza]

Hi..
I would like to get some opinions on the safest way to ship an HPe Microserver 10 plus. If I use the original shipping box and packing, would it be risky keeping the 4 WD 16TB drives in the drive bays? This will be going on a plane via baggage. I may be able to carry the drives with me as carry on but I already have two such drives. Computers are shipped everyday with drives installed so I'm thinking It would be OK.. I will not be able to purchase replacement drives at the location I'm flying to.

Thanks for your suggestions;

 

[Arwen]

Don't know.

But, whence you arrive at the destination, I would check all the internal cables for proper seating before powering up.
And in the case of complex wiring, a few photographs might help. (Unless you are anal like me, and have a wiring diagram.)

 

[Evertb1]

I have shipped some small Dell EMC Poweredge and HP Proliant servers to Africa (from the Netherlands to Ghana) and will ship some more by air, always with the drives installed. Until now there have been no problems reported back to me. But as @Arwen suggested they should be checked before powering them up. The disks should be able to withstand the forces that accure during transport like acceleration/decelaration, small dropps of the package etc. The biggest problems are to be expected with the mounting of the disks and the cable connectors.

 

[joeschmuck]

If you were shipping via FedEx, USPS, or some other normal delivery service, very possible it would survive the trip, but as airline baggage... I've seen all too often items fall off the conveyor belt going up into the airplane and those folks could care less about the package. I'm not sure if you have any recourse against the airlines if they damage the device. And this is different from someone shipping via a delivery service, those packages are handled better, generally speaking that is, becasue many of those packages are insured and it's in the company's best interest for the package to arrive in good condition. Baggage check is another story. Also imagine the box is under a pile of suit cases so it needs to be structurally sound. I'm painting a horror story for you, but better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

I wish you the best of luck, hope it makes it to the other side in one piece.

 

[Constantin]

OEMs like iXSystems can ship pre-confectioned systems but their packaging is a testament to a lifetime of insurance claims. At work, we add visible drop / tilt / etc. indicators to packaging to put shippers on notice that we are monitoring their work.

For homebuilt packaging, I’d consider separate packaging for the drives. The drives are the heaviest load in a server box and hard drops can easily deform mounting solutions, cages, or even the case. If there is a backplane, the SATA connector can also be fractured.

I would take the drives as hand luggage with you since they are the most valuable part and you can control any impacts. Ideally ship the enclosure in a hard-sided suitcase and have bracing inside to help deal with 5+ bags being piled on top by ramp guys whose only concern is to get them as quickly in and out of the belly of the plane as possible.

Re: bracing: this could also include bracing inside the case like cardboard, clothes, whatever to internally shore up the case. For that reason, besides hand-carrying the drives, I’d also consider hand carrying the motherboard. That way, the case can be filled from the inside with stuff to help it not collapse under load.

 

[Evertb1]

I ship the systems in krates build by a sheltered workshop (I am not sure it hat's the right translation of what we call a sociale werkplaats) and we take care that we pack them very carefully with some packing foam inside the case in appropriate spots. The way we pack things would in my opinion not be feasable for a commercial undertaking as it is a bit labor intesive. But we are working for a good cause. The servers are for local community projects and me and the other volunteers have no problem spending some time and effort (and money).
But as @Constantin mentioned: if you have any possibility to carry the drives yourself do it.

 

[Evertb1]

clothes,

I am not completely an*l about it but I would be carefull with clothing. Some fabrics can be good for a fair amount of static loads especially when you are stuffing it.

 

[Constantin]

Chassis Ground. The PSU is also enclosed. Never mind staticky things your luggage will encounter like baggage belts. But if you have the room, something as simple as cardboard cut, folded and fixed in place can make a very strong “pillar” inside the chassis to prevent plastic deformation.

 

[Muzza]

Don't know.

But, whence you arrive at the destination, I would check all the internal cables for proper seating before powering up.
And in the case of complex wiring, a few photographs might help. (Unless you are anal like me, and have a wiring diagram.)

Thank you for your suggestions... In this unit there don't seem to be many cables and the drives seem to be securely plugged into a backplane.

 

[Muzza]

I have shipped some small Dell EMC Poweredge and HP Proliant servers to Africa (from the Netherlands to Ghana) and will ship some more by air, always with the drives installed. Until now there have been no problems reported back to me. But as @Arwen suggested they should be checked before powering them up. The disks should be able to withstand the forces that accure during transport like acceleration/decelaration, small dropps of the package etc. The biggest problems are to be expected with the mounting of the disks and the cable connectors.

That is a positive report..thank you.. I will be using the original shipping box and packing it back in the same manner as when shipped by the manufacturer.I know shipping systems with a large heavy graphic card can be asking for trouble but the 4 drive seem to be supported very well.

 

[Muzza]

If you were shipping via FedEx, USPS, or some other normal delivery service, very possible it would survive the trip, but as airline baggage... I've seen all too often items fall off the conveyor belt going up into the airplane and those folks could care less about the package. I'm not sure if you have any recourse against the airlines if they damage the device. And this is different from someone shipping via a delivery service, those packages are handled better, generally speaking that is, becasue many of those packages are insured and it's in the company's best interest for the package to arrive in good condition. Baggage check is another story. Also imagine the box is under a pile of suit cases so it needs to be structurally sound. I'm painting a horror story for you, but better to prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

I wish you the best of luck, hope it makes it to the other side in one piece.

So you have a valid point...Maybe I can add some extra vertical reinforcement into the box.. but there is not much room for modification

 

[Muzza]

OEMs like iXSystems can ship pre-confectioned systems but their packaging is a testament to a lifetime of insurance claims. At work, we add visible drop / tilt / etc. indicators to packaging to put shippers on notice that we are monitoring their work.

For homebuilt packaging, I’d consider separate packaging for the drives. The drives are the heaviest load in a server box and hard drops can easily deform mounting solutions, cages, or even the case. If there is a backplane, the SATA connector can also be fractured.

I would take the drives as hand luggage with you since they are the most valuable part and you can control any impacts. Ideally ship the enclosure in a hard-sided suitcase and have bracing inside to help deal with 5+ bags being piled on top by ramp guys whose only concern is to get them as quickly in and out of the belly of the plane as possible.

Re: bracing: this could also include bracing inside the case like cardboard, clothes, whatever to internally shore up the case. For that reason, besides hand-carrying the drives, I’d also consider hand carrying the motherboard. That way, the case can be filled from the inside with stuff to help it not collapse under load.

I will be re-using HP's original packaging. I have confidence that the enclosure is well designed for shipping. I think they ship this system with drives included as there are configurations for sale that list storage.

 

[Muzza]

Chassis Ground. The PSU is also enclosed. Never mind staticky things your luggage will encounter like baggage belts. But if you have the room, something as simple as cardboard cut, folded and fixed in place can make a very strong “pillar” inside the chassis to prevent plastic deformation.

I will explore ways to strengthen the internal structure of the box if there is room. The PSU is an external brick and should not be problematic.