Planning and inventory for a storage move
Planning starts with an inventory of every controller, disk shelf, drive tray, switch and cable, recorded by make, model, serial number and rack position. We photograph the shelf order and the back-panel cabling, because rebuilding a SAS or Fibre Channel layout from memory is how arrays come up degraded. Your storage team sets the shutdown order, final backups and replication state, and we schedule the physical work around that window.
Labeling shelves, cables and drives
Every shelf, port and cable is labeled with its source and destination position so the array can be rebuilt exactly as it ran. Where the manufacturer allows drives to ship installed, they stay in their slots. Where guidance calls for removing them, drives are tracked by slot and packed in anti-static trays so each one goes back where it came from.
Anti-static and shock protection
Drives, controllers and cache modules can be damaged by static and by drops that look harmless from the outside. Equipment is wrapped in anti-static material and packed with foam or rigid bracing, and heavy shelves are lifted with the right equipment instead of being carried by hand. Racks that stay loaded are braced upright, and anything fragile or high value goes into custom crating.
Air-ride trucks, liftgate and inside delivery
Storage moves on air-ride trucks that reduce vibration, in a sealed load used only for your equipment. We deliver with a liftgate when the dock is not at truck height and take the equipment inside to the data hall, so heavy shelves are never left on a loading dock. Time-critical moves can use team drivers.
Chain of custody and insurance
Serial numbers are checked at pickup, at each handoff and on delivery, and the custody log is part of the records you keep. Because storage often holds regulated data, drives are treated as data-bearing until your team says otherwise in writing. Insurance and declared value are agreed in the written scope before the move, so you know what is covered.
Retiring an array during the move
If you are replacing storage as part of the move, our equipment buy back program buys retired storage arrays, servers, network gear, racks, and UPS and power equipment. We pay in cash or apply a credit toward the move, which can shrink the cost of the relocation. Equipment that is not bought back can go through data center decommissioning.
Related work includes server relocation, network equipment relocation and full-environment data center migration services. Call (866) 216-7742 any time, 24/7.