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Ask Slashdot: Transporting Computers By Cargo Ship?
JabrTheHut writes "I'll be packing up and moving to another continent soon. Everything I own will be packed up into boxes and loaded onto a cargo container, which in turn will be loaded onto a ship and will sail from Northern Europe, through the equator and then to its final destination. It will be in transit for up to 8 weeks. What do I need to do to ensure my stuff survives the trip? I've got anti-static bags and silica gel for graphics cards and hard disks, which won't be in the computers, mostly, when they move, and some of what I own will be crated in order to protect both against physical damage and humidity. I'll throw in a couple of packets of silica gel into each box or crate. Clothes get moth balls. But what have I missed? Will the printer ink survive? Do I have to worry about batteries? What haven't I thought of?"
Really? This is what constitutes an 'Ask Slashdot' these days? No wonder Taco left and Geeknet sold them...
My main concern would be heat- and there's not much you can do about it, unfortunately.
Sun on a metal box basically turns it into an oven. Hopefully your container isn't on top.
Personally I would have just backed the data up and carried the hard drives with me if I were moving continents. Computer hardware isn't that expensive to replace.
If you're intent on doing it that way though, it might help to package the stuff in its original boxes, I know many people do keep them. They're suitable for shipping.
One thing I know, and that is that I am ignorant...
Simple - put things into packaging approximating what they originally came in. Worked fine for me, with a range of computing hardware and an inkjet printer travelling from Europe to Washington State.
(How do you think much of your computing stuff made its way from China to begin with?)
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
Really, all this transportation is one thing, but you should have a secure backup that isn't transported so far out of your hands.
Because ships sink, cargo containers break or get stolen, things go bad.
At least if the internet cables break, that's not your problem.
You should talk to missionaries who go for long term assignments. They typically ship the bulk of houshold goods by ship because it's cheaper. Biggest problem is dealing with the customs workers on the other end. One trick was to put a cute cuddly child's toy on the top of each box or container. The customs guy would often take that and leave the rest. That was 30 years ago.. Don't know what is the best nowadays.
One lady had to pack 4 years of tampons. Customs guy had never seen them before. Husband went to pick up the barrels (45 gallon drums) and was a bit of a joker. Q. "What are these?". A. "What do you think?" Q "Some kind of new cigarette?"
I packaged the computers in their rack, pulled the hard disks, they were hand carried. I did make one mistake, my container (and computers) were inspected, and I had already set the computers to EU voltage, lost a motherboard and 2 power supplies.
No real special care needed to be done, the container was loaded by the shipping company, and all my stuff arrived just fine in Finland after about about 2.5 months later. Only real hassle was the car, the rest was just tax free and easy as "removal goods" as per EU regulations.
Should be removed for shipping.
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Prepare to lose everything you pack in the container. Cargo ships will pack as many cargo containers into them as they can and whatever won't fit into the hold will be strapped to the deck. It is not unknown for cargo containers to be washed overboard during a storm. A shipment of rubber ducks that were washed overboard ended up helping scientists track ocean currents. See the following link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendly_Floatees
Make sure you don't send your stuff past the horn of Africa or the trolls will jump out from under the horm and demand payment.
Just in case, you should pack an offering to the Gods.
Iranian Rials are cheap and the bills come only in large denominations, so use those. :-)
Anybody that's served overseas has sent stuff back and forth via cargo containers.
This is a really dumb question.... just pack your stuff well and stop worrying about it, like the thousands of service personnel have done for decades of shipping personal computers, stereo equipment, etc...
Put it in sealed plastic bags, and forget about it.
Why bother to remove the hard drives and graphics cards? Just bag the computer and ship it intact with sufficient padding for normal handling.
Containers aren't totally humidity proof, but they aren't going to have ocean waves flowing thru your stuff either. They are close enough to being
sealed that simply bagging against humidity is sufficient. Silica gel is unnecessary. Bag it. Tape it. Pad it. Box it. done.
Pack it like you would for motor freight from one end of your country to the other.
Ocean passage is five nines uneventful. Occasionally large waves take entire tiers of containers
off ships, but this is exceedingly rare, and that is what insurance is for.
Your stuff is more at risk sitting in the freight yard pre and post passage, than it is on the ship. Not from any real damage, but rather from pilferage.
Moth balls? At sea?
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Remove the CPU's heatsink from the motherboard, if you haven't. Those things are heavy, and the plastic screws typically holding them on are weak. The last thing you want is a big hunk of metal bouncing around inside the box.
Source: experience :(
Where are you going?
Australia? New Zealand? Somewhere else? :)
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
Why not take this opportunity to simplify your life by owning less stuff? It would save you from having to pack, ship, track, and store everything.
There are far more opportunities available if you're mobile enough to fit your life into a couple of suitcases and leave the bulky/sentimental stuff with relatives. More importantly, your spending will naturally shift from things to people and experiences that can't get damaged or lost in transit.
There are 1.1... kinds of people.
What with the "anti-terror" regulations, I'd give serious thought to a full online backup and leaving pretty much just the basics on the hard drives. And I'd zero the "empty" sectors. I know I'm being paranoid, its why I'm "trusted" about this kind of thing, but it removes one more, possible, reason for seizure (or delay).
"[I]t is a wise man who admits the limits of his knowledge or skill, and that pretending either causes harm." --Terry Go
Sell, pawn, or throw pretty much everything away and get new stuff when you get there. If you are paying for the shipping, I'm willing to bet almost everything you are shipping is not worth the cost to ship it. Ship the sentimental stuff (pictures, videos, gifts, etc) and take the super important things with you on the plane. I'm pretty sure a used ink cartridge for your printer is not worth shipping across the globe and waiting 8 weeks for it.
Most of your stuff probably spent plenty of time on a cargo ship before you owned it. Consider the packaging it came in and how it was disassembled and do something like that.
-Lod
it's been there before, just pack it well and enjoy your ship.
Don't worry about it. Seriously. Your computer was built in Asia and came to wherever you live now via a shipping container. It will be fine.
Computers are pretty cheap commodities. In many cases, the shipping cost is more than the value of the computer. I wouldn't bother trying to move computers, and just replace them when you get where you're going. Especially if your data is backed up appropriately, there doesn't seem to be much sense in moving computers.
