Mounting Hard Drive Sideways

[ElPolloDiabl]

ROFLMAOARARARFTWGJSOSSTDIOU!  :roflmao:

[fishy_fiz]

But, I have heard a rumour that if you initially mount a drive sideways, run it for a period of time, and then mount it flat (horizontal), the drive wont like it. I have no further info than this.

There may be something in that. For nearly 10 years I didnt use computer cases at all and harddrives where just placed wherever they fit neatly and saftely (at any angle, not always 90 degree angles) on or near my testboards that I sat my mobos on. From time to time things would get moved a little for one reason or another. On occasion a computer might have probs detecting its harddrive and it'd nearly always get resolved by simply moving the drive on a different angle. Im not saying that rumor is definately accurate, but in hindsight there might be something to it. I guess the idea is that with time as the platters get worn in having it operate at a different angle could disturb things, sort of akin to an ass mark in a seat :-)

[outlawal2]

Just for the record, there is absolutely nothing wrong with mounting current modern hard drives sideways or horizontal. Does not matter.  Mounting really old drives may pose a problem but I really doubt that too..   As stated in one of the above posts, don't mount a drive at an angle (such as 45 degrees) as the platters will not be balanced properly and you may have read/write errors.  

In a nutshell, mount your drive either completely flat or 90 degrees sideways and you will be fine..
(I support thousands of servers and nearly every one of them has drives mounted sideways)

[smerf]

What is everybodys opinion about mounting drives sideways (on scsi cards, etc)?  Does it hurt or shorten the lifespan of the hard drive.  If so, I will just mount it in my floppy drive bay.  Thanks

Hi,

At barney,

Mounting a hard drive sideways wears out the platters more, not only that but every week you have to check the air and kick the platters to make sure that they have enough air.

Remember your original platter warranty does not cover hitting obsticles like windows Vista which can cause platter crash. Newer platter warranty does have coverage on Windows 7 (trial period) and Linux.

Now when platters are mounted flat, you need not worry since platters never hit the road.

smerf

[smerf]

It's been done for years, and is still being done (in servers, for example). No harm caused by sideways mounting.

But, I have heard a rumour that if you initially mount a drive sideways, run it for a period of time, and then mount it flat (horizontal), the drive wont like it. I have no further info than this.

Hi,

@ matt020,

This is because you didn't read the manual and use proper platter rotation.

smerf

[Sparky]

Hi,

@ matt020,

This is because you didn't read the manual and use proper platter rotation.

smerf

I just have to ask .. what actually is "proper platter rotation" ?

[TheBilgeRat]

I just have to ask .. what actually is "proper platter rotation" ?

Don't encourage these old coots! :lol:

[Karlos]

Technically speaking, mounting sideways changes the forces acting on the platters and head armature. How that affects their long-term life is another matter.

[outlawal2]

Hi,

At barney,

Mounting a hard drive sideways wears out the platters more, not only that but every week you have to check the air and kick the platters to make sure that they have enough air.

Remember your original platter warranty does not cover hitting obsticles like windows Vista which can cause platter crash. Newer platter warranty does have coverage on Windows 7 (trial period) and Linux.

Now when platters are mounted flat, you need not worry since platters never hit the road.

smerf

Yeah Wow you are a real funny guy...  This guy comes to Amiga.org to get some decent info and you reply with rubbish like that...   Gee.. Thanks...

As I said before, mounting a HD sideways will not hurt it in any way..

[KThunder]

I mounted a hard drive and cdrom with a 12 gauge shotgun once. It was pretty cool.

They didn't even try to piss me off after that...

@outlawal2
"As I said before, mounting a HD sideways will not hurt it in any way.. "

yeah the question as been answered several times so the rubbish is just joking around, is that ok?

[TheBilgeRat]

I mounted a hard drive and cdrom with a 12 gauge shotgun once. It was pretty cool.

They didn't even try to piss me off after that...

@outlawal2
"As I said before, mounting a HD sideways will not hurt it in any way.. "

yeah the question as been answered several times so the rubbish is just joking around, is that ok?

I thought it was funny- although I did try to encourage cessation of all humor beofre the truly awful puns started surfacing :lol:.

[outlawal2]

I mounted a hard drive and cdrom with a 12 gauge shotgun once. It was pretty cool.

They didn't even try to piss me off after that...

@outlawal2
"As I said before, mounting a HD sideways will not hurt it in any way.. "

yeah the question as been answered several times so the rubbish is just joking around, is that ok?

Yeah looking back I suppose it has and you are right.  Sorry about that I only read the last page and it just struck me wrong..   anyway disregard my comment please..

[orange]

i still wonder, doesnt mounting hdd sideways put more 'pressure' on 'ball bearings' or spindle because of weight of platters? there must be some difference, at least in old drives.

[KThunder]

Drives old enough to be effected are probably long dead from other causes. By the early to mid 90's drive technology had advanced so far that multi-g impacts while running, thermal operating calibration, and other problems that plagued early drives were nearly gone.

even back in the 80's though there were hard cards designed by competant intelligent engineers that were concerned with reliability that placed drives on their sides. I would be very suprised if the bearings weren't though of in that situation.

[motrucker]

I have used one IBM 540Mb SCSI hoard drive mounted on a 2091 card for about 10 years, with no problems (mounted sideways, obviously). The drives don't care... (at least, GOOD drives don't care)