That’s really impressive, I hope you realize that. A little inspirational if I’m being honest, cheesy as it may sound.

Any big surprises / snags along the joirney that you wouldn’t want others to have to learn the hard way?

Thanks for the grace and understanding, I do care about the quality of dialog across Lemmy and I will endeavor to be less prickish in the future (for anyone who is reading).

Yeah, I have to acknowledge that I got needlessly defensive / combative. One of those, the poster just opened by essentially saying “I didn’t read your whole post, but here’s my take…” and that irritated me, but I eventually even tried to end amicably with that person. I was impatient and defensive throughout, though, I can do better, no argument there.

You’re also right that I must have failed to spell out the situation well, that’s 100% on me. And yes, moving away from Newegg is the stated goal of the post I made, that’s not really advice (and I understand this is probably the kind of comment that rubs people the wrong way).

I guess I don’t understand the amount of patience I’m expected to have with people who are not engaging with the point of my post (recommending more careful HDD retailers) but instead questioning whether the post itself has merit. If someone asks “how do I make a casserole” and I respond with “well, you haven’t even proven that a casserole is the right dish to make”, I’m not going to be surprised or offended if that person who asked the question gets irritated with my input.

To me, the username cyberpunk necessarily suggests someone who understands abuse by corporations and our gradually worsening treatment by them, which is relevant to me with this topic. With that said, making a big deal over someone’s username is just such classic Internet cringe, and I apologize, that was silly and unnecessary.

Edit: even just explaining myself and apologizing gets downvotes, it appears I have torched any good will available here.

I don’t know how to codify this idea into something that isn’t already on your growing and already amazingly extensive list of succinct recommendations. You even have things I often see very neglected.

The idea I want to contribute is that the state of readiness, in many things you want to prepare for, takes time to cultivate and needs to be already in place by the time it’s use is needed. People who lack direct experience with the items on this list they want to focus on, often mistakenly think they can do the adapting and learning quickly, like a movie montage.

Identify the things that call to you on this list, and put weekly direct IRL effort toward them now, lay for yourself the work and belief in your own convictions that leaves you prepared if the worst comes, and distrust your brain’s tendency to mistake the thinking and talking about it for direct active engagement with your IRL goals.

Apparently it’s indeed a weird post. I’ll buy from the shop provided by several of the commenters who answered the question I asked. Really uninterested in describing to a user named “cyberpunk” of all things, why wanting a minimum of care for my purchases is actually not too much to request, I think every possible thing I might say has been said.

I guess that’s the heart of some of the issues one or two others are taking with me having a problem here. When it’s said like you did, it seems like a reasonable take to me.

Here’s my take on the physics itself - when an object is inside a container significantly larger than it and free to bounce around, and then put through the shipping process, that introduces a lot of collisions that are admittedly usually small, but strictly speaking mathematically related to the magnitude of the impacts and the available space to move (accelerate before stopping, again and again), and reduced by the inner (OEM) package padding/shock absorption. Those collisions largely do not exist if the object simply has no freedom to move in its containing package - it’s just the less frequent collisions with even further damping (containing packaging offering additional shock absorption rather than free travel) when the containing box is moved. The packaging by the mfg may be designed to absorb impacts to appropriate degrees, but it can’t be argued that unknown stresses (due to the unknown handling by the shippers) have not been applied due to that freedom of movement (in my cases here in 2 dimensions), that would not have occurred if the OEM boxes were packaged in their container such that no freedom of movement was available. I have worked briefly with vibrations in industrial and once a small scale system, even, and we all underappreciate the effects of even just vibrations. Stabilization of sensitive components is a hard problem.

It’s not that expensive at all to just close up that space reliably with every order of HDDs. If you know you sell ~expensive HDDs, do that. I am, strictly speaking, just asking for a retailer that does that. But FWIW I guess I should acknowledge that the physics and relevant questions are interesting.

Edit: corrected a typo that inverted a detail, added a few clarifying words

For now the 4th time, the information you’re asking me to provide exists in comments I have already typed and that you have replied to. May we have an easier time seeing eye to eye if our paths cross again, again I really wish you well. I’m not going to reply any further, goodbye.

YET AGAIN, answered that. I never opened the drives. It’s right there in the comment you’re replying to.

This is a fruitless back and forth, I’m tapping out. Have a good weekend, I wish you well, sincerely.