Put your crap in boxes. Make sure fragile stuff has padding. Don't include liquids unless you want the rest of your crap to get wet. Then let the shipper do their thing. This is possibly one of the single most useless "ask slashdot" questions that has ever been published.
You're worried about your printer ink? What do you think will happen if your printer ink doesn't survive? What are you going to do, remove the cartridges and pack them in your carry-on? To save $50? And batteries? Batteries sometimes leak. Is this something you often fret about? Because do you really think floating around on a ship is going to somehow make them more likely to do so? Salt air isn't that corrosive, even if it were really going to be getting into the battery compartment of your gadgets which are packed inside padding, inside boxes, inside shrink wrap, inside a container, on a ship.
facepalm
One thing everyone else has missed, so far: your printer! Read the instructions for shipping! I didn't, and when I moved and opened the box with my printer, ink was EVERYWHERE!!! Wound up pitching the printer!
The USA uses a different voltage and frequency from most of the planet. Back all your data online, copy it onto USB devices and sell as much as possible. Unless you are being posted to a desert island, you will be able to buy replacements when you arrive. This will save you transport costs.
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
As others have said, computers are routinely shipped by sea. This is not a major issue, provided it is securely packed. I recently moved from the East Coast of the US to New Zealand and we had a large server and several "old" but still usable laptops in our container (including a Powerbook 145 that still works, after years in the basement).
Two hints. If you are sneaky and shipping a newish Mac and have Applecare call them and ask for a box to send it in for repair - Apple will FedEx you a very nice shipping box. Then call and let them you know realized it was a software problem to close the ticket.
Secondly, and not sneakily, just to be on the safe side (containers washed overboard, theft etc) any important data should be backed up and travel by a different route, or a copy left at home.
I shipped a computer, some hard drives and a couple of lcd monitors from Thailand to New Zealand by ship. I packed it in original packaging when possible, and the computer (DAW) was in a rackmount chassis in a metal studio case. Padded it with a couple of blankets. Everything was fine, except the motherboard died about a week after arrival. Could have been the shipping, could have been the arbitrariness of life. It was a couple of years old at that time.
As someone who has moved overseas and back four times; you are worried about the trivial details. Take a good hard look at the shipping contract concerning damage coverage. The contract may also prohibit certain hazardous materials like lead acid batteries and cleaning products.
Have your property packed out by a company experienced in shipping belongings overseas. No amount of silica packages will protect your stuff if the container is lost at sea or gets sea water inside.
Document the condition of your belongings before they are packed up. Also make backups of important data and papers and keep them separate from your shipment. So that in the event that the worst happens, it's just a matter of getting reimbursed for damages and buying replacements. While that can be time consuming and annoying, it is better than losing irreplaceable photos or legal records.
Good luck and enjoy your new country.
Whatever else you do, pack all the spare space in the container with ping-pong balls. At least then if the ship sinks or the container is washed overboard it will float.
Smivs on the intertubes!
If your CPU heat sinks are in the largish side, take them off and store them separately. The heavy ones can damage a mobo if the computer is jerked around (like in a cargo container).
I worked for a company that has shipped computers, printers, etc. via cargo containers around the world. The only problems were lost shipments and dropped boxes. The lost shipement was found again and the dropped box fell from a skiff into a dry dock. I don't think you will be facing tht kind of problem. Printer ink will last on the shelves of stores for months so 8 weeks is nothing.
Did you insure the items? At least if that happens you can get money to buy new hardware if some disaster does happen.
This is an important question that everyone should ask, regardless of how far they are moving. You mention graphics cards and hard drives that are not installed in computers - are they really worth transporting? I know this can be a hard question to answer but it is important. I would recommend looking at the cost per kilogram you are paying for transport, and then think seriously of which items that you are shipping are worth at least that much per kilogram on their own. Anything that doesn't meet that threshold should probably not be moved.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
You've checked with your government's foreign ministry or tourist's bureau for info and FAQs about moving to another country, yes?
Depending on the destination country, your container may have to be fumigated. Everything should be in sealed containers and then cleaned thoroughly before use.
There is a risk of theft from your container and damage from rough handling during transit. Some people have mentioned that shipping containers have been broken into and used by smugglers.
Depending on where you're going, you can have your property pre-inspected by customs before loading on the ship. You must have a complete inventory of the contents of the container. The customs bureau will tell you what you need for documentation, et cetera. They should inspect the documents and property then lock and seal the container in your presence. When it arrives, arrange to be present when it arrives and make sure the customs seal is not broken or damaged. If you can't get a customs pre-inspection, arrange for your insurer to inspect everything and seal the container. (You're insuring your property, right?) And make sure you're present with the documentation before the container is opened for customs inspection at the destination port. If you find a broken or damaged seal tell customs and notify the insurer and shipper.
You could also add Shockwatch stickers to your boxes to find out if the container was handled roughly. They're cheap insurance. These stickers use a clear glass tube that fills with red dye if they encounter certain G levels. They are pretty self-explanatory. If any turn red, you need to report it to the insurer and closely inspect the contents before signing the shipper's papers. You should tell the shipper and insurer about the Shockwatch stickers if you use them. And shippers will sometimes let you put them on the outside of the container.
You should be prepared to pay duty and tax on some items. Typically, household items and personal property is exempt from duties and taxes but the exemptions vary from country to country. Find out as much as you can about shipping household and personal property offshore and especially to your destination well beforehand so there are no surprises and so you can deal with possible problems before they bite you or get you into legal trouble.
There are people who know all the ins and outs of moving to another country. Sorry, but I can't find any info about them right now. Your insurer or shipper might know more.
For inkjet printers, the ink cartridges should not be removed. If you have empty cartridges, consider putting them in the printer instead. (If you do that, you can't use the cartridges you took out because they will dry out and clog.) Otherwise, the ink in the system is exposed to air and is likely to dry out and clog the printer, making it unusable. You might want to consider leaving the printers behind or selling them and buying new printers at your destination because of the inks and because they may not work with the destination country's power system. In fact, you should find out what electronics and appliances of yours will not work in the destination country so you don't take anything that will be useless with you.
Find out as much as you can beforehand about everything. Be prepared and avoid unpleasant surprises for your move.
