Nova said:
Best bet is to buy direct from the HDD companies. They know how to protect their shit. I bought a Caviar drive from Seagate on eBay and the thing was surrounded by 5 inch thick sponge on each side.
You bought a what, from WHO? Caviar, Western Digital brand. Seagate sold you this...? And on Ebay? As far as i know, (which of course might be wrong) Seagate doesn't have a Ebay outlet.
The box you speak of, sounds a lot like the refurbished reshipping boxes from most manufacturers tho. And i agree, it's pretty darn good.