PC drives coming with me to Hong Kong help

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  1. #1

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    Post PC drives coming with me to Hong Kong help

    hi ,
    I have to PC hard drives I might take with me to HK from the UK.
    what is a good way to store them whilst travelling and also when im there with all the humidity and stuffs?.
    thanks.

    i wont be using them really, except for one day when i might transfer the data on them to CD for long term storage.
    no real use now really for the coming years but don't wish to leave them in the UK.

    also is there any good place in HK who can do data transfer from hard drive to CD?.
    thanks.

    Last edited by m4nn; 20-02-2012 at 09:11 AM.

  2. #2

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    Wrap them up in bubble wrap for transit.
    Then store them in a plastic box with a few sachets of dehumidifying chemicals. If you're that paranoid.

    Or just put an enclosure on the hd and leave it as it is.
    I've got 4 of them rarely used and just keep it on a cabinet, it's perfectly fine.


  3. #3

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    I mis-read jimbo's reply as a response to my post about the snakes:
    http://hongkong.geoexpat.com/forum/53/thread221042.html that was fun.


    Anyway, OP, don't do this:
    > i wont be using them really, except for one day when i might transfer the data on them to CD for long term storage.

    CD's are NOT for long term storage - you will be sorely disappointed after a few years when your CD's don't even get recognised by your PC.

    Best bet - have a few redundant hard drives (your old ones for example) with multiple copies of your data on them.

    Whatever you do, never settle on just one media, or one instance of media for your backups, redundancy is the key here.


  4. #4

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    CDs make for dubious long term storage (just Google "storage life CD" or a similar term). In addition to degradation over time, the data are stored on the thin layer of film on the top of the CD, so it's very easy to damage. There are lots of reports of very old CDs still being readable, but it's not something I would rely on for any data of importance or sentimental value.

    Stick the drives in non static bags, bubble wrap them. If you are paranoid, use cheap Pelican-style cases and desiccant bags.

    If they are older style drives with the IDE interface (Google it), then you might want to copy all the data to a newer SATA drive otherwise you're likely to run into plug compatibility problems in the future.

    Edit: a quick search shows much higher lifespan rates for writeable optical media than I recall from just a couple of years back. Not sure if something has changed in the technology? Anyway, I still wouldn't use them due to the small storage capacities and ease of damaging the data layer. I'd personally stick to a couple of duplicated HDDs if I was trying to keep it simple and cheap, and copy the data to new media every 4-5 years anyway.

    > also is there any good place in HK who can do data transfer
    > from hard drive to CD?

    For any reasonable size drive, you are going to end up with a zillion CDs. Say you've got a 100GB drive- that's over 150 CDs, or 25 DVDs. Just stick with hard drives.

    Last edited by jgl; 20-02-2012 at 09:49 AM.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by m4nn:
    hi ,
    I have to PC hard drives I might take with me to HK from the UK.
    what is a good way to store them whilst travelling and also when im there with all the humidity and stuffs?.
    thanks.
    Your hard drive (the block of metal) is an enclosed space where your drive sits. NOthing goes in or out except for electrical current. there is no worry for humidity and stuff unless you sweat so much that you short circuit the device.

    I usually pack them with my clothes when travelling. Few layers of T shirt and towel. Never check them in as the baggage handlers always throw them. If you lack space for hand carry, bubble wrap as the others have mentioned. You main concern is no hard knocks on the hard drive. Otherwise is fine, hmmm except for putting it in fire or water. You'll figure it out

  6. #6

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    Subscribe to dropbox or similar and chuck the drives?


  7. #7

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    Haha. Well, Dropbox doesn't work that well when you are trying to move 1TB of porn.

    But seriously, Dropbox is nice and I love it. But its only for small files like word, ppt etc. Moving media and stuff like that will be a pain when you have 56k internet lines. YES! they still exist in certain parts of this world.


  8. #8

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    The OP wants to transfer the data to CD for long term storage, so I guess they are not very big hard drives or he'd end up with hundreds of them.

    In this case, copy the data to a couple of tiny USB flash drives or SD cards and dump the HDDs.

    I've always just stored my HDDs in shelves and if I still had the anti-static bag I'd use that. Never had a problem with humidity and stuff.

    Last edited by 100LL; 24-02-2012 at 01:01 PM.

  9. #9

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    actually if you are storing them long term - I suggest pluggin them in every so often and indexing them over night,, else the magnetic charge may decay over a period of years..

    I would also buy a duplicate drive and clone them if there are photo etc you dont want to loose..


  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by ycchai:
    Haha. Well, Dropbox doesn't work that well when you are trying to move 1TB of porn.

    But seriously, Dropbox is nice and I love it. But its only for small files like word, ppt etc. Moving media and stuff like that will be a pain when you have 56k internet lines. YES! they still exist in certain parts of this world.
    I disagree. I managed to move 500GB of HUGE database files from Australia to Hong Kong overnight using a very dodgy hotel wifi with a speed slower than dial-up .... my email wouldn't work (even for small files) on the awful network, but dropbox drip-fed my files through .... the alternative was a courier but this was faster.

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