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Sideways-mounted hard drives: bad idea?

MichaelD

MichaelD

Lifer
I've been looking into getting a LianLi case. It uses a HD cage that mounts the drives vertically (on their sides) rather than horizontally (ala "normal" like an Antec case).

Is this a bad idea? Would it be detrimental to either the life of the HD or the transfer of data?

I was about to hit "BUY" when the little light bulb went off in my head. 😱
 
A Dell system got ~4 years ago has the drive mounted vertically, and it's been running fine, haven't had any problems with it.

I'm guessing if Dell do it, they don't see a problem with it, and if the case makers have it set up that way they think it's safe.
So I'd guess it'll be fine.

(The Dell is mounted vertically on its end.)
(My Dell is a P3 600MHz, mounted the same way as you've desribed, Dimension XPS?)
 
Originally posted by: Lonyo
A Dell system got ~4 years ago has the drive mounted vertically, and it's been running fine, haven't had any problems with it.

I'm guessing if Dell do it, they don't see a problem with it, and if the case makers have it set up that way they think it's safe.
So I'd guess it'll be fine.

(The Dell is mounted vertically on its end.)
Click to expand...


Lonyo, you are just all OVER my LianLi threads!! 😀 I appreciate that; thanks for taking the time to reassure the Aluminum Case Newbie. 😉

I also have seen older Dells with the drives mounted sideways. My old PIII-550 Dell has the drive mounted vertically on the rear of the front bezel. :Q That was a first for me.
 
Yep,

Both my sisters and mother Dell (667 and 450 respectively) have vertically mounted hard drives. In fact, I tried to do some upgrade work on them last weekend when I drove to Fairfax VA. I kept hitting walls every time I tried something. My sisters Dell is a PIII but has RAMBUS RIMM's in it. Those are as rare as hens teeth. I would have never guessed that! So I couldn't upgrade her memory with standard DIMMs. So... I figured I'd drop my old P3V4X Asus mobo into the case since it was ATX. 1st, the stand offs are metal twisties, not screw type! 2nd, and worst, the connection from the case power button, power light, HD LED, speaker etc is one single wide connector rather than the individualized kind. NiX! All I could do was install a LiteOn CDRW drive. At least I was able to add a DIMM stick to my parents Dell. Boy, this sure made me unhappy about DELLS!
 
Originally posted by: techwanabe
Yep,

Both my sisters and mother Dell (667 and 450 respectively) have vertically mounted hard drives. In fact, I tried to do some upgrade work on them last weekend when I drove to Fairfax VA. I kept hitting walls every time I tried something. My sisters Dell is a PIII but has RAMBUS RIMM's in it. Those are as rare as hens teeth. I would have never guessed that! So I couldn't upgrade her memory with standard DIMMs. So... I figured I'd drop my old P3V4X Asus mobo into the case since it was ATX. 1st, the stand offs are metal twisties, not screw type! 2nd, and worst, the connection from the case power button, power light, HD LED, speaker etc is one single wide connector rather than the individualized kind. NiX! All I could do was install a LiteOn CDRW drive. At least I was able to add a DIMM stick to my parents Dell. Boy, this sure made me unhappy about DELLS!
Click to expand...


Yep, the old Dells SUCK AFA upgrading goes; i.e. you can't. 😛

I have an Optiplex GX270 at work and it's pretty nice. Uses standard CDR/CDRW drives with standard ATX power connections. The mobo is proprietary and so is the case. Typical. It's a nice box though. Quiet as hell. You have to listen hard to hear it running.
 
Have a look at the "regular" 3U HD chassis from Dell, HPaq, Sun, etc.
The HD's are pretty much always mounted like this:
_______
||||||||||||||

For 14 disks.

If those companies feels it's ok to mount them like that and sell them off to their enterprise customers, you should be able to feel pretty good about it too, no? 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Sunner
Have a look at the "regular" 3U HD chassis from Dell, HPaq, Sun, etc.
The HD's are pretty much always mounted like this:
_______
||||||||||||||

For 14 disks.

