Thread: reguler hd or laptop?

stick with std desktop hdd's, cheaper to buy so you can but your hard earned $$$$'s into a bigger drive.....

mount the drive on its side so the drive heads dont whack into the platters of the drive (well thats the theroy anyway!)

I use a 20gb laptop drive in my system, and it works like a dream. The only time that there's any skippage is when I hit some SERIOUS potholes, and I suspect that's due to the speakers bumping up against the box too hard.

I'm sure there is nothing wrong with using desktop drives (I used one for a year), but now that I have a laptop drive I wouldn't go back. Personally, I like the compactness and the piece of mind that comes with knowing the drive is designed for a hostile environment.

But I don't think it really matters.

<quote/Newer drives prove to be very tough and there is no advantage to use a laptop drive.</quote>

This is not true. There are still numerous advantages to using laptop drives.

Low power consumption. Low heat dissapation. Better shock/vibration toleration. Smaller size.

Laptop drives are *designed* for these relatively harsh conditions. Desktop drives are not.

I think if you counted every person on mp3.com who has reported a dead HD from their mp3car, you'd find many more reports of dead desktop drives than laptop drives, proportionally (to ownership).

While a standard desktop drive can certainly do the job and is great for most people's uses, I wouldn't use one because I don't have time to deal with replacing drives periodically if something goes bad.

Peace of mind and time is worth a lot.
You can get a 20gig IBM laptop drive for a relatively low price.