How to package a hard drive for shipment?

It is very important that your hard drive be packaged carefully. Careful packaging will protect your drive from any damage during shipment.

Hard drive types

Acronis accepts hard disk drives of the following interface types: IDE, ATA, SATA, USB connected drives.

SCSI drives are not accepted.

Packaging

If possible, use the original packaging. Otherwise, packaging materials can be obtained at any shipping outlet or stationary store. You should also include all necessary cables or adapters to the drive. Acronis will not be able to process your initial seeding request if there are no cables included.

The following are instructions about how to package your hard disk drive.

Step 1

Delicately remove your hard disk drive from the machine.

Step 2

Place the hard drive into an anti-static bag to protect the drive from electrostatic discharge. If you do not have an anti-static bag, simply wrap the hard drive into aluminum foil.

Step 3

Use a sturdy box that is at least twice the size of the drive. Pack the drive with a bubble wrap around all 6 sides so it can fit tight into the box and cannot be moved within.

DO NOT use Styrofoam peanuts for packing as they do not provide enough protection.
DO NOT send your media in jiffy bags

Step 4

Choose the transport company that you will use for shipping. On that company's web site, prepare and print two prepaid shipping labels:

1. Shipping label for sending your hard drive. This label is placed on the top of the box. You should send your package to one of the Acronis data centers. The data center address can be obtained on the Initial seeding / Recovery tab of your account management page by clicking Datacenter address.

   We recommend that you use overnight shipping, if you want to start doing incremental backups as soon as possible. The data is generally available the next business day after the data center receives it.

2. Shipping label for returning your hard drive. Put this label in the box. When returning your hard drive, we will reuse the same packaging unless it is damaged. If you do not enclose the label, your drive will be securely discarded.

   You might want to use the most cost-efficient delivery method for having your hard drive returned.

Step 5

Securely seal the box with a sturdy tape. Then, stick the shipping label for sending your hard drive to the top of the box, so the label does not wrap around the edge of the package.