Safe to tilt a desktop case sideways?

[dude8604]

I have a desktop (horizontal) case computer that is taking up too much space. I was thinking about putting all the components into a tower case, but the IT person at my dad's work said it was safe to tilt everything sideways and pretend it is a tower case. He said if everything works, we can run the computer sideways. I think that doing this might damage the hard drive and optical drives. Is there a chance of that happening, or can I run the computer on its side?

 

[cryptonomicon]

it's fine. but for older computers there was limited risk of hard disk damage if the orientation was changed ( it would require a reformat to operate properly ).

however with newer drives, say within the last 3 years, you could put them in any orientation and it would be fine.

the other thing is be careful when using CD roms on it, it is kind of funky to get them seated in disk tray. see what can happen is if the CD gets slightly unseated, the spinner head could probably crush the CD or it would just get stuck in the drive when it closes, so be extra careful. you will notice that most CD drive trays have little corner protrusions in the tray that were designed specifically to hold CDs mounted in sideways orientation. so it CAN function perfectly fine that way.

 

[Mesix]

As long as the mobo isn't upside-down!

 

[dullard]

Many, many old desktop cases came with stands to stand them up sideways. I used a computer lab for years that had all their desktops sideways.

 

[Topweasel]

Funny i always see people do the exact oposite. But yes it should work fine as long as the cdrom tray has rentension modules.

 

[d2arcturus]

Some cases these days even mount hard drives vertically, so it's not a problem.
Yeah just make sure the CD drive has clips and you're fine.

 

[oogabooga]

Originally posted by: Weaselboy
Funny i always see people do the exact oposite. But yes it should work fine as long as the cdrom tray has rentension modules.

yup : i think the biggest issue is making sure your cd rom drive has the ability to hold the cd in but otherwise your drives and such should be fine. I think i may have even had a case at somepoint that loaded them in sideways into a regular tower.. i can't remember though which one it was... it was a hard drive tray thing that slid in and out.

 

[JimPhelpsMI]

Hi, No problem as long as your CD drives have the little swing out clips so that the disk wont fall out util you can get the 'coffee cup holder' closed. Jim

 

[BSEagle1]

Yah, the CD Drive is the only thing to really worry about. Just make sure it has clips or tabs on the tray.

Heh, actually if you look on the DVD Drive of a Playstation 2, the entire left side of the tray is lipped because the PS2 was built with standing on it's left end in mind.

Ofcourse, if you have water cooling...that's another story

 

[Zepper]

Some opticals require to be only one way as they only have the tabs on one side of the drawer. It's OK to flip the drive over if your's is that way. But be careful when you lay it back down as then the drive wold be upside down. You want the PSU end to be at the top.

.bh.

 

[dude8604]

I'd like to hear from the person who voted No.