I just took out the hard drives and took them with me on the plane. Everything was fine when it finally arrived. The movers just boxed up the computers like everything else. I've done this twice now...
JabrTheHut writes
"What haven't I thought of?"
Watch out for that bitch Leia. She's into strangulation.
If you have a decent mover (never really know until you get your stuff back...) your stuff should be just fine if you pack it reasonably. A good mover will also pay attention to what you say is fragile and will treat it accordingly (you can also watch them stuff everything in the container to make sure).
Nevertheless, you always want a backup of your data going a different route. Create a backup and either FedEx it to the destination or take it with you.
How do you think your stuff got to you in the first place? Hint - it wasn't air freight.
Your biggest problem isn't humidity, it's going to be salt. Those cargo containers are not airtight, and if nothing else your crates and pallets may be sitting on a dock for an extended period of time. If things are in well-sealed cardboard boxes, it shouldn't be an issue... but you're not very clear on how your stuff is being packed.
Consider getting one of the large rolls of cling-film used for shipping (i.e. similar to saran-wrap). For electronics (TV, computer, printer, maybe even the coffee machine) wrap them individually with the cling-film; it's not perfect, but if done well (i.e. tightly and completely) that should choke-off any salt spray from finding it's way inside.
Also, anything that is on a pallet (but not a crate) should be wrapped and strapped so that the (a) the pallet stays in one piece, and (b) it is tamper-evident.
I recently moved from Ireland to South Africa and had a NAS, laptop and two LCD screens shipped over.
With the NAS (http://www.readynas.com/?cat=4) I put it in the original antistatic bag and then in its box, padded with a bit of bubble wrap and these packaging air bags. I shipped it with all its hard drives inside.
With the screens I had their original packaging, a simple plastic bag, then placed inside polystyrene packaging then in their cardboard box.
With the laptop (oldish now, so wasn't too fussed), I just put it in a regular packing cardboard box with some clothes around it.
All items arrived fine, perhaps I was luckier than some, but it seems the shippers were reasonably careful with my goods based on the state of the boxes.
For my actual computer, I disassembled it, threw away the case and the rest I put in my checked in luggage, that way I didn't have to wait the 3 months for the shipping to happen. Shipping took a long time as I didn't have much to bring back and it took a little while for enough other people to come along so there would be enough to fill up the container.
Take out the HD's and carry them with you. If the machines are fucked when they get to you, at least you have all your software/config.
*** Don't be dull.***
What haven't I thought of?
...to drop the apostrophe from "its"
Electronics is shipped by vessel all of the time. Yes, you can seal your pieces in plastic bags for extra protection in the event of leakage, but that is rare as the containers are designed to prevent this and are certified to transport cargo on the water.
Very little ocean cargo is lost. Insurance can be a pain to establish value in the event of loss. Air cargo from the US to the majority of destinations in the world is a 5-10 day trip and averages $3.00 per lb for a 220 lb cargo shipment. If your computers are really valuable, I would ship via air cargo and the extra $600.00 you spend should be easy to recoup in getting you up and running about 30 days faster than you would have if shipping by vessel. Chase - A2 Global Shipping
I used to be the head shipper/receiver for a company that shipped million dollar equipment pretty much everywhere in the world. Since their business spanned in various areas from mechanical equipment like computerized hydraulic saws to CNC machines, UPS systems, to custom electric motors, to replacement panels for other machines. Everything had to be packed in it's own way.
The non-non-rule(aka the most important). Document everything, and prepare your customs and declaration information beforehand. Be clear, be concise. Put an extra copy inside the box, on top of what you packed so if it's opened customs officials will have a full inventory list and hopefully won't destroy everything.
Rule one: There's no such thing using too little packing material. And your packaging should always be overrated, if you're sharing a shipping container this is doubly true.
Rule two: If it's important, it goes in the crate. The crate goes in another crate. And between the two crates you use extra padding. You pay for it(by size) but you can help make sure it gets there in tact. Otherwise, just pack smart.
Rule three: Anything that can cause damage needs to be packed separately from the main components. And any form of capture material(heat sinks, cooling containers, coolant, etc) is stored in it's own box. You'll be putting each of those in their own packing too, unless they're cheap.
Rule four: If it can go wrong, it will go wrong. An example: $4m CNC machine is being shipped to Dallas, in a box, strapped to the inside of a truck. It was hit by a train. Don't expect everything to go perfectly, even customs can cage your stuff for weeks if you mess up a declaration.
Om, nomnomnom...
Would like full disclosure from the poster; is he in any way affiliated with sellers of shipping/handling accelerometers?
Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Make backups of all of your data and ship the backups differently. Take them with you if possible, but checked luggage is not foolproof either, and if you put them in your carry-on luggage you may run afoul of the TSA or its local equivalent.
Buy a cooler or two and put stuff in that, with suitable packing to brace everything in place. That's how a colleague got his synthesizer to Japan.
Backing up your hard drives was already suggested. Additionally, you shouldould either encrypt financial records using PGP or use a secure disc erasing application to remove them from your hard drive. By "financial records", you should include bank statements, tax returns, a list of your logon IDs and passwords, and bookmarks ("favorites") that include financial institutions. You might have other sensitive personal data that should be similarly treated.
You should also encrypt the backup files to a portable medium, which you should hand-carry or include in your luggage. However, you should have to be prepared to decrypt those files at your destination for customs and explain why they are encrypted.
Finally, you should put into your luggage all your accumulated CDs containing software that you have installed along with a flash drive containing the installer files that you downloaded and installed. This is in case your PC is lost in shipping and you have to recreate your configuration. These should NOT be encrypted since you would need the unencrypted software to decrypt your encrypted backups.
Of course, you need to carry your private PGP key on a flash drive or memory chip hidden in your wallet. This will show up in X-rays at airport security when you depart. When you arrive at your destination, however, X-raying your wallet or body is generally not done.
Every single computer that the above comments have been typed on, has been manufactured in China. And they've all been shipped all over the world in freight containers. Wrap things in a plastic bag, put them in a cardboard box and let the moving company take care of it. Don't worry about temperature, humidity, etc - just make sure what you pack is dry or you'll be greeted by a big furry mass when opening the boxes.
