Upside down HDD

[dreamproject]

Hi all,

I am fixing up a computer in my car . Space constaints require the Hard Disk Drive to be mounted up-side down. I am aware that the HDD works in this position but will it be affected in the long-term usage. The drive motor and bearings must surely have been designed for right-way-up usage . Kindly advise.


Thanks

 

[Styx]

SEarch this forum, this has been discussed before

in short, no it will not effect the life of the HD

 

[pike]

never heard of such an issue. how do you think laptops tolerate the abuse with it?? 8)

These bearings are designed to handle abuse heat and a certain amount of vibration. Well most models have motors that spin at 7200 rpm!!

 

[ante]

The HDD will work in any position, no problem!

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

I agree, it makes no difference! - but, is it just me?, why would you fit a drive upside down? - it's exactly the same size the right way up?.

 

[zevon8]

Only time I have seen one upside down was in a MicroATX case, just to make wiring easier/neater for the power cable. Makes no difference how they are mounted.

 

[dreamproject]

true

Hi all,

It's true that the HDD is the same size the right-way-up , but the cabling is not symmetric though (power on one side and IDE on the other) . Fixing the HDD up-side-down puts less strain on the cables (in my custom enclosure) or else they are very stretched and taut.


Thanks

 

[Thunderchild]

how are you going to power the computer i am curious as i wist to do a similar thing :lol:

 

[dreamproject]

power supply

hi,

I built a 400 watt inverter powered by the car's battery , you could do the same or buy one off-the-shelf.

 

[Thunderchild]

so first u up from 12 volts with the inverter and then go down again with the psu. what a waste can't u have a direct 12 supply unit ? i know it would be easy to convert to 3.3 and 5 volts but 12 volts may be tricky as there is little overhead to work with to get a stable 12 volts from the battery a little inverter and then conversion to 12v will be needed but taking it to 24 is enough

 

[Someone Electro]

yea going way up to mains an then back is a big wast.

Dont bother whith the -12V and -5V stuff becose only serial ports an crap like that uses it.Hwo wod miss an COM port.

I put my old harddrive in my new PC just to download the old data so i sint bother huch how it was positiond i simply pluged in the IDE and the power and left it in there laing on the side and it works just fine.So mine works laying siseways so it shod shurly work upside down.

 

[Thunderchild]

i was told but am not sure that it can go al ways up but not upsidown but then i find that strange (yea lots of strange people out there with strange ideas)

 

[Someone Electro]

I was able to get all the data from my odl disk that was side ways Becose of an short cabe and i didnt want to screw it in so i just left it layinf sideways and try if it will work and it did. (I never sean a disk mounted sideways so its proboly not good)

 

[zevon8]

You can mount any modern hard drive in any orientation. Make no difference at all. I have several Compaq PC's that have run as servers for several years, all with hardrives factory installed drives sideways.

The read write heads are sprung to make contact with the media, and use a cushion of air to lift them off the surface when running, so orientation is of no consequence whatsoever.

Go ahead, mount your drive any way you see fit.

Maxtor even says so on their web site:

**broken link removed**

(It's in the answer section)

 

[Someone Electro]

I toght graviti afects hard drives

Mine was in there for about 1 hour.Sice it was making that high pitch squliling noise.And it got realy hot in just one hour of operation.Why do they get so hot so FAST.

 

[Styx]

I toght graviti afects hard drives

Mine was in there for about 1 hour.Sice it was making that high pitch squliling noise.And it got realy hot in just one hour of operation.Why do they get so hot so FAST.

I really suggest you search this forum, this subject has been discussed.
In short

What abt space? they have harddrives in space, thus Gravity and orientation makes no difference to the operation of a Harddrive