[SOLVED] Hard Disk thrown on concrete floor by delivery person

[Theresa0]

Hi,
I'm new here, and I have a question about possible damage to an external hard drive. I ordered a 2tb WD hard drive online to give as a Christmas present. I wasn't home when the delivery person came, and they threw it over the wall surrounding my property, and it landed on the concrete floor in front of my door. The box was inside a plastic mail bag, with no padding, and the corner of the box is slightly damaged. I contacted the company to see if they will exchange it, but they want me to check if it works first, and if not, they will replace it. I really don't want to give it as a present after opening the box, because the seal will be broken, and I'm also worried that the disk may work initially and fail soon after because of the fall. It has a warranty, but I would worry about losing any information that is stored on a disk that has been mistreated in this way. I have had hard drives that have fallen and apparently worked, but failed shortly thereafter. and I would hate for this to happen, especially with a gift. Anyway, my question is, how well would the orginal packing protect a hard drive from being thrown onto a concrete floor? Should I be worried?

 

[USAFRet]

1. It is probably OK. HDD's are generally built to withstand a 300g momentary impact when powered off.
2. Loss of data if/when it fails later should NOT be a consideration. That data needs a full backup anyway. Even with a perfect drive.
3. Submit a complaint to the delivery company.

 

[fzabkar]

300G is surprisingly low. It appears counterintuitive, but 300G can be sustained when a HDD is dropped from a height of only 1 metre. It's even worse when it's thrown.