There is a remote chance that the container will get lost. Assume 5000 boxes on a large vessel. One might get lost during a voyage, on average. So divide the value of your belongings by 5000 and that's, on average, what you should be paying on insurance, likely less than more.
And it's worth doing some research and use a reputable moving company. Skimping a few dollars and not getting your stuff is not worth it.
When I moved to and from Hawaii (I think only about 2 or 3 weeks of that time is on a boat but another week or two in storage on each end led to 7 weeks from dropoff to delivery on the other end), I didn't do anything special with my electronics. Just packed computers and electronics in boxes the same way I'd pack them if I were moving across town - surrounded them with sheets, towels, etc for cushioning before putting into a box. I had planned on putting the delicate electronics stuff in a plastic trash bag for protection from water, but ran out of time when packing and didn't bother. The carrier stacked the boxes about 7 feet high on a pallet and cling wrapped the whole pallet in plastic for loading into the container. For the TV, I bought a big moving box and wrapped it in bubblewrap inside the box. If you have an expensive TV, U-haul has a $90 TV moving box with foam inserts just like the original manufacturer's box.
When they delivered one of the pallets to my house, one of the pallets fell off the flatbed truck when they where wheeling it off, but with the exception of a few broken dishes, everything survived the fall -- including the computer.
Aside from that mishap, everything else came out fine.
I brought 2 backup hard drives with me on the plane - one in carry on, one in checked bags, but the hard drives in the shipped computers are fine. It's been almost 2 years, and I'm still using one of the computers as a fileserver and it's working fine with the drives that came from Hawaii.
Oh, if you want insurance, make sure you buy extra coverage - the default coverage from the carrier was like 25 cents a pound or something like that.
I moved from the UK to NZ five years back and brought all my computer gear. I made sure I took the laptops and my backup discs in my carry on luggage but shipped everything else. Since power sockets are different here, I also shipped a bunch of distribution boards so I could still use my original cables and power bricks. Over time, I've retired some with replacements but I can't begin to say how much cheaper it was to keep it all. I didn't bring any white goods or my TV, but everything else I brought. The shipping company packed it all up but I had kept the boxes for everything do it all arrived in perfect condition.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
Inside a container, they are mostly sealed, but as you said packs of Silica Gel, and --almost as good but much cheaper-- *rice* will absorb moisture almost as well as silica gel and is wildly cheaper. As you stated pull the hard disks, put them into the foam pack boxes that the drive manufacturers suggest, along with bubble wrap and silica gel. Ship the drives separately (air freight) if possible, with extra insurance, and back up all the data to DVD (or at least everything you consider irreplaceable). For the rest of the computer, pack peanut foam around the fans, and wrap everyhing else (the case) in plastic with silica gel packs inside. It would be best to remove all cards from the motherboard and wrap them separately in anti-static bags, then wrap that in bubble wrap and just keep it in the case of the computer. Heat isn't that big of an issue. 50 degrees celsius is perfectly fine for a (non-operating) computer. Most ship holds don't get above 35 C. The wiring insulation is good for 125 C, the aluminum is good for 660.3 C, any steel is good for about 1510 C. Plastics melt between 121 C and 255 C. Silicon has a melting point of 1,410 C (and within the chip there are aluminum interconnects and that melts as previously stated at 660.3 C. The chip manufacturers only put upper storage limits of 85 C however. Because they are hermetically sealed, there is no problem with chips getting 'wet' (if you are unsure, read what hermetically means). Copper for wiring has a melting point of 1,085 C, so that shouldn't be a problem either. Clearly heat isn't an issue. Now vibration and shock and physical damage due to rough handling, or due to an insecure load (container rolling on the waves) could be an issue. If the boat is small, the waves will batter it. If the computer is 'loose' in the container, it will get pounded to pieces. Secure the computer. Make sure it can't move within the container, and nothing can bang into it. Pack it in a fashion that would make an Air Force LoadMaster proud. That is your biggest concern.
Now you have all time in the world, but seriously. When you arrive at your new home, new job, new everything, you have, and want to have, other stuff on your mind than your old computer collection.
All you need, most likely, is one working, in a fashionable way, PC or laptop. Printers are not relevant as they are available in any corner of the world for $50. So is all your old data, if it doesn't fit on an SD card it's rubbish anyways.
Disassembling working hardware is a bad idea too, better leave the computer just as-is, in working order, than to dissassemble. That's only waiting for extra unanticipated problems.
Meanwhile, you are going to sit and wait 8 weeks without your hardware. You will find some replace, and use that.
Imho, the only reason to ship your old hardware is if you think over there where you going is a viable 2nd hand market for it. And even then you should wonder.
When migrating. Bring as little as possible. On bring stuff you have a strong bond with. To me, that would not be a set of computers, that for sure. One, maximum. And better even: just one usb-key with data.
You will have other things on your mind when you get there. Now you have all time of the world bothering this issue, even asking for it on /. In two months, you'll regret giving yourself the extra hassle of re-assembling your computer farm. Chances are it'll keep in boxes for the next year. And that you only unpack you furniture, and other comfortable stuff.
A glitch a day keeps the bugs away.
Your biggest problem is not heat or moisture. But sea water. Your biggest risk is that your container is going to get hit with ocean waves and it might leak. Sea water changes computer hardware into useless junk in no-time. So your best option is to backup all your data on hard-drives that you take with you when you move. Rest of your belonging is something that you just have to hope for the best during this 8 weeks at sea.
I am planning my own long distance move in few years time. This was one of the risk factors I did calculate into it. As I know it has happened containers have been lost at sea due to ocean waves hitting ships. So getting good insurance is also important if your belongings get lost or damaged in transit.
Insurance on the contents.
Everything you're shipping has been on a container ship or equivalent before, when it was shipped from China to you. Don't over think it.
However, having done several moves across the Pacific I would say this: Mail your valuables. You get tracking, you get insurance, and someone just might read the "FRAGILE" sticker on the outside. Better yet, travel with them. If it's truly valuable, a carry-on bag is the best way.
(Note: Depending on your country of destination you may have import especially when mailing tech. Can't help you with information on that since you didn't say where your final destination is.)
Some things, especially displays, may cost more to mail than to buy new. Consider this a chance to get a new monitor.
