No good deed goes unpunished. Sooner or later, your success will rebound, forcing you to move to a larger or improved location. I mention this because I am presently sitting amid stacks of books and software that I haven't had time to put away since relocating my office. In fact, this is the first document created at this address. I am pleased to say that all workstations have come up on the network in a reasonable amount of time, all the printers are functional, the stereo is providing adequate distraction, and my back hurts. Once the phones are installed, I'll file this month's column.
@Text:I scaled the image of my new office to fit a tabloid-sized page (see Figure 1). Since I am no longer am in the manufacturing end of the business, I was only moving an office and art department. I created a labeled image for each table, desk, cabinet, printer, and computer. I then plopped each of those images in the layout and left a hardcopy sitting out for a few days so that I could ponder it. I identified a couple of graceless elements and revised the floor plan. Then I printed two copies and tacked one up at both locations. The printouts helped me decide a what to take first from the old office and where to put it in the new one.
Figure 1 also shows two different EtherNet cable configurations, one for the AppleTalk part of the network and one for the Lantastic elements. By working off my floor plan, I was able to plan all the cable lengths. In theory, this meant no last-minute dash to the computer store for a custom length of ThinNet; in practice, it meant I only mismeasured a single cable.
To prepare the computers themselves, you should do nothing more than put an expendable diskette in each floppy drive and disconnect the cables. In the IBM XT and AT days, many disk drives needed a Park or Home command to move the read/write head off of the active area of the disks. But virtually every hard disk drive manufactured in the last five years automatically moves the heads outside the data area when the power is shut down. If your hard drives are older and came with parking utilities and instructions, by all means use them. But don't worry if your equipment is current.
Laser printers should have the paper trays removed and all extendible guides folded in and possibly taped in place. It isn't common, but it is possible to have toner spill from a cartridge during transit, so I normally remove toner cartridges and put them in a plastic bag. There is a photosensitive cylinder behind a spring-loaded door on cartridges, so handle them carefully. And if you are worried about the handling they will get from others, put them in a box for extra protection.
Any device with significant track-borne elements needs to be immobilized to prevent the traveling elements from slamming one way or the other as you race around corners in that 24-ft U-Haul. Scanners almost always have a simple means of locking the carriage in place, and you will certainly want to remove the cutting element and secure the carriage on your plotter. Consult your manual if you are in any doubt about the best way to secure equipment.
Basic physics suggests that you don't want to move anything you don't have to, so it might be tempting to leave the old behind and only move the new, especially if you plan to upgrade in conjunction with the move. Don't leave anything behind! There will be enough confusion and difficulty getting everything back up without complicating things by installing new equipment at the same time. Your best bet is to upgrade first and then move the upgraded system. But, if time does not allow for that, move and set up the current system, making certain that everything is functioning correctly. Then upgrade when the dust settles. Even I followed this rule!
As I write this, it is very tempting to never grow again, to only do my job well enough to satisfy my current customers. That way I could stay here until retirement. But along that path there are many dangers, so I think I shall just be thankful that I no longer own any diecutting equipment.