michigan roads suck

scuba_steve · 11-02-2002, 07:35 PM

have anyof you had problems crashing hard drives??? i have mounted mine vertically and have destroyed two of them... i am thinking of just buying a cd player that decodes mp3 and say the hell with it...

PoBoy · 11-03-2002, 01:05 AM

Hehehe...welcome to Detroit's ****ty roads. I put a good amount of eggshell cushioning top and bottom. A laptop HD will also help a whole lot. Glad to have another Michigander on board!

PoBoy

Aaron Cake · 11-03-2002, 10:18 AM

How do have the drive mounted (I know you said vertically...)? On springs? How is the player mounted?

Killing hard drives is a pretty rare thing around here (surprisingly) and usually boils down to improper mounting, or a bad power supply. I can guarantee you that mine sees way more abuse than yours ever does, and I have had no HD problems (once I removed my crappy HD suspension system)...

psycotic · 11-03-2002, 01:59 PM

Its mounted vertically just inside the case itself. No padding around it and the case isn't on springs. Its just sitting on the floor. We just are not sure what is the best way to go about protecting the hard drive.

Kinda just looking for the best way to mount the hard drive.

We've only crashed 1 drive so far cause the case wasn't put in a secure location, and was allowed to slide on the floor and into a door.

Just wondering if the drive will crash if we secure it where its gonna go, and leave the drive inside the case.

Telek · 11-03-2002, 02:12 PM

I think that using some thin gel (or similar) substance to protect the hard drive is a good idea. something that will just help to increase the time that large shocks takes... laptops do this to help protect their hard drives. if you're in an offroader or have stiff suspention (which someone else was mentioning) then you might want to think of this.

But really, just get a new hard drive, make sure that the data is backed up, and then make use of the 3 year free replacement warranty

(BTW - I think that this is the 75,000th post on this board! w00t!)

eugenen · 11-03-2002, 04:08 PM

I put a 3 year old laptop hdd in mine that had been ran almost 24/7 (I would suspend the lapotp to drive to work and back, but it ran at work and home constantaly). Mine is simply screwed to top of my chassis and has survived PA roads. I have driven in OH, MI, IL, IN, KY, TN, PA, WV, MD, VA, probabally more but can't remember, PA has the worst roads of all, even when they repave their roads still are bunmpy.

salmonslapped · 11-04-2002, 06:39 AM

you have not seen ****ty roads until you have been to detroit/michigan, they are simply awful. try driving down telegraph road on a motorcycle and you will learn the true meaning of fear...

back on topic, i read a post on these forums that said mounting the HDD vertically can fsck up the heads, and he said mounting it horizontally is safer. im confused as what "vertically" and "horizontally" mean. i assume horizontally means the same as mounting it flat ie a cdrom drive, and vertically would be on its side, like in a lian-li case w/ the hard drive enclosure

scuba_steve · 11-04-2002, 09:02 AM

so, you guys are suggesting to mount the case solidly to the floor and have the hd rapped in some kind of padding??? i have seen a few cars on this site that the case is not even attached to the vehicles chassis... you guys have any pictures or links of building your cases and mounting the hd??? that would help out more than words... thanx

scuba_steve · 11-04-2002, 04:18 PM

someone must surely have some pics on how they've installed their hd... i am just kinda lost on the "padding" that we all are suggesting to use...

eugenen · 11-04-2002, 05:00 PM

is your HDD a 3.5" or laptop size? My laptop size is mounted solid to my chassis setting in a hole in my overhead console. It has survived PA roads where I have hit holes that made all 4 tires leave the pavement.

Telek · 11-05-2002, 06:19 AM

mounting hard drives on their side is not bad in itself, there are plenty of cases that already do this. Perhaps doing that while in a car might be a bad idea, however.

pretend you're looking at the drive frop the top, connectors are facing you.

towards/away from you is the Y axis
left/right is the X axis
up/down is the Z axis.

horizontally = X,Y axis parallel to the ground.
vertically (usually) = Y,Z axis parallel to ground (bad in a car)

however

X,Z axis parallel to ground (so the connectors are either on the top or the bottom) shouldn't be so bad, this is because of how the head mechanism works and swings.

but since most people mount it horizontally without issue, I'd just recommend doing that.

scuba_steve · 11-05-2002, 08:05 AM

i thought that i saw something on this site that you should always mount hd vertically to reduce crashes... so you'd recommend mounting the hd horizonatlly???

i am still lost on this "padding"... and still hoping that maybe someone has some pictures....

Aaron Cake · 11-05-2002, 09:18 AM

As I mentioned, my HD is simple screwed to my case. See pics at http://www.aaroncake.net/projects/mp3player.htm

scuba_steve · 11-06-2002, 11:12 AM

so, it seems to me that vertically and horizontally mounting the hd--aswell as padding it and even securing the case to your car is all personal perference... if no one has crashed a hd--and you all have them mounted in more different ways then i have fingers--then anyway we mount it, it should be fine???

pooshda · 11-16-2002, 02:12 PM

I just registered and noticed this post... im from Michigan as well and I COMPLETELY agree.. our roads for the most part do suck and it gets on my nerves... also not very comfortable driving with low profile tires... If harddrives skip from bumps would I get the same problem when im driving my car hard? I have about 400 ft/lbs of torque so when I hit the gas the car squats like hell I never thought about this before I have been researching (which is why im here!) and I am looking to start building my "SupraPC" over the winter while I have the car in the garage...

Are there any good work arounds to prevent this skipping/bump (or torque) problem? I never thought about it til I read this and now im sorta worried... Anyhow... I also wanted to say this site seems great! I've been confused on a few setup issues and then I found this site... extremely informative, hopefully I can get my whole project completed with relative ease from the help of this forum!