Moving across an ocean is a great way to reconsider how important things are. My last two moves between the US and Asia I pared my belongings down to less than a cubic meter and I was happier for it.
to go.
pop a brown paper lunch bag with uncooked white rice in the case and pack as usual.
-badford
As others have suggested, simply pack your computer parts well, let a reputable moving company pack the container, and get adequate insurance to replace your hardware in the new country. My last two overseas moves, we had no damage to hardware; the only physical damage was to a piece of furniture, and was fixed with a bit of glue. Yes, bad things can happen, but it's really not a high risk unless you have some especially valuable items - which you may not want to entrust to a ship, anyway.
Backup your data online, sell the hardware.
The risks you will face:
1) The obvious, it may be lost or stolen. Can you afford to lose family photos and you personal info?
2) Vibration. It addition to having your boxes roughly handled, ships will expose your gear to low frequency vibration for weeks on end.
3) Temperature. Most shipping isn't climate controlled, so you may get condensation.
4) Incompatibility. Chances are where you are going will have difference power, communications, space and environmental
Recommendation. Sell everything you can't replace and buy new at the destination. Almost for sure where you are going will have difference standards which apply to electronics, furniture, appliances and clothes. Backup everything twice. Leave a copy in the cloud, and one with friends/family.
Or state the full value of the contents and be prepared to pay higher shipping rates. Standard contracts, at least for shipping domestically in the US, limit the shippers' liability to a few dollars per pound.
How do you think the computers got to you? They were packed into containers, probably in Shenzhen, China and shipped to where ever you finally bought them. They had a loose fitting plastic bag cover inside a foam padded box designed to absorb rough handling in warehouses and transit points along the way.
You need to pack your stuff and your container such that the content will not shift or will not be damaged if the container contents do shift.
80% of the world's goods travel in this fashion. There is a small percentage of damage or loss. But, odds are in your favor.
and they are bad for your health. get cedar shavings instead
Cosmoline. Coat everything with cosmoline. It'll keep out the seawater and give you something to do when the stuff arrives (if it ever does).
Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
how do you think that this stuff usually gets around the world? in containers, on ships. What makes you so special? Packed the way that you received them when they were new and you should have few problems. But the handy hints are,
Remove Expansion cards, if you can.
Shake the box and if you hear a rattle, repack.
Back stuff up and ship the back-ups in hand luggage or just get someone to hold onto them.
Photocopy serial numbers and software activation code, in-case you need to rebuild.
buy Insurance and read the exclusions.
Personally, I wouldn't bring printer inks.
My stuff is about to do a 2.5k km road journey, so I understand your concerns.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Most computers are made in China and Southeast Asia. They get loaded into containers, and shipped to the US, Latin America, and Europe. The don't ride airplanes, that costs way too much.
They survive just fine, thank you.
We've got a steady stream of computers in containers coming into my workplace. No problems, beyond poor assembly jobs by the underpaid Chinese assemblers.
By all means backup up your data. The equipment should be just fine.
And we shipped things all the time, including computers and electronics, by sea freight. I can't recall anything ever being broken by humidity or anything like that but there was the odd cracked plate. Just make sure your equipment is properly packed and don't worry about it. I would take the drives with you in your carry-on luggage on the plane, however, as you never know when disaster might strike and you lose everything. Do not put your drives in your luggage. It's more common than you think for luggage to end up half way around the world and my family did lose our luggage once for good (flying Al Italia to Rome). If you really feel like you will need your computer ASAP and don't want to wait for sea freight, you can always gut the thing, wrap components carefully in static and bubble wrap, and take it in an appropriate carry on. You can buy a new case when you get to your destination. The PSU can go in your main luggage as it's inexpensive enough to replace and takes up space. Keep in mind if you do this you will probably be stopped by security and hassled, so make sure to give yourself plenty of time at the airport to, if necessary, re-pack your carry on and explain to a bunch of idiots who may or may not have graduated high school what each component is, how it is not dangerous, and how you're simply transporting your computer because you cannot wait.
I've packed lots of gear for many deployments. Not much to it other than use sealed, tough containers.
Ammo cans (ensure lid gasket is good) work very well. Plastic tubs taped shut with nylon packing tape work decently for larger items.
If you can score some drums with removable lids, they work a treat too.
I like ISO containers, and would if practical arrange to buy the container so I could drop it at destination and use it for an outbuilding. They are easy to work with, tough, and highly weather resistant.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
holy shit!
(for bypassers who don't know their bible by heart: Ezekiel 23:20 on the web http://bible.cc/ezekiel/23-20.htm )
I like my spaghetti with source.
Make sure it is loaded on the right ship. Many years ago a friend of mine had a crate shipped from N. to S. America. It showed up ... 2 years later, having been loaded on the wrong ship and circling the world.
The forgotten U boat of the lost Atlantic wolf-pack.
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
Back up everything onto usb-powered drives (they come in 1TB size these days; you can fit 20 in a makeup case!), sell the hardware, put the drives in hand luggage, take a netbook with to show $customs$ that it's just data or whatever, and don't worry about shipping something that's gonna cost more to ship than it's worth. Buy new gear at the other end with the proceeds and buy Tiger beer by the case with what's left.
Operation Guillotine is in effect.
As others have stated, the main risk of total loss is through pilferage. However, ships cargo gets much rougher handling than your checked baggage when traveling by air. The posters who say that lots of electronics gets shipped from the Far East to the US and Europe are correct. To get an idea of why most of it arrives undamaged, take a good look at the packaging your last Chinese made monitor arrived in. You could drop it from 20 feet and leave it for several hours in a sauna with no ill effects. If you want to just pack your stuff securely so it is not rolling around, then maybe you will get lucky, but I would not count on it.
So you can learn the difference between "its" and "it's",
you semiliterate uneducated cretin.
I moved all my stuff -- computers, clothing, etc -- from the States to Europe four years ago and I did not go crazy worried about shipping. I just packed all my computer equipment in the original boxes, secured with the original styrofoam. I did not bother with moth balls, silica, etc. I just asked the shipping company do use extra shrink wrapping plastic to secure the boxes to the palette. 5-6 weeks later I collected my stuff, and it was in the exact same condition I packed it in. I just had to reseat some pci/pci-e cards as they had slightly come loose during shipping, fired up my computers and lo and behold, they just worked.
