How to pack electronics for moving

Photograph the back of every device before a single cable comes out, so reconnection is a matter of matching the picture rather than reasoning about ports. Then back up anything holding data you cannot replace, and keep that backup with you rather than in the truck. A move is a routine event for hardware and a common one for data loss, and the two risks are unrelated.

Label both ends of each cable, coil it loosely, and bag the cables per device rather than all together in one carton. A single bag of unlabelled cables is a full evening at the other end, and it is the reason things stay unplugged for weeks. Coil rather than fold, since a sharp fold in a stiff cable breaks conductors inside insulation that still looks perfect.

Anti-static bags for anything with an exposed board, and paper or foam rather than loose polystyrene beads, which hold a charge and get everywhere. For an assembled device in its own case the static risk is small and the shock risk is the real one, so the priority becomes a snug fit with dense padding beneath it. Original cartons already solve both and are worth keeping.

Take removable batteries out and tape over the terminals, since a shorted cell in a sealed box is a fire rather than a breakage. Devices with a mechanical hard drive get extra cushioning and travel upright, because the read head sits close to a spinning platter and shock is what damages it. Solid state storage does not have that problem and only needs protecting from crushing.

A truck reaches temperatures well outside what consumer hardware is rated to store at, and the risk on arrival is condensation: cold hardware brought into a warm room collects moisture internally. Let a device sit unopened and unplugged until it reaches room temperature before switching it on. Anything genuinely valuable travels in the car rather than the truck.

Devices packed loose among soft goods, on the theory that clothing is padding. It is not: soft packing lets a heavy device build momentum and then arrive against whatever is at the edge of the box. The other failure is ink cartridges left in a printer, which leak across everything in the carton, and toner, which is worse and does not wash out.