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From: bmw@aesat.UUCP (Bruce Walker)
Newsgroups: net.micro
Subject: re: sideways hard disks
Message-ID: <523@aesat.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 20-Dec-85 08:06:52 EST
Article-I.D.: aesat.523
Posted: Fri Dec 20 08:06:52 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 20-Dec-85 09:47:57 EST
Organization: AES Data Inc., Mississauga Ont., Canada
Lines: 35

> So, although I'm not an expert, I would say that running a hard
> disk sideways or even upside-down should work okay.
>
> Mike Hewett
> (HEWETT@SUMEX-AIM)

NO! not upside-down.  If you read the manufacturers specs for almost
any hard disk drive, you'll find a section on mounting hardware and
orientation.  There, you'll see that just three orientations are
recommended -- horizontally (generally with its circuit board down),
or vertically on either side.

+-------+                       +-------+
| o     |                       |       |
|       |    +------------+     |       |
|       |    |            |     |       |
|       |    | o          |     |     o |
+-------+    +------------+     +-------+

This mounting arrangement has more to do with heat dissipation  and
considerations of the motor bearings than for the head, which is
held at a fairly accurate and constant 'n' microinches above the
media by its aerodynamics (it literally "flies").

Some drives (like the CDC Wren series) should only be mounted flat
or on *one* of its sides (see appropriate installation manual)
because the drive has a gravity-operated head-zero spring which,
when power is removed, pulls the head into its landing zone to
protect it when it "lands" after the media spins down.
---

Bruce Walker     {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!aesat!bmw

"I'd feel a lot worse if I wasn't so heavily sedated." -- Spinal Tap