how sensitive are HDs to vibration?

On Sat, 01 Sep 2007 23:11:14 -0700, sillyputty
<karmictaragem.RemoveThis@2die4.com> put finger to keyboard and composed:

>How sensitive are today's HDs to vibration and movement?

The manufacturers publish shock and vibration specs. Here is a Seagate
example:

Server & Enterprise Storage

Barracuda ES SATA 3.0Gb/s 250-GB Hard Drive
http://tinyurl.com/3cvcvl
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=885199f4fa74c010VgnVCM...000dd04

Shock

Operating Shock (max) 63 Gs at 2 msec
Nonoperating Shock (max) 350 Gs at 2 msec

Vibration

Operating vibration 0.25 Gs at 5-22 Hz
Operating vibration 0.50 Gs at 22-350 Hz
Operating vibration 0.25 Gs at 350-500 Hz
Nonoperating vibration 0.25 Gs at 5-22 Hz
Nonoperating vibration 5.0 Gs at 22-350 Hz
Nonoperating vibration 1.0 Gs at 350-500 Hz

>Should a
>desktop not be moved at all while the HDs are in operation?

IMO that's the way to go. Twenty years ago I used to service mainframe
hard drives. I saw many head crashes and replaced and aligned hundreds
of disc heads. In those days Seagate used to say that hard disc
technology was akin to a jumbo jet flying at supersonic speed one
metre above the ground and counting the blades of grass as it passed.
Nowadays the flying height would be much lower, the speed much
greater, and the grass much thicker. Also in those days the heads did
not park on the disc surface but were retracted at spin-down.

I'm sure today's disc technology is infinitely more reliable than in
those days, although it was quite good back then, too. That said, I'd
still play it safe. Even if head-to-disc contact is not severe enough
to cause a catastrophic crash (I've seen shiny "divots" in working
Corvus discs), the leading edge of the head pad may accumulate oxide
which can eventually precipitate more serious problems. In fact part
of the recommended maintenance for old removable pack disc drives was
to polish the heads with isopropyl alcohol.

>Are laptop
>HDs less susceptible? Thx.

Not a laptop HD but ...

Consumer Electronics Storage (portable devices)

ST1.3 Series™ IDE 35-Way ZIF 12-GB Hard Drive
http://tinyurl.com/2qgfjw
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=null&vgnextoid...0044ab7

Shock

Operating Shock (max) 300 Gs at 1 msec
Nonoperating Shock (max) 2000 Gs at 1 msec

Vibration

Operating vibration 1.0 Gs at 10-500 Hz
Nonoperating vibration 5.0 Gs at 10-500 Hz

- Franc Zabkar
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