Transporting PC in Parts?

LMP

So, I'm flying to Montreal in a Week to finally start my first Job in the Industry.

It has been concluded that shipping my PC in it's Full Tower Cooler Master case would be more expensive than simply buying a new case once in Montreal. So, I will be disassembling my PC in a few days to prepare for the move.

This got me thinking, if I'm going to be taking it apart and not bringing the case. Why not just pack it all in my carry-on luggage and not have to wait until after I find my "permanent" residence in Montreal to have my computer. Hell, I could easily fit my 22" secondary monitor into my carry-on if I wanted to.

Is this a good idea?

Canti

Will the service allow you to carry those parts?

I would be a bit paranoid to see someone bring disassembled computer parts on a flight.

EmAr

I'd also consider selling the computer and building a new one in my new location. Just a suggestion...

Travelling with electronics has always been difficult for me.

greevar

Why not send it via UPS/Fed-Ex?

rube

One thing they will sometimes ask you to do with electronics in carry on is turn it on to show it actually works... that said I've never been asked to do that.

System

Yeah I would expect to raise some eyebrows carrying a bunch of bare circuitry through the gates.

As suggested, I think just wrapping the components up and shipping them out would be the best way, they'll be insured then too.

Ghostscape

It goes without saying to back everything up remotely before doing any of this, but I would personally be worried about damaging components if they're all disassembled. Keep in mind your checked luggage is going to be literally tossed, potentially chilled at high altitude, and otherwise abused, and your carry-on is going to be slammed around and crammed under seats or into overhead compartments.

Marine

I'd bring the hard drives with me as carry-on luggage, insurance is fine for the rest of your parts, but you've got work on your hdd

Lamont

HDD's carry on. Take off the CPU cooler. If you do not pack it right, it will get beat to shit. Trust me. If I had to ship my machines again, I'd take it apart and get a pelican case for it.

[Deleted User]

The user and all related content has been deleted.

build.

Not sure about international flights, but I've flown domestically within Canada with my computer disassembled, put the mobo, hdd, cpu and important stuff back in the product packaging and just took it on carry on. Had no issue screeners just wanted to take an extra look at it but it was fine.

kat

Check your weight limitations for carry on, if you go over a set limit you may be charged more. It's seriously risky to rely on the unknowns of that kind of trip that you'll get a hard drive/parts to destination without incident or thievery.

A safer option is just to leave the PC where it is and remote into it once you've arrived where you're going - buy a cheapy laptop to get you up and running until salary kicks in for new parts. Alternatively, back-up to a number of flash drives and/or DVD/Blu Ray media, keep one set on your person and mail the rest (use different carriers). Make sure to secure the data - zip/rar archive it with a password if you have too. Seems a bit extreme to do it this way but that's probably a lot of valuable data you could probably do without getting properly buggered up, right?

m4dcow

My brother does this all the time, on an international flight from Orlando to St.Lucia and vice versa. Airlines tend not to weigh carry ons, once it isn't too large it should be fine.

Kat did touch on the issue of making sure you have all your important data backed up before you leave though.

Monitors can be kind of tricky, probably put the stand in checked luggage and then see if it will fit in carryon. My brother has thrown his into a pillowcase and carried it under his arm when boarding his flight because he had no more room in his carryon, not that I reccomend that though.

passerby

keep your harddrives, sell the rest and rebuild.

Kwramm

took my PC & monitors from USA -> Europe -> China. take the HDDs out (that's has your data on it! don't want this to get into the wrong hands), remove CPU cooler, just as Lamont said. Stuff the inside of the PC with clothing or newspaper to avoid stuff vibrating and coming loose.

Monitor is tricky. I usually keep the original packaging. Then stuff all open spaces with clothing.
Remember, Dell, Apple & Co ship the stuff in that packaging, so it's usually safe for you to use too!

Put plastic bags over the PC and monitor to avoid anything getting wet or dusty - you never know where the shipping company puts your stuff.

Use a shipping company and insure it. I wouldn't take anything like that as checked baggage with an airline.

alexk

Hey, welcome to Montreal. I moved here recently too. I ended up shipping my computer with UPS 2 day air delivery. It was expensive, but I didn't want to go ground and have more chance of stuff getting smashed. The things I packed into my luggage were HDD's, video card, logitech speakers (they're small), PS3, router, tons of cables. I didn't have any problems at the airport and they didn't search my check in luggage either. However, I was travelling within Canada so it may be different if you're coming from outside the country. Bring some warm clothes it's getting chilly

ambershee

I've flown with hardware in bag before a few times. You'll get some funny looks, they might take a look at it, but you'll be fine. Just plan a few extra minutes to get through the gates for the worst case scenario.

Boyso

greevar wrote: »

Why not send it via UPS/Fed-Ex?

Here's an advice from someone living in Montreal.

NEVER use UPS.

They rape us big time on taxes and import duty.

USPS :poly142: