The winner for worst packaging for shipping a HDD goes to...

[tcsenter]

Then explain as to why manufacturers are VERY specific on packaging RMAs and if you don't follow their guidelines to a T your warranty claim is null and void? The explicitly say NO PEANUTS!

Because the drives come back to the manufacturer in an unknown state with the heads/actuator unparked (assuming the drive has been powered-up at least once). The non-operating shock tolerance figure for drives with unparked heads/actuators is something like 1/3 of that for parked.

Packing peanuts retain or shed lots of particulate matter and dust as well, and people don't always send the drive back in a well-sealed antistatic bag.

If surrounded by a reasonable thickness of bubble wrap, the drive is never vulnerable even when it settles to one side of the box. Vulnerable to what, someone whacking the box with a hammer exactly where the drive has settled?

 

[Rubycon]

Because the drives come back to the manufacturer in an unknown state with the heads/actuator unparked (assuming the drive has been powered-up at least once). The non-operating shock tolerance figure for drives with unparked heads/actuators is something like 1/3 of that for parked.

Packing peanuts retain or shed lots of particulate matter and dust as well, and people don't always send the drive back in a well-sealed antistatic bag.

If surrounded by a reasonable thickness of bubble wrap, the drive is never vulnerable even when it settles to one side of the box. Vulnerable to what, someone whacking the box with a hammer exactly where the drive has settled?

Nope, too many variables involved when in transit. It's better to be safe than sorry. I take the advice of the manufacturer and make sure to adhere to it well making no assumptions.

 

[Byte]

Zipzoomfly has nice HDD packacking, its in a special fit foam container for hard drives. Egg has always been a layer of bubble plus peanuts. Dell only has paper, but the drive was retail so not as bad. Amazon always has terrible packing, most of the time the inflatable plastic are all popped so it pretty much just tosses around the box.

 

[Zap]

Why would that matter?
If it arrives dead, damaged, or has errors why can't you RMA?

You can, but then your time will be wasted, potentially money wasted (most companies don't cover return shipping in their policies) and are aggrivated.

When you RMA(or do an exchange) within 30 days/whatever Newegg's rule is, don't they send you a brand new one?
Of course if you RMA to Seagate, Samsung, Western Digital, or Hitachi then one should expect a refurbished one.

I think at least some of the manufacturers send out new drives if you indicate that it was a DOA type situation. However, if it was damaged in shipping then the vendor either needs to file a claim on it with the shipping company, or they need to own up to improper packaging and replace the unit. Manufacturer warranty should not have to cover the product being damaged due to negligence.

I have experienced the downhill travel of Newegg shipping, but last week ordered parts, including an OEM hard drive for my father's build, and was surprised to see it wrapped in bubble wrap AND placed inside a nice fitting cardboard box which was inside the larger box with other components and packing peanuts. Better than my past shipments.

Yeah, I've noticed that as well, however my past three drives from Newegg have been Samsung drives and I was thinking that maybe that's just the way they package that particular brand.

What brand drive did you get packaged that way?

Zipzoomfly has nice HDD packacking, its in a special fit foam container for hard drives.

Yeah, bought a couple of (again) Samsungs from ZZF and they came in the foam "coffins." Nice touch.

Here's a pic of my HDD from Amazon after I opened it up. The Amazon packing slip did not provide much padding - trust me on this one, m'kay? :\

I've been running DLGDIAG on it all evening. It passed the quick test and is now around 3/4 of the way through the extended test. So far so good.

 

[Idontcare]

Here's a pic of my HDD from Amazon after I opened it up. The Amazon packing slip did not provide much padding - trust me on this one, m'kay? :\

I've been running DLGDIAG on it all evening. It passed the quick test and is now around 3/4 of the way through the extended test. So far so good.

Zap it is a green drive...meaning smaller eco-footprint...that includes their approach to reducing wasteful earth-destroying packaging as well You are supposed to thank them for that.

 

[jvroig]

Zap it is a green drive...meaning smaller eco-footprint...that includes their approach to reducing wasteful earth-destroying packaging as well

Ah I get it now, green means they can only kill baby trees for the packaging, hence the scarcity of packaging material. I'm definitely getting WD blacks only.

 

[lothar]

Zap it is a green drive...meaning smaller eco-footprint...that includes their approach to reducing wasteful earth-destroying packaging as well You are supposed to thank them for that.