It's not like you're planning a trip to Mars.
I'm sending my old workstation to a friend in France via Delta "Equation" shipping. A 60 lb box will cost you about $139 + a $75 'inspection fee' I used Truecrypt to lock the machine down and packed it in it's original custom-fit box. It's the cheapest method out there. UPS would have been $668 and Fedex was $770. I don't know what USPS would have been, but I'm sure it's in the several-hundreds.
I see lots of good advice on how to pack things and which things not to pack. But don't forget to allow for the change in polarity as your stuff crosses the equator. Everything will look different where you are going.
I put my motherboard in an antistatic bag (with the processor still attached, heatsink detached) gave it a cardboard backing, and chucked it in carry-on (hard suitcase).
Similar treatment for the RAM and hard drives.
The graphics card I shipped in it's original packaging (kinda a big card, 6990)
Needless to say, I treated my own luggage quite gently.
It turned out to be cheaper to buy a new cabinet rather than ship my old one. Same goes for the monitor, SMPS, and other large (or unduly heavy) items.
My PC arrived with me for the most part, and with little inconvenience in terms of taking up space.
Cargo containers are not always cheap. I estimated that a decently furnished room should only cost you about 3-5K USD if you had to buy all new things. Moving to another country might be a good time for you to consider selling everything you now own and buying what you need as new or used items when you arrive in your new country. Consider the value you get from selling everything you own and buying the same or nicer in the new country vs the cost of packing and shipping everything. All your "computer data" can go with you on your flight (portable drive) and doesn't need to be with your monitor, graphics cards, keyboard, and mouse, etc.
Ive done this several times. My wife uses mothballs for her clothes, I dont.
Basically, you don't need to do anything. Everything travels just fine, including laser printer toner. Might need to shake it up a bit, is all.
I've shipped my machines thousands of miles via sea freight, and they always came out fine.
Everything else will be a problem. Be sure to get some heavy duty dessicants for your container, especially if you're shipping books, clothing, or upholstered furniture. Leather shoes mold up too, for some reason. The stuff in stores is crap. You need something like this:
http://www.s-cpp.com/products/cargo-device-protection/container-desiccants.html
Be sure to pack everything tightly, because your container will move around...maybe a lot.
Insure your goods. Be sure to take a picture of anything.
Copy your data and bring it with you. Your stuff will take weeks, and presumably you need your data before then.
You'll probably need transformers, AVRs, and UPSs at your destination if you're going to the third world. They'll cost a lot, so budget for that.
If you are going to a hot and humid location, beware of hold. When I moved to Hong Kong when we were still using 3.5 inch floppies, they were all unreadable within a year, and I had to replace my floppy drive due to the damage to the head. I learned that the media in tropical places actually had anti-fungals to prevent mold growth. Taking stuff made of wood? Be careful of what the high humidity may do to your furniture.
Most likely his employer is paying for it, or he just billing it to his holding company and it becomes a tax write off. When I moved recently, I even brought my IKEA cupboards and bed with me (it was worth less than 25% of the cost of transportation)
I move from Australia to the USA. Lost 2/3 of everything when the shipping container fell over the side.
When what was left arrived, only think I found I was one HD did not survive.
Things you can't do though - ship in anything of wood or vegetables boxes due to agriculture risks. So if you have wooden South Pacific tiki boat decorations, prolly better to pitch them.
Moved from Germany to the USA and back about 15 years later. .... what happens to liquid when it gets really warm?
Every time my systems where shipped by boat and nothing was damaged.
I just made sure that everything was properly packed but as far as your ink goes
BTW, all those computer components where not manufactured in your current country of residence....
We traveled a lot when I grew up (Air Force); one cargo container (wooden box)
arrived with T.V. legs poking through on the bottom, which had been the top.
Why are you still using a metal box as a computer?
Seriously, look at the calendar. What are you doing?
Having shipped something once, if your container happens to end up on the top of the ship, it can get _very_ hot.
One of the devices I shipped had a thermometer in, and it got to 83 C (181 F). Lots of things melted, and all the rubber seals became all sticky and useless. Lots of other bits of plastic became hard and cracked. Lots of bottled products either expanded and split or evaporated. Lots of batteries split and broke the things they were in. The shipping company didn't care...
I'd say, make sure you have some kind of data logger in there logging at the very least pressure, temperature, and wetness, and then if they drop your container in the sea you at least know what happened to it...
Anything of value will most likely be stolen by the shippers. Be prepared with lists and receipts to file your insurance claim.
This is an important question that everyone should ask, regardless of how far they are moving. You mention graphics cards and hard drives that are not installed in computers - are they really worth transporting? I know this can be a hard question to answer but it is important. I would recommend looking at the cost per kilogram you are paying for transport, and then think seriously of which items that you are shipping are worth at least that much per kilogram on their own. Anything that doesn't meet that threshold should probably not be moved.
Actually, I'm puzzled by the need to move it at all. As Dave Barry once noted, computer equipment goes obsolete so fast, they might as well put a dumpster next to the cash register. Unless the destination is someplace like the Amazon jungle (and definitely almost NOWHERE in Asia), I'd pare down the transportables to just the data storage devices and simply buy native stuff at the other end. Unless you're moving a server farm, it's likely to be cheaper than transport, you get new shiny stuff (or buy used and save more), and it's going to be compatible with local power and infrastructure. so no need for adapters.
You could actually take that even further, archive the data in the Cloud and transport everything over the Internet, but that depends on the sensitivity of the data and the quality (and speed) of the data services at the destination.
Shipping containers are hermetically sealed. Perhaps not on 100%, but at 99.5% certainly. To prevent moisture creeping in them during their sea voyages. Sealing them in a plastics bag with tape is more than sufficient. You'll be better off rather spending your money on plenty of bubble-wrap foil. Keep on your mind, that your container will be unloaded at the douane/border controlls, and subsequently reloaded into a lorry trailers and delivered to your address on wheels. Things inside shipping containers do move, but do not rust.
Also, be ready to put them on shipping palettes yourself, lest you wish to risk a loss of your belongings, by allowing your local poor opportunists to prepare these palettes instead of yourself (eggs to the bottom, TV-sets, sofas, and fridges on the top.)
