Hello Selfhosted - I’m writing to y’all asking for recommendations for a retailer that will properly pack spinning platter HDDs for shipping. These devices are sensitive to impacts, and since I’m intending to use them for critical data archiving, they need to be packed with appropriate padding! Newegg is apparently incapable of understanding this.

In particular I am looking for WD Red Plus drives, 2x of them, 10TB apiece.

To name and shame Newegg, I have now gotten two shipments of these from them, around $400 each time, and they have botched the packaging so badly on both that I would never accept and trust these drives. The first RMA I requested included notes about exactly how their packing failed, and about how these devices need to be treated better, which were entirely disregarded when they packed the second round.

Who can I buy from that will take their clients’ purchases seriously?!

  • Benjaben@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    143·
    2 days ago

    Thank you! For reference, here’s the copy on their site indicating how their drives are shipped, this is MUCH more what I would expect (though technically this does seem to leave them the option of just using air pockets?) :

    Our drives ship in 225lb per sq inch pressure-rated boxes, specifically tested for impact. Inside the box you’ll find suspension brackets, foam inserts, or air filled pockets that secure the drive in place and prevent any possible impact from movement in the shipping process. The drive itself is sealed in an anti-static bag that protects the drive from any electromagnetic interference.

    • JordanZ@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      22 hours ago

      Ordered a number of drives from them recently. This is what they showed up in. Foam at the top and bottom of the smaller boxes, with each drive in a bag. Then both smaller boxes were in the larger box with some bubble wrap. Dates on each drive ranged from July 2022-July 2024.

    • LostXOR@fedia.io
      17·
      2 days ago

      I can back that up; the drives I ordered were packaged in an antistatic bag, surrounded by an air filled cushion thing, in a hard cardboard box. (Assuming what I got was the “air pockets” it’s a plastic sleeve made of many pressurized sections that completely encloses the drive; definitely adequate IMO. I can dig up a pic if you want).

      • Benjaben@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        33·
        2 days ago

        Thank you, this is the kind of information I posted for, I will almost certainly buy from these folks unless something more compelling surfaces.

    • brandon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      2 days ago

      They use air pockets but they are of the stiffer variety that are fitted around each drive, not the super cheap and thin air pockets that just get jammed in to fill the box.