Does anyone have experience with long-distance moving and transporting their computers and homelab over a couple thousand miles/kilometers?

I think I may just put the harddrives in a spare cage, stick that in a static bag, bubble wrap it, and keep it with me in the car while everything else is put into a storage container for shipping.

I don't have a ridiculous amount of gear, but it's more than I can put in the car with us.

#homelab #moving

@Naate sounds sensible. That's basically how I deal with moves - precious stuff travels with me.
@happyborg @Naate +1 keep it with you. If at all feasible do a 3-2-1 backup of the really important stuff. Ship one, keep one with you in the car, third is on a cloud-y service temporarily (encrypted if you like).
@zrail @happyborg Yeah. I'm in the process of setting up a cloud backup of the super-critical data. But a 2nd set of drives has always been cost-prohibitive. Especially *now* (thanks, ai bullshit)
@Naate yep. Count on maybe 1% of things getting broken during the move... if not in the container then when you're moving it all around and up stairs and leaned against doors. The main thing with electronics is shock or crushing, so bubble wrap and a sturdy container is definitely the vibe. I'm a big fan of putting stuff in the middle of a suitcase full of clothes that I don't actually need for the trip

@Naate My experience when moving a bunch of computers from California to Indiana in the 2000s was basically not one of the i386 machines made it unscathed. Everything that was rode hard, put away wet, and shoved in a u-haul died on me.

I don't know if you'll have such poor luck but my advice would be to make sure you have the budget for repairs and replacements, and hope you don't need it.