How do you guys package your little hard drives to ship out for processing? I've been using Colorati (love!) and have be re-using boxes, but they only make it so far.

The idea that I'll be sending/receiving like 20-30 times per year for quite a few years makes me think about the boxes and it bugs the heck out of me that I'll be using all these boxes when one permanent/durable box could do the job forever. I know it's just cardboard and it's recyclable, but it's one of those things that gets under my skin because I know there's a better way (like plastic shopping bags!)

Anyone have any good solutions, or should I get out my soldering iron?

Pelican cases. Most of them are waterproof and all of them have breakaway foam padding so you can form it to exactly the right size for your hard drive. Lens pro to go packages all of their equipment this way, and when I worked Audio Visual we used pelican cases for all kinds of different sensitive electronic gear.

I've ordered from these guys before and they're great-

Pelican cases for less

Cool, thanks! And you can ship them without putting them inside something else?

You can, but they will get pretty beat up. Also, they'll scream, "Hey! I have something valuable inside me."

But I know people who ship them all the time with no issues. You might want to consider buying a lock though.

Good points...
I guess I'm going to have to become an inventor.

We have little mini HD (the simpletech kind that is powered by the USB) and we found a small box from staples works very well.

We went to a fabric store, got some 4" high density foam (the green stuff) and cut it to fit in the staples box. We then cut that in 1/2, so the drive is sandwiched in the middle (between the upper and lower foam).

We reuse the cardboard box from staples, and it's held up well so far. Yes, it will probably die at some point. I guess you could paint it with rubber coating (available from Home Depot - usually used for tool handles) but we've shipped it about 4 times so far this year, and it's still just fine. No visible damage, and if you put it inside the Express mail bag, it's pretty waterproof.

We ship USPS express mail, and never had a single problem!

Shan

Thanks, that sounds like a good solution!
I'm not so much worried about the HD getting banged up, I've got it well padded, it's just the waste/annoyance of having to keep getting new boxes for shipping the same thing back and forth across the country infinity times.

all you need is a padded envelope. the drive is very durable.
you should have everything backed up before you send a drive.

i'm sure colorati insures their shipments, we do.