david@epicb.UUCP (David P. Cook) (09/28/88)
In article <6377@ut-emx.UUCP> you write: >Question: > Would it cause my hard disk any problem if I set the whole computer on its > side? Answer: NO! It works fine. I have have currently on my desk a Mac II, a Compaq Deskpro 386, and a AT&T XM system all sitting side by side On their sides in a neat little row. (Though I hear that if the Mac II has alot of cards in it, it produces more heat on its side and that's bad for the drive). All my computers... past jobs... my systems at home... here at work... are on their sides. It takes LOTS less room and looks nicer. I have experienced NO problems of any kind in the three years that I have been doing this (side tipping as we professionals call it... side tipping professionals that is...). JUST DON'T PUT IT UPSIDE DOWN... that is one configuration that CAN harm a hard drive! And be careful about putting it on a side which contains cooling vents... there are other factors... such as.. is it stable on its side or will it tip over easily (like when you slam in a diskette... or when the eject mechn. on the Mac II fires the floppy across the room like a broken toaster...)? Hope this helps! -- | David P. Cook Net: uunet!epicb!david | | Truevision Inc. | "Sometimes I cover my mouth with | | Indianapolis, IN | my hand to tell if I'm breathing" | -----------------------------------------------------------
alz@tc.fluke.COM (Al Weiss) (10/04/88)
In article <9510@cup.portal.com> Nanook@cup.portal.com writes: >I asked a Seagate Engineer about Seagate drives and here's what he told me. >"It's ok to mount the drive on either side, or right side up (flat). You can >not mount the drive up-side-down since the spindle motor is not designed to >handle that stress, and would go bad quickly. >"As for mounting the drive 'on end', this must not be done for long periods >of time for any reason. Its ok to do it for a few minutes to check the drive >for something, but continously having a drive 'on end' will not only cause >seek errors, but on a servo drive, will over-stress the pcboard circuit >that moves the actuator (heads). It's not designed to provide current >constantly (ie. while fighting the effects of gravity)." > The above has been confirmed by former Rhodime employees that I work with >at Seagate who have seen similar warnings on Rhodent drives. Seagate gave me the same answer but without the lattitude of doing it even for a few minutes. They just said "don't do it". In fact, the front/back cannot be tipped up more than 5 degrees from horizontal, a long way from 90 degrees. Also, the drive should be formatted in whatever position you put it in, and left in that position (this is all explicitly spelled out in their specs). I think this applies to all of their 3.5" and 5.25" half-heights. But the 5.25 full-heights look like they all use voice coil positioners and may not have the same restrictions (haven't seen any specs for those). Comments? The real reason I am responding though is because of the comments about the Rodimes. I am considering use of their 652B and 3057S (20M and 40M scsi) drives in a product and have been told by their tech support that there are no restrictions at all on mounting attitude, even upside down is ok. Did they not tell me something, or are the warnings you heard about for different model drives? The only got-cha that they admitted to was that the ambient air temperature around the scsi board must not exceed 50C because of some tempermental ic's. I'd like to hear all your war stories about Rodime (posted or via email), and also about Conner and MiniScribe while we're at it. (I'm also considering the Conner 340, 40M scsi.) Does anyone else make 20 or 40 meg scsi's? Quite a few make scsi 80 meggers and up. Muchas Gracias, Aweful Alphonzo