Important information when packaging your hard disk drive.

As hard disks or digital media are highly sensitive and fragile electronics, utmost care should be taken while packing and shipping to prevent them from further damage during delivery.

By adhering to these simple tips, you are providing the best possible protection. You do not want your hard disk to suffer further corruption or damage as a result of delivery. A failed hard disk drive should be handled in the same manner and care as new drives.

All media should be packed in an anti-static bubble wrap or foam. If you have more than one hard disk, they should be individually wrapped.

The wrapped media should then be placed in a box surrounded by foam, bubble wrap or packing material from the original manufacturer. To protect the drive from shock, cushioning material should be used on all sides of the box ensuring the drive does not move when the box is suddenly jarred. Please ensure that a minimum of 4cm of packing material surrounds each side of the disk. Secure the drive snugly with the same amount of cushioning on all sides to provide ample protection for the media.

Do not use a ‘jiffy’ bag

Do not send the hard disk drive in a jiffy bag – this is not adequate protection. When previous customers have sent their hard disk drives in only a jiffy bag we have often found them to be unrecoverable due to damage to the platter surface sustained during transit.

Remove unnecessary items

Remove all cables, brackets, manuals, and diskettes. Please note that if your media is a hard drive, we require you to send only your hard drive and not the full system. For further information, the Western Digital homepage gives examples on how media should be packaged for their RMA process.

RAID and Servers

For RAID array data recovery – system controller card or full server systems may be required under some special circumstances. Please contact us for details.