Also, make an itemized list of every single item (sic) in multiple copies, a set for yourself, a set for the palettes. Have large letter-sized addresses printed and taped to your palettes, with phone nr. A list of items on a given palette (like packaging list per palette) is also very handy, as for the shippers, as for the border controls, as for the final delivery men.
Have fun in Brasil!
Once your cocoons are ready, then you can leave the freight warehouse.
I moved my belongings in such way from the FL, USSA to Dutch Polders, EUSSR. Cca. 700 euros.
Container shipping is charged by volume, not weight.
dump it all... moving continents is an opportunity to purge the bulk of your possession and take a good look at whats really important to you. You are not your things.
Your hard drives and cooling fans spin the wrong way to work in the southern hemisphere anyway.
When we moved to and from the US, we just packed the back-up disks in our luggage (one copy each) and sent the computers with the rest of our stuff in a shipping container. No problems, apart from on the way back when the combination of buggy-board case mechanics, a USB disk and a piece of jewellery managed to combine into a suspicious shape on an X-ray. If you're not happy taking the back-ups with you then just ship them via some other route. The important thing is to make sure that two copies of your data go by separate routes in case one doesn't make it; our stuff in the container was insured, but you can't insure pictures of your son growing up.
You are lost in a twisty maze of little standards, all different.
Shipped my home server from the U.S. to Europe years ago in a regular luggage bag padded with underwear and socks. It survived fine.
Some time ago I "overnighted" a company blade server to a different country the same way (padding with egg cartons). Just took the hard disks out and carried them in my backpack. Again, total success. Less than 24 hours of downtime, most due to the backup.
Buy silica if you are worried about moisture, but your moving company will do a decent job packing (they should pay YOU if it shows up damaged). Biggest things to remember is:
- Temperature - unpack and let the equipment adjust to the room temperature before turning it on. A lot of those conexes store cold air like a freezer, if your equipment comes out cold... you will get condensation.
- Power - Don't forget to check that little 110/220 switch on your power supply before you plug it in!!
That's about it... most of the rest of it is simply up to God (and how well you tip your packers/unpackers) Outside the US... it's normal to provide food/drink for them as they work BTW. Treat them well and they usually treat YOUR STUFF WELL.
Cargo containers are wonderful for moving things in. If you are aware of their limitations. A cargo box and its contents can experience "drops" of up to 25G when being loaded/unloaded at a port. Humidity levels at sea can be astounding. Especially by the equator. Your belongings will be traveling at approximately 10 knots for at least eight weeks. Cargo container ships roll, pitch, and yaw in reaction to the wind and waves, so you _must_ pack accordingly. There is a reason why most stuff is packed with a cubic foot of padding for nearly every cubic foot of goods.
The wooden floors of a Cargo box are treated with a low vapor pressure insecticide (Australian Import grade) that will kill just about anything in the box given long enough exposure. Moth balls are not needed, but not a bad idea either.
Every single item that can be damaged by water, humidity, or insects should be in a sealed package with its own desiccant pouch.
Prep: If you are shipping computer gear, disassemble it to the condition that you originally got it in. Remove your memory and put it in anti-stat bags. Unmount your heatsink, etc, etc. Every piece of static sensitive gear should be in its own static bag.
Here's what I would suggest:
1. Get yourself a very large collection of clear or translucent (very important, clear or translucent) garbage bags and heat sealer. Also acquire one of those vacuum-sealer gadgets, a ton of the bags, a normal household vacuum and a lots and lots of desiccant.
2. Put each humidity/water sensetive item that is not in a sealed package into an appropriate sized bag, toss in a desiccant pouch, and then vacuum out the excess air.
3. Repeat step 2 until you have everything packaged in sealed packages.
4. DO NOT PUT STUFF IN BOXES YET.
5. Get yourself something to write on.
6. Take a large packing box, put a layer of padding in the bottom, add an item.
7. Write down what item went into the box. If you put 7 DIMMs in that box, that list better have an entry for 7 DIMMs, and not just the word DIMMs. Add a layer of padding to the box.
8. Repeat steps 6-7 until the box is full. Seal with clear plastic tape. Do not over-seal. Start on new box.
9. Once you have completed all your packing,take the list you created in steps 5-8, one page for each box. Putting a "packing list enclosed" pouch on each box. Add packing list.
10. Print out 4 copies of the entire list. One copy goes with the appropriate customs declaration forms. One copy goes with you and your travel documents. One copy should be filed with your shipping insurance company. The fourth copy should be delivered to your shipping agent.
Hope this helps.
Remove all case lights and Bling. put it in a boring box with a pentium 3 sticker on the front.
I shipped everything I own to Europe in 2001 including my car (they rolled it into the container and then built a floor above it for the boxes and furniture.)
Absolutely nothing happened and everything arrived in fine shape including a modest collection of wine, so chill on packing anxiety.
On the flip side - make sure you get your paperwork set or the country you are arriving in might try to hit you for import duty fees. This is a bigger risk than the mundane crap you were blathering on about in the original post.
And for petes sake - plastic bags? Please. How do you think everything you own in your life got to you from Asia? Yes. A container ship.
I moved TO Europe from the US. I filled a full super-container, just over 40 foot, with all household goods, 2 motorcycles, and a car. The computers were packed in soft material, and I filled the inside of the desktop machines with styrofoam corals to help stabilize all contents. Silica gel used also. In the end, the container ended up arriving pretty much in tact, but got a large ding in the loading process and this tore a small 1 foot hole in the top. Rain and sea water got in, ruined a nice oriental rug, and a piece of antique furniture, but everything else did fine. The best investment of the entire move WAS THE INSURANCE. Don't leave home without it! Insure it CORRECTLY, and insure it SUFFICIENTLY to protect the assets. The comments about taking the data with you, for example, on your laptop, are correct, and leave a copy with someone else, just in case. I regularly go back and forth between US and EU and my laptop is usually left alone. Too many business people travel with one and they cannot just decide to harass the world's business community to see how many Netflix movies you are carrying. One item we did have to deal with was paying to get the container out of "storage". Strange because we were not alerted to the fact it had already arrived 10 days earlier, and was sitting in paid storage. How convenient for the "union" that arranges such things. Be a pest, ask questions, but be a NICE pest. Its your stuff, only you care. No one else does. It should all work out....really!