Ha!

 

[BarkingGhostar]

This is a bit disappointing. While I no longer buy hard drives in single units, I can only imagine how Amazon will ship my Cyber Wednesday purchase of a pair of Western Digital Green 1.5TB drives they sold for $89.99/each.

My previous hard drive purchase was from NewEgg last December. I bought four of the infamous Seagate 1TB 7200.11 drives, but they essentially cut the manufacturer's foam form in half and put it into a box. Not bad for shipping, and certain better than the firmware that those drives came with (replaced three of the drives already under warranty).

I figure it'll take Amazon another week before they actually ship the hard drives. Maybe I should expect the worse in shipping.

 

[Viper GTS]

I've purchased a few drives from Amazon recently, & it was MUCH better than that. They were WD Black 1 TB's, & each was individually boxed in something with 1" or so on all sides. Then they were put into the larger box with everything else. I was actually quite impressed with it compared to the Newegg horror stories.

I ordered about 90% of the parts of a recent build from Amazon, their prices are usually competitive and with my Prime account the shipping is fast.

I would be pissed, however, if a drive showed up like that picture.

Viper GTS

 

[sticks435]

Newegg has improved their HDD packaging for OEM drives, it used to just be a layer of bubble-wrap and then toss it in a box filled with wadded paper. Now they actually stick them in some foam end-caps to reduce the more excessive g-force effects.

Apparently they haven't, as this was exactly the way mine came. It had 1 or 2 wraps of bubble, and then just some brown shipping paper thrown in. I probably should have checked it before I started using it, as it seemed excessively loud when reading or writing.

 

[Elixer]

Apparently they haven't, as this was exactly the way mine came. It had 1 or 2 wraps of bubble, and then just some brown shipping paper thrown in. I probably should have checked it before I started using it, as it seemed excessively loud when reading or writing.

Actually, it really depends on which warehouse the HD is shipping from, since the egg is "trying" to see if it makes a difference.

Zap, :'(
I wouldn't even bother testing the HD. I would tell amazon to reship me the drive packaged correctly.
That is just unacceptable no matter how you look at it.

 

[capeconsultant]

There is only one way to ship a hard drive, and that is THE RIGHT way. What costs more in time, money, and the environment... A little extra bubble wrap and a decent box and padding? OR, a poorly packed drive, arrived DOA, gets shipped back to manufacturer, they spend time and money to fix it, cannot fix it, throw it out and ship a new, or, God forbid, another one that was poorly shipped the first time but they were somehow able to fix. SHEESH. People are complete idiots and that is really too bad. Can you say "carbon credits for all the LARGE UPS trucks shipping dead drives back and forth?

When I sell a drive on EBay, you could drop kick it from NY to CA and it would arrive in fine shape

Amen to this:

Zap,
I wouldn't even bother testing the HD. I would tell amazon to reship me the drive packaged correctly.
That is just unexceptable no matter how you look at it.

 

[dflynchimp]

So far everything I've ordered from Newegg has had top notch packaging, bubble wrap, paper or peanut stuffing where needed; all that good stuff.

There's a good chance that this sudden influx of poor packaging for all these etailers probably has something to do with black friday itself, since they most likely recieved a massive increase in product throughput.

But yeah, Tigerdirect isn't so hot on my list of good value and quality service sites, although I wouldn't cross it off my list if I'm hunting for something.

 

[Zap]

Zap, :'(
I wouldn't even bother testing the HD. I would tell amazon to reship me the drive packaged correctly.

Drive already tested (extended test) and it came out fine. I'll probably keep it, but will probably also post a review on Amazon indicating their failure.

 

[Gillbot]

Drive already tested (extended test) and it came out fine. I'll probably keep it, but will probably also post a review on Amazon indicating their failure.

FS/FT is usually where I get my shipping gems, often with a 3.5" HDD in a small flat rate USPS box with minimal padding.

My first passed all tests so i'll keep it, I just got more though and I think they suffered physical damage. Looks like some busted sata power connectors. WHY do people think 1 wrap of bubble and a couple of pieces of crumpled newspaper is sufficient! IT'S NOT!

