Ok to put HDD in airplane hold?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Marong
  • Start date Start date
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Marong

Is it ok to check in a HDD into an airplane hold?

If the baggage handlers don't kill the drive might there be any problem with
the reduced air pressure? if so then do i need to allow time after landing
before I use it?equalisation
 
Marong said:
Is it ok to check in a HDD into an airplane hold?

If the baggage handlers don't kill the drive might there be any problem
with
the reduced air pressure? if so then do i need to allow time after
landing before I use it?equalisation
Click to expand...

Pressure shouldn't be an issue, but temperature might if it's a long flight
and an unheated hold. If the drive's cold enough that you think that
there's a possibility that condensation may have formed on parts that
aren't readily visible then let it warm up overnight.
 
To avoid condensation forming, put the drive in a sealed Tupperware bowl or
something like that before shipping, let the drive warm back up to room temp
before breaking seal on Tupperware.

I just thought about this again. I would think that if you packaged it like
the manufacturer does, you should be ok, I mean they ship them by plane too
right?

--Dan
 
dg said:
To avoid condensation forming, put the drive in a sealed Tupperware bowl
or something like that before shipping, let the drive warm back up to room
temp before breaking seal on Tupperware.
Click to expand...

Doesn't really alter the issue--you still have to let the drive warm up.
I just thought about this again. I would think that if you packaged it
like the manufacturer does, you should be ok, I mean they ship them by
plane too right?
Click to expand...

They seal them in very tight packages with a dessicant and generally they
don't get installed immediately after being unloaded from the plane.

But they'd typically only ship by air on single unit replacements--otherwise
they'd go in bulk by surface freight.
 
Is it ok to check in a HDD into an airplane hold?

If the baggage handlers don't kill the drive might there be any problem with
the reduced air pressure? if so then do i need to allow time after landing
before I use it?equalisation
Click to expand...

Modern drives have non-operating environmental specs in the vicinity
of:

Temp: down to -40 degrees F
Altitude up to 40,000 feet

This is well beyond what you should encounter in a normal aircraft
baggage compartment.

By the time you drive from airport to home/office/whatever,
normalization should be complete.
 
J. Clarke said:
Doesn't really alter the issue--you still have to let the drive warm up.
Click to expand...

It makes a huge difference. Sure you have to let the drive warm up, but in
one case you end up with a warm and wet drive. In the other you have a warm
drive that is dry. If you take a cold drive out of the freezer and set it
on your kitchen contertop, walk away 15 minutes and come back, it will have
condensation formed on it. If you leave the drive in a sealed bowl until it
is warm again, the moisture from the outside air never gets a chance to
collect on the drive. Ideally the drive would be in the sealed bowl prior
to being frozen. I have frozen and thawed many items, this is the best way
to avoid something getting soggy-I am sure.

--Dan
 
HDD are shipped via FedEx, Airborne, and UPS all the time.
Those, for any distance, go on airplanes.
 
The nitrogen in HDDs will explode if subjected to low temperatures and
pressures!!!!!!!!! This crashes more airplains than drug-crazed military
pilots every year!!!!!!!!!
 
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