Keep necessities, valuables and irreplaceables. Sell everything else and buy new when you get there. Have copies of your data in two separate places during the move (one in your luggage, one with the stuff that's being moved). We had a gap of several months between selling our house and buying a new one when we moved 2 hours away. For a family of 3, we ended up filling two 10x20 storage units to the ceiling while we stayed with my in-laws for several months. I was surprised how much shit we've accumulated (wife's a bit of a pack rat).
"The things you own end up owning you." - Tyler Durden
Hey,
one thing I haven't seen mentioned: Any wooden packaging (crates, pallets, etc.) needs to be fumigated http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISPM_15. Otherwise you'll likely have trouble clearing it on the other end.
Cheers,
Michael
I just wrapped my home server in a duvet and stuffed it in to a box when I shipped my stuff from London to New Zealand.
I guess you could put it in a vacuum sealed bag if you were paranoid.
I'd be more worried about knocks when loading it in to and out of vans than anything else.
Just like Rei says, don't worry about anything except packaging. Whether you get a full crate or a partial one, you must make sure that things will not move within the container, and that if they move within a box they will not get damaged or cause damage (weight, shape).
If you use the original packaging for your computer or electronics, you should be fine as there is plenty of padding.
If you pack everything in boxes, this reduces your risk as no protruding object will risk puncturing other objects or boxes (think bicycle handles, skis or whatever else).
In my move across the Atlantic, I had no problem with any of my electronics. I did not use special care other than using original packaging (I packed those boxes myself, the removal company stacked everything in the container). The only objects that broke in my move was part of a crockery set that was badly packaged and badly stacked by the removal company (notably plates must be stacked vertically, not horizontally). Besides that they mislaid a box of screws to assemble some furniture and minor damage to furniture. There was no problem with computer, printer, ink, CD payers, routers, DIY equipment, soldering kit...
Most of the damage or loss occurs during loading or unloading at the source address or destination.
As someone who has made this move four times in the past 15 years, between various parts of the US (east and west) and the Eurozone. I feel compelled to reply, but I am going to cover much more than just the computers, as this is a copy-pasta from another post I recently wrote on the subject and would rather share it all here than spend any time editing. However here are my suggestions and lessons learned.
My last move a few years ago from the PNW to Scandinavia, Instead of trying to squeeze a 3500square foot house into a container as I did two moves ago, I sold everything except a few laptops, external disks, books, clothes, art, and two pieces of furniture. The 6 cubic meters of stuff cost me $600usd to ship, much cheaper than the $8000USD a container would cost door to door and I had the cash to replace all the crap i sold when I landed, not 8 weeks later when my stuff arrived.
0. Prime Directive: Sell, give away, donate or throw away anything that you can replace at your destination. Why move atoms when you can move bits. Bring only the things you cannot replace (photos, heirlooms, sentimental items, etc) there will be plenty of time to replace it. (Pine Is Not Elm, Less is More, and Linux Is Not Unix)
1. Acquire large, sturdy and solid plastic crates. Cardboard sucks for moving. When wet it looses all of its strength and is a sponge for moisture. I got my plastic crates at some plastic storage solutions franchise. I still use them years later, mostly because they stack nicely and have interlocking tops and are easy to transport.
2. Make a Three layer zone around your stuff. The container itself is the outer layer, the plastic crates are the middle layer, and a plastic bag is the inner layer. The three layer zone around your stuff creates multiple layers of air gap between your stuff protecting it from water/moisture/humidity, heat, crushing, and sticky fingers and it will make carrying your crap from one place to another simpler.
Think: Big Metal Shipping Container->Plastic Storage Boxes stacked nicely-> bag/box -> item.
3. Electronics/Computers/etc: depending on the shape and size, i have often found that the shipping box the device came in usually is enough, Good rule of thumb is, if you have saved the box it came in, use that and put it in a larger box, stack nicely, and do not worry about it. If you do not have the original shipping box, then make one, but really don't go overboard. A great example is your disks. Most of the time they do not ship packed in egg-carton foam in hermetically sealed boxes, so don't waste your time with that and just make sure that there is a decent layer of plastic preventing moisture exposure and that the box containing it all is secured within the container and if you can, a nice sized silica gel bag in each crate should do the trick. As with shock to the disk, if the platter is not moving and it is not powered up, you really have no need to worry about shock, for it would take an incredible amount of force to break a disk via vibrations. Do back up your disks to a cloud service or other media before you move.
4. For art, books, and other heirloom things that cannot be replaced I use a layered system:
My works of art, and framed photographs, were wrapped in soft fabric and sealed in plastic. Then crated in wood, cardboard, or plastic depending on the size, shape and available crating method. My Rare books were stored in acid free bags and crated in the plastic boxes mentioned above. Cheap books that i couldn't part with were placed in the plastic crates without an inner layer of protection. Silica packets are added to each plastic crate..
5. Clothes, Mothballs work fine. vaccu-/shrink bags and suitcases are easiest and best way to do it. Throw a few mothballs in each vaccubag before storing. Skip the wardrobe boxes, they crush super easy.
6. Furniture. in most cases you are better off selling it, though research it. I found that it was less costly to ship my tempurpedic mattress and aeron ch
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Depending on your destination, your main concern is the customs inspectors at the destination port. Based on my experience, it is quite common for them to steal or break furniture, electronics, etc. Your best defense is to have a relationship with the importing customs broker, freight forwarder or agent (in Portuguese, "despachante aduaneiro"). You want him to be present when the shipping container is opened, inspected, and closed by the government customs inspectors. If you're shipping to Latin America, Africa or Asia, this is very important. Also, this can minimize the storage or demurrage fees that you pay at the destination port.
We had no problems with our move but this is what we did: Itemized everything for customs. Numbered the boxes and then kept a sheet with what each box had in it. I took out all my hard drives, put them in anti-static bags and carried them on the plane. Any other electronics went into bags which were then put into boxes. Desktop towers were wrapped up with bubble tape along with our tvs and monitors. Spare laptops were also just placed in bags and then into boxes. We moved almost no furniture but were able to fit 2 cars into the same container. Everything made it in 1 piece. Nothing broke.