If those companies feels it's ok to mount them like that and sell them off to their enterprise customers, you should be able to feel pretty good about it too, no? 🙂
Click to expand...


Indeed I do. 🙂 Nice illustration, BTW. ||||||||||||||| Neato. 😉
 
Yeah I know, a true testament to the grades I got in art class back in school.
Those grades could be illustrated in a similar way by the way 😉
 
Originally posted by: Sunner
Yeah I know, a true testament to the grades I got in art class back in school.
Those grades could be illustrated in a similar way by the way 😉
Click to expand...
ROFL! 😀

 
Just curious what lian li your looking at getting. I just ordered the pc-65 from coolerguys a few hours ago.
 
You can mount hard drives either horizontal or vertical. But the rule used to be don't take a hard drive that has been used for a while mounted one way and mount it the other way because the wear pattern of the bearings is different for each orientation. I don't know if this applies with the new hard drives or not (fluid bearings, etc.).
 
Originally posted by: MichaelD
Originally posted by: BigFatCow
Just curious what lian li your looking at getting. I just ordered the pc-65 from coolerguys a few hours ago.
Click to expand...

PC-65B, baby!! Green or blue neon? What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

where are you ordering from?

also if you look you dont have to mount your hd vertically, theres 3 slots that are horizontal, but the hd wont get air blown over it by the intake fans if you mount it horizontal.
 
Yeah my old gateway P-500 had the 20GB western digital mounted sidewahyz 😉. About using proprietary cases, I spliced the hdd, power leds and power button on the gateway case to use it with another mobo. And don't dell's use special psu's (they have atx connectors but they arent wired the same).
 
I ordered the case from ExcaliburPC.com. Cheapest place, according to Pricewatch. Their ResellerRatings were excellent.

I paid $135 SHIPPED for it. Which is pretty darn decent. For comparision's sake, Newegg sells the silver version (PC-65) for $158 + $10 shipping.

AFA the drive mounting "rule" goes: I have two WD SE 120GB drives that have maybe two months' run time on them. They've been mounted conventionally.

Would it be a bad idea at this point to mount them vertically? They aren't that old....
 
Originally posted by: MichaelD
I have two WD SE 120GB drives that have maybe two months' run time on them. They've been mounted conventionally.

Would it be a bad idea at this point to mount them vertically? They aren't that old....
Click to expand...

Can't see why not ... the bearings can't have had that much wear on them in two months, unless you really thrash the crap out of your HDs.

Oh, and go for blue neon. Blue adds more MHz. 😀

- M4H
 
Originally posted by: MichaelD
I ordered the case from ExcaliburPC.com. Cheapest place, according to Pricewatch. Their ResellerRatings were excellent.

I paid $135 SHIPPED for it. Which is pretty darn decent. For comparision's sake, Newegg sells the silver version (PC-65) for $158 + $10 shipping.

AFA the drive mounting "rule" goes: I have two WD SE 120GB drives that have maybe two months' run time on them. They've been mounted conventionally.

Would it be a bad idea at this point to mount them vertically? They aren't that old....
Click to expand...

i was gonna order from then but they didnt have it in silver like i wanted so i ordered from coolerguys.com it was $145 shipped.
 
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Originally posted by: MichaelD
I have two WD SE 120GB drives that have maybe two months' run time on them. They've been mounted conventionally.

Would it be a bad idea at this point to mount them vertically? They aren't that old....
Click to expand...

Can't see why not ... the bearings can't have had that much wear on them in two months, unless you really thrash the crap out of your HDs.

Oh, and go for blue neon. Blue adds more MHz. 😀

- M4H
Click to expand...

*nods head*
Yeah, they ran 24/7 for about two months in a RAID 0 stripe. They are in storage now. They are brand new, except for that usage period.

Heheh, "adds MHz". 😎 I need some Type-R stickers for my new case!! :Q
 
I have an old seagate hd that was mounted vertically for 3 or 4 years. I recently moved it to a new rig in which it's mounted horizontally. So, does this mean my hard drive is now headed for disaster?
 
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