Vertical Hard Drive Mounting

[compuryan]

I recently got an Ultra MicroFly case and have my WD Raptor mounted on it's side:

mine's like this:
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vs this:

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you know what I'm trying to say? you know how the hd mounts in the ultra case; it's on it's side. so would that affect hd performcne? lifespan? noise? or anything? is this hurting it? I'm a n00b at hard drives and I don't know.

EDIT
crap my silly illustrations didn't work out.

 

[unhappy_mage]

Wrap them in

 tags next time.

There's no problem with any 90 degree orientation - as long as the drive has one face parallel to the ground, it's okay.  Some say that any orientation at all is okay, but I stick to the 90 degree rule.

[URL=http://www.hardfolding.com?go=38&tm=33&id=150072][IMG]http://www.hardfolding.com/ftag1.php/mem/150072.png[/IMG][/URL][URL=http://www.hardfolding.com?go=36&id=428&type=1][IMG]http://www.hardfolding.com/utag1.php/mem/428/1.png[/IMG][/URL]

 

[GeeksFTW]

i was also wondering the same thing myself. im not an expert on hard drive mechanics, but simple physics would lead you to believe that a vertical mounting would result in the motor fighting gravity to spin the plates up and down, rather than uniformly horizontal. ive read a few articles that agree with the above post of 90 degree mounting due to the bearings having uneven weight balance when mounted any other way. but if you look at external hard drive enclosures, many of them orient the hard drive vertically, so i suppose it must not hamper anything drastically.

 

[VulcaN]

I wonder why they say not to mount it on any side in most HD install documents?

 

[defakto]

taken directly from western digital:

Mount the drive in the system:

The drive can be mounted in a standard 3.5" device bay. The drive can be mounted sideways, on end, or even upside down as long as the mounting screws are used properly. Use either the four bottom screws or four of the side mounting screws to support the drive. This will prevent vibration and provide additional electrical grounding.

 

[drizzt81]

i was also wondering the same thing myself. im not an expert on hard drive mechanics, but simple physics would lead you to believe that a vertical mounting would result in the motor fighting gravity to spin the plates up and down, rather than uniformly horizontal.

that should only be a problem is the mass distribution of the platters is nonuniform or the platters were made of a very, very soft material. I doubt that the distortion due to gravity is easily measurable.

Since the mass distribution is pretty likely to be even, the amount of force applied on the 'downhill' side, helping sping the platters is equal to the amount of force applied on the 'uphill' side of the platters, therefore the net force is zero, since we assume that the platters do not deform.

Think of a baton twirler, apart from human mechanics, there is little difference between them twirling their stick in a horizontal or vertical position.

 

[mikeblas]

Wrap them in

 tags next time.[/QUOTE]
[FONT=Courier New]Or, better yet, use a font tag that gives a monospaced font.[/FONT] That way, you don't get scroll bars, a random-width box, spurious spaces, and all the other bugs and usability associated with [CODE] tags.

I haven't encountered a drive that won't work well in the orientation you describe, but you can read the data sheet for your specific drive to learn about acceptable mounting angles. If it's not in the data sheet, call the manufacturer and ask 'em why.

[QUOTE=VulcaN]I wonder why they say not to mount it on any side in most HD install documents?[/QUOTE]
Can you provide an example?

 

[unhappy_mage]

Mikeblas: vB does strange things with consecutive spaces. This is a quote of his post, cut down and the quote tags replaced with code ones.
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vs this:
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Try it yourself; even if you hit "preview post" the spaces get removed.

 

[mikeblas]

Bummer. I thought I had used it before, but maybe I had used tabs instead of spaces.

I guess we'll have to hold our breath hoping that the CODE tags are made usable someday.

 

[Unknown-One]

Or you could try the old "font color same as the background" trick Just alternate periods (.) and spaces, then change the font color of the section you want to hide.
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| . . . | . . This way is fine...
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| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . And so is this way...
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[VulcaN]

Can you provide an example?

In my raptors manual it says "Do not stack harddrives, Do not put harddrive on its side"

 

[mikeblas]

In my raptors manual it says "Do not stack harddrives, Do not put harddrive on its side"

That bad grammar is in the manual? Either way, it contradicts what their website says:

WD drives will function normally whether they are mounted sideways or upside down (any X, Y, Z orientation).