Amazon and how they package hard drives for delivery!...

Access

I ordered a 4TB WD Red hard drive at the weekend for our NAS from Amazon.

Below are the pics of how it arrived.

It arrived in its own foam cardboard box less the foam and instead wrapped with... brown paper.

The drive is in its ESD bag but then surrounded with bubble wrap (tiny square of it) and then the brown paper and left loose to slid and hop all over the small box.

The outside of the box in one corner was squashed, so i reckon it was dropped or other items piled on top of it. I requested a returns paid for RMA from amazon, printed it and its back in the post to them this same afternoon.

My questions are this...
Firstly, i know it would have probably worked fine but i think after the way it was packaged it would have surly shortened the lifespan of it - Did i do the right thing in sending it back or would it have survived fine?

Secondly, after that delivery id be wary of using amazon again for buying a hard drive, or could it be a one off experience? - Anyone on here recommend a bricks and mortar in the Meath/Dublin area for hard drives or just a website other than amazon others have used and trusted?

Thirdly, Am i mad to use WD Red in a NAS or should i be looking at another brand/model?

Thanks in advance.

degsie

1. It would have been fine.
2. Best of luck finding comparable prices in a b&m.
3. Reds are specifically designed for NAS use.

Access

degsie wrote: »

1. It would have been fine.
2. Best of luck finding comparable prices in a b&m.
3. Reds are specifically designed for NAS use.

Re 2.... I know i wont beat amazon prices, but its piece of mind and reliability i need... not just a cheap drive that will fail on me in a few months cause its had the sh1te knocked out of it during delivery. So i dont mind paying a bit extra in Bricks and mortar if needed.

Re 3... Might be specifically for NAS use but read a few reviews since ordering and a few comments on here are putting me off. I could have gone for a cheaper WD green with same 4tb starage, but the WD reds are meant for NAS and this one on amazon is OEM so no 3 year warranty from WD according to previous reviewers which is now why im also changing my mind.

ED E

Thats how they're normally packaged. 1 bag, 1 fold of cardboard. Thats all.

HDDs are nigh on invulnerable when powered down. The head is retracted and docked in the side of the housing, it cant contact the platter. Sending it back was pointless.


NAS drives have a shorter read-retry time than non NAS drives, so you really shouldnt use non NAS drives in an array.

Access

Jez... i surprised by that info.

I have previously bought hard drives from Scan UK and when they arrived they were in a full foam cardboard box that would be in another larger foam nugget filled box for transit and the drive was in a proper sealed ESD bag.

So i was taken back with the way this one arrived to me from amazon.

TerrorFirmer

Didn't someone start this exact thread a while back? It looked fine that time as well but the guy sent it back out of principle as well, I got deja vu reading your post!

ED E

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Didn't someone start this exact thread a while back? It looked fine that time as well but the guy sent it back out of principle as well, I got deja vu reading your post!

They did, wasnt bothered to search.

scamalert

well actually amazon packs everything that way,oem box-plus some wrap if your lucky and paper sheet with amazon cardboard box.

While its not the safest way i could agree to let some fragile items slide around the box and given that its usually handled trough couple couriers services before it gets delivered, so always a chance that it might get knocked or dumped stuff on top.

but since amazon offers 30day return with no question asked,and most items have warranty up to few years,its more then enough time to pick up if item was damaged during transit.

davo2001

Looking on the Amazon site you are not alone, tbh OP, I would of sent them back also, especially for a €350+ disk. The least they can do is package it correctly, if enough people complain, they will change.

MagicMarker

Packaging looks perfectly fine to me.

Greenmachine

ED E wrote: »

Thats how they're normally packaged. 1 bag, 1 fold of cardboard. Thats all.

HDDs are nigh on invulnerable when powered down. The head is retracted and docked in the side of the housing, it cant contact the platter. Sending it back was pointless.


NAS drives have a shorter read-retry time than non NAS drives, so you really shouldnt use non NAS drives in an array.

Pretty close to how mine came might have had foam between the esd bag and the cardboard.

Nollog

I got a 3TB red yesterday from amazon, it came inside a box, in a box with two plastic bookends to keep it from moving around.
The last 2 I got from them were packaged a lot safer.

Anchises

For what it's worth - Seagate's advice/demand re packaging when returning under warranty

- Enclose each drive in an ESD (electrostatic discharge) bag in an anti-static plastic shell (SeaShell) or anti-static bubble wrap.
- Secure each unit in two-inch-thick foam rubber in a corrugated box. Do not use polystyrene packing popcorn or peanuts, bubble wrap or newspaper. If packaging more than one drive, use a separate container for each drive.
- Print the order number on the outside of each box.
- For more information on how to pack your unit, please view:
http://www.seagate.com/support/service/pdf/pack.pdf

I 'm sure WD would demand the same level of protecton. Why then do Amazon not conform to this spec ?

A.

Nollog

I had to find this thread again because I just took delivery of another red.

It was packaged box, disk, some paper on top and is not being read very well by my NAS.
Do they take back drives when you've opened them?

ED E

/\/ollog wrote: »

I had to find this thread again because I just took delivery of another red.

It was packaged box, disk, some paper on top and is not being read very well by my NAS.
Do they take back drives when you've opened them?

What behaviour are you seeing?

Access

Just an update on this for future readers,

I returned the drive to amazon with no problems, free returns and credit card refunded within 2 days.

Bought same drive from an Irish online company. Paid €7 more in the end for it, but it arrived properly and securely packaged within 2 days.

Gadgetman496

I wouldn't have returned the original delivery but then that's just my take on it.

You could get over paranoid about that kind of stuff too, When you walk into a bricks and mortar store and buy a new product, you have no idea what mileage or route that product took to get to the shelf, and you have no idea how it was treated en-route prior to reaching the shelf either.

Had your drive been opened by a family member and left on the kitchen counter for you, you'd have been none the wiser.

Psychological mind games I tell ya!