 

[ScorcherDarkly]

I just got a SSD and WD Black 640 GB in the mail today, along with a new headset. The headset was large enough that it needed to be packed in a large box, which was filled with the foam peanuts. Dunno what it would have come like if I had order just the drives. The WD drive was wrapped in bubble wrap 4 layers thick, and the SSD was in a small cardboard box with a bit of foam surrounding it. The outside box had a big hole in the top, but that's UPS' fault, not Newegg's. Overall I was pleased, but like I said, if I hadn't had the headset shipped at the same time I don't know what it would have come like.

 

[capeconsultant]

How about a shipping company that guarantees NO HOLES in boxes! What a concept

 

[robertk2012]

Lmao I got a Kingston 40 gb ssd from Newegg that was in a ups envelope that looked like it had been ran over by a truck. Even had tread marks on it. I just got mymoney back even though I bought the drive a month ago.

 

[elconejito]

Newegg has always had really good packing for me (knocks on wood). The drives usually are coccooned in bubblewrap and then put in a box with either peanuts or paper depending on what else I ordered. There is so much bubblewrap I usually have to take a knife to it to get the drive out. I don't think I've ever gotten a DOA that i can recall.

Amazon though... My first drive order from them had minimal packaging. If i remember right it was just some airbags wrapped in one direction and it looked like the drive "fell out" through the open side (if that makes sense). It was DOA. I didn't think I'd order from them again. But then they had some drives i wanted at a really nice price and I bit the bullet.

They were **awesomely** packaged this time. I ordered 2 drives, and each drive was wrapped all over in mini airbags and then put in it's own small cardboard box . Then the two boxes were put in a larger box with more airbags. Very secure and very well padded. First drive tested clear and the second one is testing now.

 

[tcsenter]

Newegg has always had really good packing for me (knocks on wood). The drives usually are coccooned in bubblewrap and then put in a box with either peanuts or paper depending on what else I ordered. There is so much bubblewrap I usually have to take a knife to it to get the drive out. I don't think I've ever gotten a DOA that i can recall.

I finally figured out where the complaints are coming from about Newegg. The people who are complaining about Newegg's packing would consider the packing you described as seriously inadequate. IOW, they're not actually getting different packing, its a difference of opinion or expectation.

They want Newegg to use packing that will suspend the hard drive in some geometric center of the box and prevent it from settling, even if it is wrapped in adequate layer of bubble wrap, so that just in case someone whacks the box with a hammer exactly where the drive would otherwise have settled, the blow from the hammer won't defeat the box, the bubble wrap, and subsequently damage the drive.

 

[Idontcare]

How about a shipping company that guarantees NO HOLES in boxes! What a concept

Pretty difficult to guarantee not a single one of their employees are assholes or pricks.

Thats like asking for McDonalds to guarantee no spit in your burgers, or that their employees absolutely wash their hands after having been thru the restroom.

Some people relish the idea of being asshats in their everyday life though, and some of those people work for UPS.

 

[zagood]

Apparently they haven't, as this was exactly the way mine came. It had 1 or 2 wraps of bubble, and then just some brown shipping paper thrown in. I probably should have checked it before I started using it, as it seemed excessively loud when reading or writing.

Mine came like this as well, died in a little over a month, I highly recommend WD's Advanced RMA if only for the packaging you can re-use.

 

[robertk2012]

I finally figured out where the complaints are coming from about Newegg. The people who are complaining about Newegg's packing would consider the packing you described as seriously inadequate. IOW, they're not actually getting different packing, its a difference of opinion or expectation.

They want Newegg to use packing that will suspend the hard drive in some geometric center of the box and prevent it from settling, even if it is wrapped in adequate layer of bubble wrap, so that just in case someone whacks the box with a hammer exactly where the drive would otherwise have settled, the blow from the hammer won't defeat the box, the bubble wrap, and subsequently damage the drive.

Did you not see my post on the SSD from newegg?

I have had multiple drives just thrown in boxes in just the plastic case. They have gotten better lately but I have recieved MULTIPLE poor packing jobs from them. Im not sure why you would defend them and act like the rest of us are stupid.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Did you not see my post on the SSD from newegg?

I have had multiple drives just thrown in boxes in just the plastic case. They have gotten better lately but I have recieved MULTIPLE poor packing jobs from them. Im not sure why you would defend them and act like the rest of us are stupid.

Have you received anything that was broken or damaged due to this packaging?

 

[elconejito]

just out of curiosity, for those with bad newegg packaging where are your shipments coming from? Maybe it's just one warehouse that is full of wankers tossing drives in a box like horseshoes