Which way to mount a HDD?

Cache-man

Cache-man

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OK guys, was just wandering about some theory here.

Conventionally we mount HDD's horizontally, although many cases offer positions now (mainly for space saving reasons) to mount your disks vertically.

I was just wandering if there are any risks with mounting disks vertically that anyone knows of. IE does it cause any extra pressure with the read/write head movin up/down rather than accross a plane, or am I just being paranoid.

I mean, I know they work fine mounted vertically, but doe's it have potential to shorten the lifespan or anything, or is there really nothing to worry about.
 
My two WD 36Gb Raptors working together in a RAID 0 have been mounted vertically for over two years now.

The reading head is 'clamped' to the HDD surface with spring pressure so it really does make no difference.

I suppose, thinking about it, if drive is mounted horizontally, it has gravity in it's favour but personally I've never noticed any difference at all in performance or longevity.
 
Cheers Flops. Honestly though, it was just a theory, and I've never seen or heard anything about it till now, so just thought i'd see if anyone knew owt. Puts my mind at rest now though that I can mount 'em whichever way I can fit 'em.

....unless anyone else has any comments on the subject?
 
Hi Cache-man,

There's certainly no implications of using a drive in any alternative orientation. Look at how Servers have hot-swappable drives in vertical banks.
(Slightly different to your layout, perhaps, but the principle is the same)

The 'danger' to lifespan is unnecessary movement, whilst the drives spin. So if your drives are fixed and not hanging loosely, there's nothing to worry about!

Cheers
Kev
 
Aha, another re-itteration to put my mind at rest. Many thanks to you AbsoluteKevster
 
HD heads "auto-park" when not in use ... I've even used them upsidedown, some of them older IDE cables were very stupid. :D


:thumb:
 
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