Gortexfogg

I'm going to be taking my PC with me on an airplane soon and was wondering if anyone had any tips for packing it. It's a mid size tower, so too big to carry on and I'll have to check it. My only ideas now are sticking it in the original case box and wrapping that in bubble wrap or foam and putting that in a slightly larger box. If this doesn't sound like a safe bet for my PC, any tips would be great.

Thanks.

Church

in all honestly, I suggest taking it apart and wrapping each part individually. You can leave the mobo, ram, and case fans on, and even the optical drives assuming they all have at least 4 screws in them (remember to take one back out of each drive when unpacking it). Take the cpu fan, cpu, video card, and any other pci/pci express cards you may have out of the mobo. Wrap them in bubble wrap, jam a bunch of bubble wrap into the case so there isn't much room to jiggle, put the parts in there, screw it up, and you should be good. The biggest problem with shipping computer parts is that they jiggle off and roll around in the case.

Good luck, and hopefully that wasn't too confusing. Its 2 am and I'm dead tired. :P

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MikeSty

Put your HDD in your pants. Or carry-on.

flat5

I'm with MikeSty. Put the HD in an anit-static bag and carry it on board.
After re-installing the HD check that all boards and cables are well seated
before power up.

MikeSty

Oi. If there is any part you truly can NOT afford to lose it's the harddrive.

maleficent

I've taken computers all over the world for demos and such... there are hard sided computer cases, that are pretty densely packed with foam that can take all the abuse that the airlines can give out... Short of having those (we have two in our company, i don't think they are cheap) Taking out the hard drive is a good idea...

Putting the computer in it's original box if youstill have it and tape it really really well (and mark it really well with your name and address) is another option... the biggest amount of damage that could occur is to the insides, from stuff that got jostled lose and causes all sorts of other problems... Any piece (like video cards) you can remove, is a good idea)

Can you ship it to your final destination? Going to Mailboxes etc or something and fedex it to you...

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MikeSty

Oh, I almost forgot. One thing you DEFINATELY want to remove is the heatsink!!! There IS a potential for the jostling to yank on the HSF and tug on the mobo :-/

feelgood

Fedexing it is the best way to go. I know people who load and unload luggage from planes and frankly, they don't give a living fuck as to whether or not the content of the package is gonna survive the tossing onto and off the plane.

Fedex has strict policy on how its employee treats the package and they will even raise hell if they find out if I threw a tiny package across the room because I didn't feel like going the distance to put it there.

Be sure to stick a billion fragile sticker all over it.

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Gortexfogg

Thanks for all the tips. I think I'll take out the cards, hard drives and heatsink to carry on with me in the plane (wrapped in lots of bubble wrap too maybe) and look into FedExing the rest in my case. I was hoping to save some money by just checking it all, but it'd definately be worth a little money to make sure my PC would get there in one piece.

maleficent

Depending on the airline, and how much you are checking, you might end up getting dinged for extra baggage -- I beleive that most airlines are limiting you to 2 checked bags, and a max weight of about 60 pounds.. anything over that you'd pay for...

If you don't need it overnight, Fed Ex Ground is very reasonable.. just takes it a little longer.

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MikeSty

QFE man, fedex it.

Anexkahn

shipping is really the best way to go, not to mention you can quite easily insure the package for the full value and claims with freight vendors for damage in transit are much easier than with airlines.

On another note tho, i've flown with my box before and packing it in the original box with some extra crumbled newspaper made it get there just fine. I always checked seating tho before powering up. Once a fan had come unplugged but other than that no damage ever.

Pragma

If you can pack it well enough, I'd say Fedex/UPS is the way to go. It may not be as fast as hauling it on the airplane with you, but baggage handlers at airports are used to throwing around suitcases of clothes that don't care about getting mauled a little - your computer may not feel the same way.

A friend of mine had his computer pretty much destroyed when he checked it as baggage on a flight. First, it rained and the water got all over the box & the computer itself, then the box got pretty much demolished by being thrown onto the baggage train (from what we could tell, at least - the sturdy cardboard box was very dented on one side, as was the computer inside).

JStrider

not trying to derail the thread... but why would you only use 3 screws on an optical drive instead of all 4?

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Pragma

I've done it from time to time when I didn't have a lot of computer screws around and needed to make sure that all of the devices were at least mostly anchored, but before I took the computer on a trip, I'd ensure that everything was secure.

VarsityDrinking

Question: Would running the HD through the xray machine damage it? I work in advertising and everynow and then you hear the horror stories of the airport security running our video film through the machine and ruining it.

maleficent

A few weeks back, i was sitting on a plane watching baggage being loaded off a plane. A box fell off the conveyor belt that was taking the luggage from the plane to the baggage cart thingie... (it must have fallen about 6 feet or so) then the baggage handler proceeded to kick it from the point where it fell, over to the baggage cart thingie. Which was a good 15 feet or so - and kicked it multiple times.

(I wrote a lovely letter of complaint to Delta airlines and to the airport but have never gotten a response)

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irseg

Definitely pack all the cards, hard drive, and heat sink separately. Make sure everythuing is very securely screwed down, and that no tabs, screws, etc. on the case can easily hit the motherboard. Luggage is subjected to an incredible amount of abuse.

I transported my computer in my luggage on a flight once. I put the case in a large suitcase and packed it with 6-8 inches of clothes on all sides. When it arrived, the frame of the case was bent (and it was an old, heavy-duty Enlight tower that weighed 40 pounds!), and I had to re-seat all my cards and memory before it would boot up.

A friend took his computer on a trip, too. In addition to the cards and memory being unseated, the inside of the case deflected by about a half inch, and shoved a screw into the back of his motherboard. I had to re-solder a few traces, but it survived, thankfully.

pattycakes

whatever you do dont ups it, because we used to pull the stacks down that were stacked in the trailer, let em hit the fllor and then pick em up

.....god times good times... till i got laid off

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sandeep

Just to add, about the xray machines. Normally they request that you remove harddrives from laptops which you may be carrying on. Keep it handy so you can pull it out when you get to the xray machine.

I believe this is one of those way over protective measures, but you might as well take it.

And ditto for pulling the heatsink off, especially if its an aftermarket one.