[FADCA] computer question

[Chuck Hast]

On 2/4/07, JDaughtry <ke4ini at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I would say  always keep the computer in the proper orientation that the
> case was made to allow proper air circulation  I have a tower case with 4
> drives in it  2 are flat and 2 are zip tied to the front laying up and down
> have done this for years  but they get plenty of air flow  it has a case fan
> helping to cool  it.
>  heat is the  root of all evil in electronics  we tend to put them in the
> out of the way places and restrict the air flow  .
>  just  my ideas but it has worked for me also I try and swap out the drives
> every 3 years or so  had a couple fail over the years but  it was because
> they were laying on side down and the graphite lube  worked out of the
> shaft and on the  disk itself stopping  the  head from reading  so I turned
> them over  were the motor was on the bottom  a company I T tech put me on
> that idea as he said that 90% of the company hard drive failure was  from
> that he also said after the  lube worked  out the shaft would get harder to
> turn and the drive motor would just give up and seize
>  my ideas  only
>  John

I agree on the heat, you got to keep the stuff cool, keep the baffles and the
covers on. close up openings left from removed cards.

As to the position of the HD, I have them in all sort of positions,
flat, vertical on
side vertical on end, so can not say that any particular position impacts
but the info John has was arrived at by experience so it has value. Most
machines mount them flat, some on edge, and every once in a while you
will find a mount that has the HD mounted in a verticle position.

I would say that your machine probably lost the HD due to age, that is
the sort of game we play with used disk, they may go for years and they
may 'pass gas and die' at any moment.

-- 
Chuck Hast  -- KP4DJT --
To paraphrase my flight instructor;
"the only dumb question is the one you DID NOT ask resulting in my going
out and having to identify your bits and pieces in the midst of torn
and twisted metal."