How to mount carpc box

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03-13-2007, 02:59 PM
crooper

How to mount carpc box

I have a microatx CarPC in my trunk and I'm trying to figure out the best way to install it permanently.

I have dual 12" subs, 2x200 watts in my trunk. I like to turn it up. This won't change. My hard drive just died (Maxtor 3.5 80 gig). It worked fine until (my theory) my pc case got pushed up against my sub box (contents shifted during flight). I have a temporary, smaller 3.5" hard drive in there now so I have tunes, and have made an effort to keep the pc and sub box separated.

My question is -- is it better to hard-mount the CarPC box to the car (like screwed in) or have it just kinda strapped in? Where is a good place to mount the hard drive? I've seen that some people fabricate a mount under the rear deck -- is that recognized as a location with less vibration? Or should I do the USB enclosure under my seat thing?

I plan on getting either a laptop hard drive or CF as my boot disk, and then having a larger 3.5" drive for media storage. Any thoughts?
03-13-2007, 03:10 PM
EricE

My personal opinion is to try and get it separated from your subs. Plenty of people have thier PC mounted on or near their subs but hard drives are not made to withstand vibrations. Shocks they handle fairly well, vibrations they dont. I would hard mount it to the car in whatever spot you can that has the least vibration from your subs.
03-14-2007, 09:29 AM
symon_say

Try using some sound deadner around the case to reduce vibration, but be sure your case is well ventilated cause sound deads are heat proof to.
03-14-2007, 10:18 AM
TruckinMP3

Make sure you have good air flow and mount the case firmly to the car. Do not worry about the rest.
03-17-2007, 10:21 AM
dcmarsh

This might be obvious but it needs saying

I'm a newbie myself, but I do know a bit about computers and sound. This is going to sound really dumb, but here goes.

Isn't a speaker just a big magnet? I would have thought that, unless you have some kind of shielding you need to keep your hard drive as far away from that magnetic field as possible.
03-17-2007, 04:06 PM
crooper

Okay that sounds reasonable. I'm mostly concerned about whether I should keep the hard drive in the case (in the trunk) or relocate it to the passenger compartment.
03-20-2007, 02:20 PM
dcmarsh

Quote:

Originally Posted by crooper

Okay that sounds reasonable. I'm mostly concerned about whether I should keep the hard drive in the case (in the trunk) or relocate it to the passenger compartment.

Personally, as long as you can hide it to a certain extent, I'd stick it in the passenger compartment, makes wiring easier for one thing!
03-20-2007, 02:36 PM
J187

If you think there are enough vibrations to really cause a problem, you could install the HDD in a verticle position which will prevent the platters from hitting. I always had mine vertical, but it was for installion ease. Horizontal should be fine too for most, but verticle will still offer some amount of benefit even though today's drives are much more durable than even a year ago.
03-20-2007, 05:09 PM
MrJamieR

I think a good place to start would be some duct tape. That way you can a least secure your CarPC long enough for you to look at more permanent options without loosing another Hard drive.
03-21-2007, 09:20 AM
MatrixPC

Quote:

Originally Posted by TruckinMP3

Make sure you have good air flow and mount the case firmly to the car. Do not worry about the rest.

As for HD/PC mount, do :whs: .

If there is space in the cabin, install your PC there. Why? it will share the heat and AC with the occupants.