Packing was good. I think each drive was wrapped in an ESD bag and a few layers of small bubble wrap. Large bubble wrap around all the stacked drives with little to no room to the box walls. No notable impact damage to box. All good. For better/worse, bad drives probably not due to transport.
EXPIRED WD DC HC520 12TB $75
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Yeah that's some solid packaging. Sometime just the handling during the packaging can damage a drive though. In one of my more recent shipments, a drive that was taped in an ESD bag was somehow bumped during packaging and it cracked the sata connector. I was able to move it back in place so the pins touch and the drive works, but that's not ideal. Too bad in that same shipment two other drives that looked perfectly fine seem to be doa, but it also could be this particular NAS unit, so I have to do some diagnosis like what you had to do.
My packaging wasn't as great.
I don't trust any of the drives considering how smashed up the cardboard is on all the edges, even the spine in the middle is shifted at different locations.
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Yea. That's a pretty crappy packaging job. They obviously moved around a lot during transit.
Oh so we know who was the guy who bought the rest of the stock
But yeah that's a worse packing job for two dozen drives than for a single.I got my (single) drive yesterday. It was fairly generously bubble wrapped. It is currently running it's badblocks pass.
like others, it showed it was manufactured about a year and a half ago, only on for around 48 power on hours, and this one had, if I believe smartctl, about 48TB written to it.
Also, mine included a paper drive erasure printout, have other people had those?
I really wonder what the story was behind these drives.
For those feeling spicy the seller is selling a 18TB model for $160 + $8 shipping
(For reference serverpartsdeals is selling a 'new' dell oem 18TB drive for $210, or goharddrive on ebay is selling their wiped 18TB drive for $180)
WD Ultrastar DC HC550 WUH721818AL4205 18TB 3.5 SAS 12Gb/s Server Hard Disk Drive | eBay
(For reference serverpartsdeals is selling a 'new' dell oem 18TB drive for $210, or goharddrive on ebay is selling their wiped 18TB drive for $180)
WD Ultrastar DC HC550 WUH721818AL4205 18TB 3.5 SAS 12Gb/s Server Hard Disk Drive | eBay
Yeah a good number of those drives will have had some serious shock. Short smart tests should find them quickly and long smart tests will find the rest. I would expect 50% bad after a shipment like that.
Don't rush to conclusions, those drives are not bent it's just crooked horizon on the right half of the pack
Even being returned to seller those drives will be sold once again in better packaging but most likely not to make new customers happy. Now watch this listing for the restocked drives and avoid them as plague
Haha, no It's just the 24. Though with how mine is packaged I do not envy the person who bought the rest of the stock.Oh so we know who was the guy who bought the rest of the stock
I know the drives aren't bent, but they've hit the wall of the box with just some layers of cardboard between them and the outside of the box--that's a serious enough force that will probably exceed most drive's G rating, even at rest.
That's probably true, but then again, a buyer of drives like this will be checking each one and knows the game.
I have bought lots of hard drives with no protection that has been shipped halfway around the globe without a single error. You worry too much. The worst lot I've bought, has been among the safest packaging. One seller sent me 18 bad useless hard drives of a lot of 20, god I was mad about that. Couldn't refund either as 60 days has passed.
I guess you have good luck then because most of us are not that lucky.
I agree with @Samir. Nothing is guaranteed and it is prudent to test in a timely manner especially mechanical drives. Why take a risk and not pack the devices well? Imagine drives with glass platters getting jostled loose in a box. Kinda makes me recall some movie character say "Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?"
Most are tho, its just the minority with problems that tend to post about it.I guess you have good luck then because most of us are not that lucky.
I get a few boxes a week packed like that and not really any more issues than those packed in the proper styrofoam holders without any extra spacing around.
I don't think this is a 'its just you' problem.
And you must not be either testing the drives or using them long enough to see any effects.'Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?' 'Why yes, just throw them in box. They're made of metal.'
Im sure the testing could be more extensive, but its a multiday process for each drive/box.
Since they come with 6-36mo warranty to us they each get tagged/inventoried as taken out of box and put into a shelf for testing.
Multiple failures in one box and the box is rejected and usualy a claim with freighter.
Then tracked out that period in use for any claims back to supplier for refund.
If you consider that "do you feel lucky" then sure.
First i notice is that the somewhat flimsy cardboard seperators are still intact, abuse that box in shipping and they will tear/seperate.
If they were torn with drives loose and metal on metal impacts between them and i would be concerned.
I didn't say they're all bad, but there will be some in that picture with the collapsed lateral supports that will fail for sure. That box probably hit the ground and basically so did the drives.