Best shipping box for internal hard drive?

[ccmwl7]

I'm looking for a sturdy, secure and reliable box for posting a 3.5 in internal hard disk in case the winning bidder wants me to post it.

Asking because I had a previous sour exerience of a buyer receiving his hard drive and suffering more than a thousand bad sectors. Prior to postage, I had ran a thorough scan of it using HD Sentinel Pro which returned with perfect working order and zero bad sectors. I was frustrated as I had packed the hard drive inside an anti static bag and wrapped multiple layers of bubble wrap, placed the entire lot in a plastic box, then finally even wrapped multiple layers of bubble around the box itself.

Any advice which box (preferably something from Australia Pos) would be most secure for shipping a very fragile 3.5 inch internal hard drive?

[whoisbiggles]

Have done this at work a few times - and its an absolute lottery.

Our standard practice is the same as you describe - but we use a courier service - 1 in 5 don't make unscathed.

[go-tazz]

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@ccmwl7 wrote:

Any advice which box (preferably something from Australia Pos) would be most secure for shipping a very fragile 3.5 inch internal hard drive?

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Maybe try their B1 box 22cm long x 16cm  wide x 7.7 cm high

If you use an eBay shipping label it's $10.10 plus the cost of the box which is $1.75 I think (you would need a

printer to print out the label to put on the box and I use use the wide trasparent tape to cover it).

eBay labels include tracking.

[djavusydney]

That box is good or any other similar size box. The important thing is the padded. You need bubble wraps around the hdd and if there is still spaces, fill those spaces with bubble wrap or peanuts or cardboards.

[go-tazz]

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@djavusydney wrote:
That box is good or any other similar size box. The important thing is the padded. You need bubble wraps around the hdd and if there is still spaces, fill those spaces with bubble wrap or peanuts or cardboards.

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I've always wrapped an item in bubble wrap,stick it inside a freezer bag and then used scrunched up newspaper

as a packing medium all around (so it has cushioning all around and it's more biodegradable as I found foam

peanuts have to much "give" in them).

I've used the B1,B2 and B4 boxes from Australia Post for years and I've never had an issue with them,(being

able to use the eBay postage labels also makes it cheaper then using AP and it has the tracking included).

[countessalmirena]

Double-boxing... do all that's been said here but make sure that you double-box. You will want to be sure that there's no slack or play for the HDD to move around or be jolted by so much as a whisker.

[ace_tennis]

I send Fragile items Express Post - they must throw an item around a lot less if they only have it overnight.

[davidc4430]

bubble wrap, then peanuts then a box big enough for at least 40mm of space all around the drive.

ive bought a few drives off ebay and they have allways arrived as good as with the above packing.

[*tippy*toes*]

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@ace_tennis wrote:

I send Fragile items Express Post - they must throw an item around a lot less if they only have it overnight.

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I sell very fragile items by regular post and have never had a breakage. I learnt to pack fragile items from, of all people, the Chinese. I'd bought a few fragile items from them and the packaging was exceptional, even borderline overboard. To get an idea if I was packing OK, I went to the op shop and bought the most fragile looking china tea cup I could find. I packaged it up to how I thought was acceptable, then took it out the back and we played soccer with the parcel for around 30 minutes. I brought it back inside, unwrapped it from the rather damaged box, and there wasn't a scratch or crack to be seen. I succeeded and have packaged that way ever since and never had an issue.

[countessalmirena]

Holy football of porcelain, Batman!