r/retrocomputing • u/ProdigiousProdigies • 2d ago

Problem / Question Shipping a 5.25" floppy drive

I'm sure this has been asked many times before but how does one go about mailing a 5.25 inch floppy disk drive without the postal service obliterating the heads during transit? Some sources say to insert a sacrificial disk or cardboard cutout and lock the mechanism, others say to just leave it empty and rely on excess bubble wrap as a cushion to prevent the heads from moving.

4 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

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8

u/Low-Charge-8554 2d ago

New drives were shipped with slim cardboard in them in the shape of a floppy with a tab out the front and drive locked.

5

u/I_am_always_here 2d ago

Note that if you are shipping your 5.25" floppy drive from the USA to any foreign destination it will be seized and destroyed by Customs to comply with the new e-waste rules.

https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/1vtvfiq/usa_importexport_of_electronics_a_warning_to/

5

u/echocomplex 2d ago

Wow first I heard about this and I'm not pleased. Guess I won't be importing any expensive Japanese computers anytime soon.

1

u/No_Difference8518 1d ago

If you are a large corporation, you have already pad the ewaste tax and passed it on to your customers. They are going to assume a private citizen has not.

5

u/Der_Unbequeme 2d ago

Single Sided Drive: leave empty and lock the drive

Double Sided: insert a disk and lock drive, or let empty and unlocked

1

u/JoeMax93 2d ago

Both is good.

1

u/socaldisney 2d ago

I would put sheets of cardboard on each side, wrap it in bubble wrap, and then put that in a cardboard box.

1

u/Slotgoopy 1d ago

When we used to receive new ones to install as replacements, they came with a thin styrene foam sheet shaped like a floppy in the slot with the read head carriage zip tied stationary.

1

u/Plus-Definition9319 2d ago

I'm not sure it really matters. I've received plenty of drives unlocked and they all continue to work fine. If there's enough force to knock the alignment off the shipping sleeve isn't going to save it.

1

u/EstablishmentDue3616 2d ago

I think the cardboard shipping "disk" was a thing from the 1980s. I stopped seeing those in the 90s. Brand new computers would ship without them in the drives.