NOTE: I said “obviously faulty outer packaging”. That’s twice now you’ve disregarded something I stated clearly. I did not intend to take ownership of these drives, I never opened them. It’s entirely possible all SMART tests and drop indications come up clean, but as I did not want to own these drives, it felt inappropriate to me to find out. Given how sensitive HDDs can be, and given my consumer-grade budget here (I’m spending my own money on a few important pieces of hardware, not griping over an enterprise installation that churns through drives like a runner does shoes), I am indeed sensitive to the way they are packed. The impacts that HDDs experience makes for a significant influence in its MTTF. Admittedly less so when powered off, but not at all zero! That is not controversial, it’s just engineering.

Let me put this a little differently - imagine I went to a brick and mortar, asked for some drives I couldn’t find on the display floor, and they brought out two drives, in sealed OEM packaging, in a dusty beat up box that had been through shit, and with no padding inside or anything. The employees were not being careful when carrying them either, giving little confidence that the damage looks worse than it is. It’s clear they’ve been mistreated to some extent, but no way to see from here how much.

This is an important distinction - I’m not asking if you’d be willing to buy those drives yourself. I’m asking if - when I decided not to buy those (and indeed not to test them!), would you grill me over that decision like this? Would you question me for wanting to find a retailer I can shop at that at least seems to take more care? Again, why is my preference not to receive drives in clearly mishandled and insufficiently padded packaging, so contentious?

(minor edits for clarity)

That’s all I’m looking for and seems like a reasonable thing to expect, I’d prefer to avoid Amazon but am glad to know of that option, thank you! And to be clear, think you could confirm if you mean sold/fulfilled by Amazon or if you’re thinking of a 3rd party seller using Amazon the platform?

Okay good to know, thanks! I have to admit I’m out of the loop on the retail landscape cuz I haven’t been making many consumer purchases for a while, until I started to prioritize my home environment more lately.

Awesome that is perfectly suitable thanks!

I did, I don’t remember the exact phrasing, but I ensured it was basically Newegg fulfillment (I’ve even gotten a literal Amazon box from Newegg in the past when not doing so, I do basically understand how it works).

I also understand you’re trying to be helpful, but I really don’t need the physics lesson, I double majored in physics and electrical engineering and graduated with a 3.9 GPA, I understand that equation and it’s implications a lot better than you assume, and moreover I spent a lot of years in my career with a lot of HDDs, from many sources and for many purposes. I don’t agree with you that being shipped these drives in obviously faulty outer packaging is something I should be willing to accept, at least not without seeking out more conscientious suppliers first. It’s amazing to me that people disagree with this so much about spinning platter drives - I couldn’t give a shit less about any other kind of hardware I can think of, intact OEM packaging would be fine for me.

I’ve been through a tremendous number of hard drives over my career. I shudder to think how many.

Thanks for your input.

Thank you, this is the kind of information I posted for, I will almost certainly buy from these folks unless something more compelling surfaces.

Okay that is truly a useful perspective and I appreciate it. I don’t understand why asking a community dedicated to passionate enthusiasts for retailers they specifically like should be contentious, it seems like precisely the point of these communities. I will keep your perspective in mind, but I don’t intend to just accept whatever even a plurality of retailers think I should be willing to accept. I’m going to hunt down ones I like giving my business to, especially in this day and age, and I think we’d all be better off if we each did the same.

I understand it’s small potatoes, I tried to indicate that. It isn’t to me.

I also did specifically and exactly call out the seller, Newegg, and even say that I wanted to name and shame right in the initial post, so I just don’t know what you want from me there lol. Does Lemmy support the old marquee tag somehow?

Thanks for the info on your experience with drives, I admit I’m slightly uncertain there. But nonetheless I bought new, enterprise grade drives and they were rattling around unprotected in their boxes, I don’t know why I should be expected to accept that.

After all I’m literally asking for more thoughtful careful retailers if they exist. And I gave Newegg two tries to get it right with detailed explanations of the problem, I don’t think I’m being unreasonable. In this day and age and with all the terrible treatment of all of us by corporations I am just asking this community who they might like better, and my bad experience with this one. Why is that contentious?

No I don’t think I will, I think I’ll blame the shoddy packing which is very unlikely to successfully protect the goods, due to the well-known challenges of shipping products and especially delicate products that you’re describing, and which indeed did fail 2x in a row to protect said goods, but you do you!

Thank you! For reference, here’s the copy on their site indicating how their drives are shipped, this is MUCH more what I would expect (though technically this does seem to leave them the option of just using air pockets?) :

Our drives ship in 225lb per sq inch pressure-rated boxes, specifically tested for impact. Inside the box you’ll find suspension brackets, foam inserts, or air filled pockets that secure the drive in place and prevent any possible impact from movement in the shipping process. The drive itself is sealed in an anti-static bag that protects the drive from any electromagnetic interference.