v081nhdb@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Nina Banerjee) (06/01/90)
The reason not to turn the computer on it's side, unless you have a tower case, is the hard drives. In the tower cases, the drive slots are horizontal, though the system is vertical, so they work fine. I don't think it matters of you only have floppy drives. This is what a friend of mine in the computer business told me. Nina Banerjee
shim@zip.eecs.umich.edu (Sam Shim) (06/01/90)
In article <27220@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v081nhdb@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu writes: >The reason not to turn the computer on it's side, unless you have a tower case, >is the hard drives. In the tower cases, the drive slots are horizontal, though >the system is vertical, so they work fine. I don't think it matters of you >only have floppy drives. This is what a friend of mine in the computer business >told me. > Nina Banerjee Actually, it's fine to have hard drives on its side. Just not upside down. So there's no reason not to turn a computer on its side, except possibly for cooling/ventilation problems. Hard drive manufacturers design hard drives to run upright and on its side (many of the newer smaller cases mount the hard drive sideways). Just be careful if you have a computer that has the hard drive mounted on its side when upright. Turning the computer on it's side could set the hard drive in an upside down position, which most hard drives weren't designed for. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Sam Shim | "I didn't do it... | | EECS Departmental Computing Organization | It wasn't me... | | University of Michigan | Nobody saw me do it... | | Ann Arbor, MI 48109 | Nobody can prove a thing..." | | internet: shim@eecs.umich.edu | - Bart Simpson | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
haverlan@boulder.Colorado.EDU (HAVERLAND MARC BRADLEY) (06/01/90)
>Actually, it's fine to have hard drives on its side. Just not upside down. >So there's no reason not to turn a computer on its side, except possibly >for cooling/ventilation problems. Hard drive manufacturers design hard drives >to run upright and on its side (many of the newer smaller cases mount the >hard drive sideways). Just be careful if you have a computer that has the >hard drive mounted on its side when upright. Turning the computer on it's >side could set the hard drive in an upside down position, which most hard >drives weren't designed for. Most HD manufacturers will recommend re-low level formatting the drive when you change the orientation. Miniscribe says this simply rewrites the low level marks that have to do with precise alignment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Marc Haverland haverlan@tramp.colorado.edu Automated Business Solutions 303-650-1100
darcy@druid.uucp (D'Arcy J.M. Cain) (06/01/90)
In article <27220@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v081nhdb@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu writes: >The reason not to turn the computer on it's side, unless you have a tower case, >is the hard drives. In the tower cases, the drive slots are horizontal, though >the system is vertical, so they work fine. I don't think it matters of you >only have floppy drives. This is what a friend of mine in the computer business >told me. Your friend is wrong. The hard disk can be mounted in any orientation except upside down. Some people suggest that it should be formatted in the position that it will normally be run. One thing you should never do is turn the drive while it is running. Of course you shouldn't move it at all in that case. -- D'Arcy J.M. Cain (darcy@druid) | Government: D'Arcy Cain Consulting | Organized crime with an attitude West Hill, Ontario, Canada | (416) 281-6094 |
kevinc@cs.AthabascaU.CA (Kevin Crocker) (06/02/90)
In article <27220@eerie.acsu.Buffalo.EDU> v081nhdb@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu writes: >The reason not to turn the computer on it's side, unless you have a tower case, >is the hard drives. In the tower cases, the drive slots are horizontal, though >the system is vertical, so they work fine. I don't think it matters of you >only have floppy drives. This is what a friend of mine in the computer business >told me. > Nina Banerjee Interesting, I just received a BEST ELITE 386/33-0 with a Maxtor 200Mb hard disk which is mounted vertically in a tower case. This is how it was installed at the manufacturer. BTW, I was supposed to get a Connors 200Mb 15ms drive and got a Maxtor 200Mb with unknown access time drive. Anyone care to comment? Which is better? Kevin Crocker -- Kevin "auric" Crocker Athabasca University UUCP: ...!{alberta,ncc,attvcr}!atha!kevinc Inet: kevinc@cs.AthabascaU.CA
cmp8118@sys.uea.ac.uk (D.S. Cartwright) (06/04/90)
v081nhdb@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (Nina Banerjee) writes: >The reason not to turn the computer on it's side,unless you have a tower case, >is the hard drives. In the tower cases, the drive slots are horizontal, though >the system is vertical, so they work fine. I don't think it matters of you >only have floppy drives. This is what a friend of mine in the computer >business told me. But are they horizontal ?? Don't quote me on this, bit I'm pretty sure the last few Model 80's I opened up had the hard drives on their sides. I have a feeling it's all to do with what machine you have. I can't read the original question that Nina's note is the response to (our system threw it away when it expired), but I can only guess that it depends what drives you've got. For example, I have a feeling you'd have very few problems sitting a PS/2-80 on a desk, though it's not the recommended thing to do (if you want to do that, IBM sell you a model 70 !!). One fact to consider is "Do they rely on gravity or an absence of it ??". Does it help the disk life of a Model 80 hard drive if it's hung on its side, so that there are no gravitational forces trying to push the heads against the surfaces ?? Does the Earth's pull help the heads to unpark themselves in the morning ?? I reckon the disks are designed to work either way (i.e. the heads are strong enough not to crash into the disks and the unpark mechanism can manage quite well on its own without any help from Isaac Newton). Anyone out there listening who designed the disks ?? Just a few thoughts to be going on with ... Dave C. -- Dave Cartwright, | cmp8118@sys.uea.ac.uk or uk.ac.uea.sys School of Information Systems, | depending on what mood the mailer's in ... University of East Anglia, | "Computing Science undergraduates do it Norwich, ENGLAND. NR4 7TJ. | concurrently, using multiple ports ..."
jorge@dg.dg.com (Jorge Lach) (06/05/90)
This same subject came up not a month ago, with hundred of messages going back and forth. There were enough knowledgeable opinions stating that running hard disks either horizontally or vertically is OK. Jorge Lach Standard Systems Division jorge@dg.dg.com Data General Corp., Westboro, MA