Question about shipping computer / hard drives

[TeraMedia]

I am moving cross-country, and my HTPC needs to come with me. The question is, what's the best way to get it there? I have the original box that the Silverstone case came in, but I have concerns about possible damage to the hard drives (I have 6 HDDs for 2.6 TB of storage) from vibrations, and potentially the MB from the heatsink.

I'm not sending anything through checked luggage, because I know I'd never see it again in one piece. But the forces and jars exerted on the box by the movers should primarly be from bumps in the road during the trucking.

Questions:
- Can I leave the disks in the case, or do I need to bring them carry-on on the plane?
- Do I need to remove the heatsink (a thermaltake XP90-C), or will the MB survive the journey?

If I don't have to tear the whole thing down, that would be a huge time saver. I intend to ship the case, MB, and add-in cards through the moving company I'm using.

There is no unrecoverable data on the disks; any loss would be replaceable - just a PITA.

 

[misry]

Questions:
- Can I leave the disks in the case, or do I need to bring them carry-on on the plane?

Leave them in the case. Carryon nothing. I board in a sweatsuit, (THAT ought to burn a frightening image behind your eyelids), my wallet and not much else.

- Do I need to remove the heatsink (a thermaltake XP90-C), or will the MB survive the journey?

I would ship it UPS insured. Have the place you drop it off at pack it so there is no contesting the packing quality. Yes it costs a little more but my company gets several free upgrades a year from UPS because it's cheaper for them to buy new compaired to replacing the old.

 

[wun911]

I would ship it via fed ex insured...

Do you still have some of the original boxes like the MB box and the anit static bags? Lots of bubble wrap etc?

 

[Noya]

I would not use UPS to ship something like that.