Thread: Death by bass?

As long as everything is bolted down, the hard drive is the only problem. That will tear a hard drive apart. You should look int a solid state disk.

I think you ears are more likely to fail before the PC does.

Originally Posted by soundman98

i really think the whole SSD argument is getting blown out of proportion for a lot of people. do a search for the couple of threads/arguments on hdd placement/orientation(horizontal/verticle). there was member that has put laptop drives in small military boats--a very harsh environment--said that the marines that ride in the boats have been known to shrink from the force of the boat going over waves, claimed that the drives are doing fine.

unless the OP were to mount the hdd directly over a sub and mount it loosely, the spl shouldn't affect it very much, assuming that it is mounted to a firm surface.

EDIT: i would be very interested in any data anyone has to disprove any points i have made, so far, i have not seen/read anything to justify that a ssd drive is better in a vibration prone install.

Hard drives can handle bumps, they can't handle constant vibration though. I don't care if you mount the thing to a block of cement, the thing is going to vibrate in that car if his sub is putting out 130 db. Look at the threads on this forum showing people who mount their hard drives in the same trunk as a serious subwoofer. Sure there are hard drives that are rugged enough to handle it, but they cost as much as an SSD anyway. An SSD has no moving parts that can get messed up therefore a subwoofer can't kill one unless it makes the solder come apart.

IF you are worried about vibration, THEN use either an automotive grade HDD (you can find them on the mp3car store) or an SSD.

On the other hand, if you already have a drive, by all means, try it out and see. I second the notion that you ought not put it close to your subs, but as long as you aren't mounting it to a surface that will vibrate due to the sub, the HDD enclosure will protect the platter by reflecting much of the sound. I'd go with bolting it securely to something firm or just keeping it out of the line of fire.

Nobody on this board has quantitative data on HDD vibration but I can't recall a case where it has been a problem in a car with a regular sound system. Most of the time I've seen people fault the hard disk, it turns out to be a connector or power problem.