[Damage_Inc]

Yes this is a different kind of security but I am needing to move 3000 miles across the US. I'm flying and moving little so it will all be on the plane with me or in the mail. I do not have my original case box and am unsure about several things such as:

What if the CPU comes unseated?
What type of box and packing materials should I use?
If it is lost stolen etc.. What about my personal data?
Should I check it as luggage on the plane or ship it UPS or Fed Ex?

Thanks guys!

P.S. This is my case. Its a little big
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811129017

 

[twajetmech]

I would not ship it...think of Jim Carey in pet detective's opening sceen ! I would however remove the heatsink from the cpu (you can leave the cpu in), And, so long as everything else is secure tape any doors the case may have shut and find a box that fits it...use bubble wrap for a nice tight fit....make sure it fits the dimensions and weight of carry on luggage and check with the airline if there will be any security issues. You can always take out the other components and carefully wrap them in bubble wrap (and anti-stat bags) and put them amoungst your clothes in the checked luggage, same for the heatsink. If there are, and you do have to ship it....remove the heatsink, wrap the computer well in bubble wrap, and an appropriate box and ship it next day....be sure to insure it, take pictures if you have a digital camera (for insurance....just in case) and make sure its clearly marked fragile....there's never any guarrentee's with shippers or airlines for that matter.....good luck.

 

[Ralck]

Twajetmech said the most important thing: remove the heatsink when traveling.
Also, you may want to consider actually removing the harddrives, wrapping them in bubble wrap and putting them in your carry on back or something that will help keep them from getting banged around.

And of course, video card is another important one. With how big and heavy the heatsinks on video cards are these days, you may want to consider removing that from the case and wrapping it up as well.

Also, this may sound trivial, but I suggest actually taping down any cables inside the case, such as the front audio port cables. They may seem small and not important, but a bump could get them caught on a capacitor on the motherboard... and another bump could make it pull off the capacitor. Also, power supply cables that aren't plugged into anything... if those start flying around, it could be really bad.

Esentially, what you want to keep in mind is to not have any big heavy metal pieces, like the heatsink, inside your case which can come undone and bang around, as well as keeping any loose wires or cables in the case as tide up and secure as possible. As long as you do that, you'll be all set and won't have to worry at all.

 

[Damage_Inc]

Heres how moving with my PC worked out if anyone cares to read through this for some information in case you need to do the same.

I used a couple anti static bags with some cushion filled inside them to place in the case to prevent anything that may come undone and damage everything. Amazingly the inside of the case seems fine now. The outside of the case was badly damaged. It looks like the box was dropped from some height right on the corner at the front of my case the plastic was shattered. Fortunately the plastic was only for appearances and the case is actually metal, which appeared to survive the 7 day UPS ground trip fine.

Ultimately I went with UPS ground for two reasons. 1) Airlines are usually ok with checked luggage but when something goes wrong it goes wrong in a bad way and 2) I can't insure it as far as I know if I checked it on the plane. Also if it got misplaced they may end up shipping it to me which is the same as UPS.

If I packed my PC case myself and boxed it securely it may have survived the trip fine. The only catch is that if I packaged it myself then the insurance people could argue it was improperly packaged. It really is a crap shoot because I had to have Staples package it up for me so they cannot claim I packaged it improperly and since Staples did package it, it would probably get damaged. Makes no sense to me but its their system not mine.

The PC wont POST. I filed a claim so we will see what happens with that. Internally the PC seems fine. The cards, CPU, RAM is all secured. A friend said to re seat everything and I may do that but the case/psu I used makes for a web of cables :/ so it will take alot of time to do this.

Damage_Inc


P.S. Never ever throw out your case box or the box your PC came in! Keep it and the packaging! You never know when youll need to move it or ship it.