Where do you physically keep your harddisks?

Pembar

Junior Member
Jan 26, 2009
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In a box stowed away under the bed? Or a dry cabinet?

Or just leave them on a shelf?
 

Pembar

Junior Member
Jan 26, 2009
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Jeez. I like my table tidy.

I actually now have my harddisks stowed away on a shelf just sitting there. I did wrap each harddisk with those anti-static bags that come with new harddisks / cards though.

I was thinking of getting a dry-cabinet to store them, to be honest, but it seems from your reply that that's a little over-kill.
 

CoinOperatedBoy

Golden Member
Dec 11, 2008
1,809
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You should be fine as long as they're kept in a cool, dry place. Anti-static bags are smart. I wouldn't go overboard though, unless the drives are mission-critical.

I also suggest getting a copy of The Veterinarians' Guide to Your Dog's Symptoms, as Blain has. Not only is it informative, but it can be used as a buffer between the possibly conductive metal system case and your hard drives.
 

JohnVM

Member
May 25, 2004
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I keep like 2 near a window so they can get nice and damp, 1-2 more on my desk, 3-4 under the bed, 1-2 more in a drawer filled w/ lots of other sharp metal parts (they're safer that way!)...

yes, there's sarcasm in this post, but unfortunately I really do keep HDDs in all those places. luckily they're moostly old/fucked hdds I don't care about much anymore.
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
59
91
My eSata backup unit is stowed in the internal rear side compartment of our minivan. It is still readily accessible as I am rarely physically located beyond walking distance to my van.

And yet being physically separated from the house/computer it does have an extra degree of security in that should my house burn to the ground my van likely won't (it's not kept in the garage), or vice-versa it is all the less likely that someone will steal my van AND my computer from inside the house (as I would have to be home in order for my van to be home to be stolen), etc.

It also means my critical file backup travels with me when I go on road-trips with the house unoccupied. When I fly I take the drive as part of my carry-on electronics gear entourage.

It also turned out to make it an easy habit of making routine (weekly) backups as garbage collection day is Thursday and every time I wheel the garbage cans back off the street and into the garage I pickup from esata drive from the van and make a new full backup of my system that evening, once a week like clockwork.
 

Golgatha

Lifer
Jul 18, 2003
12,393
1,061
126
Most of my HDDs are mounted inside computer cases. My one external drive is kept in a locked cabinet at work.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
6
76
on the piles of junk on the floor. Right now it is sitting at a 30 degree angle on a folder that is sitting on top of some boxes, a plushie, and some other junk.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,572
10,208
126
I back up to DVDs myself, athough I save a copy of the backup image files on my RAID5 too.
 

dunkster

Golden Member
Nov 13, 1999
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My external drive is used to raw-clone my main drive for swapping in the event of main drive failure, using a trayless removable drive bay.

It sits in an anti-static bag in a closed cabinet between cloning sessions.

In my view, environmental humidity is of little concern, so long as the drive doesn't experience sudden humidity changes that might precipitate moisture on the drive platters.

Hope this helps!
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
59
91
Originally posted by: dunkster
My external drive is used to raw-clone my main drive for swapping in the event of main drive failure, using a trayless removable drive bay.

It sits in an anti-static bag in a closed cabinet between cloning sessions.

In my view, environmental humidity is of little concern, so long as the drive doesn't experience sudden humidity changes that might precipitate moisture on the drive platters.

Hope this helps!

30-50% relative humidity is actually desired from an ESD viewpoint. Fabs are stringently controlled to have ~50% RH solely for this purpose.

The only concern with RH is temperature control, as you rightfully eluded to.

But even a little condensation is not going to be the end of your drive provided you allow for it to fully evaporate before connecting the drive to a voltage supply.
 

Blain

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
23,643
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You know the old saying...

"Keep your friends close, but keep your HDs closer" :laugh:
 

nOOky

Diamond Member
Aug 17, 2004
3,226
2,281
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I keep the ones I want to actually keep my critical stuff on (pron, pictures of my dogs etc.) in a small fireproof box available at any local retailer.
 

taltamir

Lifer
Mar 21, 2004
13,576
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I suggest that... who was it that corrected me? a moderator here, girl... keys something, no wait ... anyways those "fireproof" boxes are for PAPER documents. They will prevent paper from catching on fire (for a time) when there is a fire. But they will not protect the DATA on your ELECTRONICS from being lost in the baking process that is to follow (they get very hot inside during a fire).
 

Idontcare

Elite Member
Oct 10, 1999
21,110
59
91
Yeah they aren't failsafe but its better than nothing. If the fire duration is cut short, or not directly in the room, the reduced exposure to heat and smoke for a period of time could make the difference between having recoverable data versus a melted drive. But yeah a raging fire for 4 hrs will eventually char the contents of the fireproof safe, no avoiding the laws of thermo there :laugh:
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
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Originally posted by: taltamir
I suggest that... who was it that corrected me? a moderator here, girl... keys something, no wait ... anyways those "fireproof" boxes are for PAPER documents. They will prevent paper from catching on fire (for a time) when there is a fire. But they will not protect the DATA on your ELECTRONICS from being lost in the baking process that is to follow (they get very hot inside during a fire).

Rubycon?