stacking 2.5" hard drives on top of one another

  • Thread starter Thread starter yawnmoth
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yawnmoth

Whenever I get a new laptop, I sell my old laptop (sans the hard
drive, which I keep in storage) on eBay. I now have three 2.5" hard
drives just sitting around and to consolidate space, I've stacked them
on top of each other. Problem is, when doing this, I can feel the
permanent magnets.

3.5" hard drives, as I understand it, have mu metal to dampen the
permanent magnets, so stacking them on top of one another doesn't
worry me. The 2.5" hard drives, however... can the permanent
magnets, without the mu metal shielding 3.5" HDDs have, wipe or worse
render unusable blocks of other hard drives? If so, what would be the
ideal way to store the drives?

I'm not too terribly concerned about it as I have another copy of the
data on these drives, but... these drives were kinda acting as a
backup. If the hard drive on which I have their contents copied onto
fails, I'd like to be able to just recopy the data off of the old
drives.
 
yawnmoth said:
Whenever I get a new laptop, I sell my old laptop
(sans the hard drive, which I keep in storage) on eBay.
Click to expand...

What does that do to the price you get ?

There are plenty of secure wipers around.
I now have three 2.5" hard drives just sitting around and to
consolidate space, I've stacked them on top of each other.
Click to expand...

I've reported you to the RSPCPPLHDBCA. You'll be soorree...
Problem is, when doing this, I can feel the permanent magnets.
Click to expand...

Its illegal to touch up permanent magnets without their consent, boy.
3.5" hard drives, as I understand it, have mu metal to dampen the permanent magnets,
Nope.

so stacking them on top of one another doesn't worry me.
Click to expand...

It does worry them tho.
The 2.5" hard drives, however... can the permanent
magnets, without the mu metal shielding 3.5" HDDs have,
Click to expand...

Pure fantasy.
wipe or worse render unusable blocks of other hard drives?
Nope.

If so, what would be the ideal way to store the drives?
Click to expand...

You could shove them up your bum, sideways.
I'm not too terribly concerned about it as I have another copy of
the data on these drives, but... these drives were kinda acting as a
backup. If the hard drive on which I have their contents copied onto
fails, I'd like to be able to just recopy the data off of the old drives.
Click to expand...

That will work fine, if you ever need to do that.
 
yawnmoth said:
Whenever I get a new laptop, I sell my old laptop (sans the hard
drive, which I keep in storage) on eBay. I now have three 2.5" hard
drives just sitting around and to consolidate space, I've stacked them
on top of each other. Problem is, when doing this, I can feel the
permanent magnets.
Click to expand...
3.5" hard drives, as I understand it, have mu metal to dampen the
permanent magnets, so stacking them on top of one another doesn't
worry me. The 2.5" hard drives, however... can the permanent
magnets, without the mu metal shielding 3.5" HDDs have, wipe or worse
render unusable blocks of other hard drives? If so, what would be the
ideal way to store the drives?
Click to expand...

No. The magnets are not strong enough for that by a large margin.
However, I would think that mmechanically damaging the head
assembly is a possibility.

Arno
 
yawnmoth said:
Whenever I get a new laptop, I sell my old laptop (sans the hard
drive, which I keep in storage) on eBay. I now have three 2.5" hard
drives just sitting around and to consolidate space, I've stacked them
on top of each other. Problem is, when doing this, I can feel the
permanent magnets.
Click to expand...

Wow, do you buy them a new hard drive, or do you just tell them they
won't be getting a hard drive? A lot o laptops have an OEM reinstall
partition located on their original hard drive too.


Regarding stacking the hard drives, I wouldn't worry about losing data
by magnetic damage. However, I would be concerned about losing data by
heat damage. These little drives are cooped up in confined aluminium
cases which are passively cooled, at best. Stacking them up would just
be transferring their heat between each other, and making them all
overheat candidates.

Yousuf Khan
 
Yousuf said:
Wow, do you buy them a new hard drive, or do you just tell them they
won't be getting a hard drive? A lot o laptops have an OEM reinstall
partition located on their original hard drive too.


Regarding stacking the hard drives, I wouldn't worry about losing data
by magnetic damage. However, I would be concerned about losing data by
heat damage. These little drives are cooped up in confined aluminium
cases which are passively cooled, at best. Stacking them up would just
be transferring their heat between each other, and making them all
overheat candidates.
Click to expand...

Not really a problem with 2.5" hard drives.
 
Not really a problem with 2.5" hard drives.
Click to expand...

I've had a 2.5" drive fail in a passive aluminium case without even
being stacked. Just overheated and never heard from it ever again.

Yousuf Khan
 
YKhan said:
I've had a 2.5" drive fail in a passive aluminium case without even
being stacked. Just overheated and never heard from it ever again.
Click to expand...

I've never had any even get warm.

And thats where we get 10 days over 40C and I like it
warm and dont even turn the AC on until its well over 30C.
 
Regarding stacking the hard drives, I wouldn't worry about losing data
by magnetic damage. However, I would be concerned about losing data by
heat damage.
Click to expand...

I understood that the OP was storing his HDs in a cupboard or drawer,
ie not powered.

- Franc Zabkar
 
Franc said:
I understood that the OP was storing his HDs in a cupboard or drawer,
ie not powered.
Click to expand...


Hmmm, I wasn't sure if he meant just storing the hard drives on top of
each other, or if he meant utilizing them stacked on top of each other?
So I just assumed the worse possibility of the two.

Yousuf Khan
 
Yousuf Khan said:
Hmmm, I wasn't sure if he meant just storing the hard drives on top of
each other, or if he meant utilizing them stacked on top of each other?
So I just assumed the worse possibility of the two.
Click to expand...

Well, stacking them directly and running them that way would
indeed be quite bad heat-wise.

Arno
 
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