Hi selfhosted community,

I’m in the process of moving across the country and need some advice on the best way to transport my server equipment safely. I have a 15U server rack, a 2U server, a 1U server, a 2U UPS, a 1U PDU, a 1U network switch, a 1U network router, and a 1U patch panel. I’m planning to pack everything into a 4×8 U-Haul trailer along with the rest of my bedroom, desk, and computer equipment.

I ran a few queries into a couple LLMs and they basically say to pack everything in the rack and secure it down. I just couldn’t see that working out at all. Figured I might get some human input.

Here are a few questions I have:

  • Packing: What’s the best way to pack these items to ensure they don’t get damaged during transport? Should I use bubble wrap, foam, or just some moving blankets?
  • Securing: I’ve got plenty of ratchet straps but is there any other - options I should be aware of?
  • Anything else I’m not thinking of atm?

Additional Tips: Any other advice for transporting sensitive electronic equipment would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance for your help! Looking forward to your suggestions.

  • InvertedParallax@lemm.eeEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    Trying to move my fully populated 42u rack to Europe.

    So far been doing it piecemeal, but that will have to accelerate at some point.

    • dogma11@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      lol I feel small and inadequate.

      Have you had much in the way of bad luck with the move being done piecemeal?

      • InvertedParallax@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        1 day ago

        Meh, it’s going.

        I might do the rest at once, it’s about setting up a link between the two first (wireguard etc), then bringing servers over and up.

        What terrifies me is trying to move my monitors, those are massive and beautiful with 0 room for error.

        Used metal carriers with foam inserts for storage, but the balance is still back home.

        Fiber in Europe is glorious, so that helps.

  • dogma11@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    Thanks for all the information and tips everyone!
    In the end I’m gonna end up doing a combination of things.

    Spinning disk drives and power supplies are removed from all systems, large unsecured cards removed from desktop so they can’t flop around on the PCIe connection, servers removed from rack, everything wrapped and strapped down as needed.
    Drawers mounted in the rack will also be removed as well as UPS, everything else weighs next to nothing and can be safely left in the rack. Most likely store stuff in the cavity of the rack and then wrap the whole rack tight in a plastic packing wrap. I’ll get a moisture control box for closets, bathrooms, mud rooms and storage stuff to help control the humidity inside the trailer during the move.
    My trip will end up being around 1,600 miles in 2 parts. From Texas to Iowa to Virginia, so who knows what all kind of weather I’ll be hitting.

    Thanks again for all the help, I’m pretty confident I’ll be able to get everything moved safely.

  • monkeyman512@lemmy.worldEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    If you have mechanical HDD you may want to get a foam lined case and anti static bags. That should be the best approach to avoid drive damage.

    As for leaving things in the rack, I am concerned that road vibration could walk screws out. That would be bad.

  • motsu@lemmy.worldEnglish
    6·
    2 days ago

    Take out any spinning rust and pack those in a foam HDD case. Number them as you pull them for easy reinstall.

    Put a bit of plywood under the rack, ratchet strap it, and now you can put it on a dolly without the lip hitting the equipment as you try and lift it. For avoiding it falling off the dolly, use a 2nd ratchet strap and wrap it around the chassis / dolly.

    Put a 2nd piece of plywood on top once its in the uhaul so you can load more boxes on top… Maybe even do that at first so the initial strap is securing it as well.

    As for the bottom plywood, if you add some felt pads, then it will help you shimmy the chassis into / out of its position once its unloaded. I have my rack vhb taped to ply with felt under it and recommend it to people IRL a fair bit.

    • dogma11@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      I like the plywood and felt pads idea, thank you.
      I’ll definitely be taking all the hard drives out and wrapping and packing them in boxes.

  • Retro_unlimited@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 days ago

    I just moved across states.

    I took everything apart, packed the equipment in boxes using tons of padding. Any extra space in the boxes was filled with extra cables and more padding. Rack mounts that I have come completely apart.

    My main servers have hard drives, so I used a lot of foam all around the server and added trackers (air tags) to the servers and my camera stuff.

    I’m now off grid so not really in a hurry to setup all this stuff, but happy it seems to have made it here in great condition. Eventually I will setup the rack mounts just to hold the equipment and maybe I will power on things here and there as I feel like playing with them again.