Worried about the laptop hard disk

[SyZy]

This is the first time I'm using a laptop; all these years I've used only a desktop.

I read full books on the laptop. What I do is I lie down on the bed and keep the laptop on the side - not resting on its bottom(!) - and read books this way. Sometimes I hold the laptop on my chest and my arm keeps swaying from time to time.

From what I know, hard disks should not be moved when they are running. So considering the way I'm using the laptop, will the hard disk get damaged?

:)

[mbowman]

probably not. I've thrown my laptop around when its been on and no damage.

see;

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091102111235AAKKH0R

Seems like people say only sudden shocks to it can give it enough force to do damage... but that's said with anything.

[zeta_immersion]

if the head spins and you give it a jolt then yea, i would assume damage can be done, otherwise should be ok

[SyZy]

Thanks, I'm not worried about the HDD now.

btw, if I disable the HDD in the BIOS, and then boot Linux through a Live CD, the HDD won't spin at all, will it?

[KillTheIrishman]

Thanks, I'm not worried about the HDD now.

btw, if I disable the HDD in the BIOS, and then boot Linux through a Live CD, the HDD won't spin at all, will it?

Yes it will. You are supplying power by turning the laptop on to begin with.

[BeerFan]

Agreed. As long as you're gentle with it and don't jolt it too much, the HDD will be fine. Especially if it's newer technology.

But I'm curious: What full books on the laptop did you read?

[Hum]

You could hook it to a external monitor, and read off of it -- leave the laptop on the floor, or some safe place. :laugh:

[+Warwagon MVC]

SSD FTW! That's my feeling, in all my laptops at least ..err and in most of my desktops.....heck ...SSD FTW all round!

[KillTheIrishman]

SSD FTW! That's my feeling, in all my laptops at least ..err and in most of my desktops.....heck ...SSD FTW all round!

Yeah if you have the $$$ to buy a decent one.

[KillTheIrishman]

You could hook it to a external monitor, and read off of it -- leave the laptop on the floor, or some safe place. :laugh:

I hope you are joking LoL.

[RiverCampher]

That's great WarWagon, but your assuming that the OP has enough money to purchase an SSD, and the technical skill to install it. Not only that but it may invalidate the exisiting warranty.

But I agree with you. SSD in anything as a boot drive flies, especially older laptops. I think a Kindle would be a better suggestion if it's just reading though.

[SyZy]

Right now I'm reading Nietzsche's Thus Spake Zarathustra. Before that I had some stuff on conspiracies, David Icke or something, don't remember much. And yes, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Will it spin only during the power-on phase, or all through?

The HDD is a Toshiba MK6475GSX:

http://www.harddrive...SHIBA+MK6475GSX

http://storage.toshi...p?productid=415

The laptop's about two months old. Because it's new, I don't want to mess it up. The two drives on my desktop are both SMART fail. I'll download something to check the SMART on this one.

[Kelxin]

If you're this overly worried about it, pull the hard drive out of the machine or buy an SSD.

[ViperAFK]

This is the first time I'm using a laptop; all these years I've used only a desktop.

I read full books on the laptop. What I do is I lie down on the bed and keep the laptop on the side - not resting on its bottom(!) - and read books this way. Sometimes I hold the laptop on my chest and my arm keeps swaying from time to time.

From what I know, hard disks should not be moved when they are running. So considering the way I'm using the laptop, will the hard disk get damaged?

:)

I have two laptops, and both have been dropped on the floor when they were on in the past and still run great (one was bought in 2008 and has had all kinds of abuse, I once accidentally left it on while it was in my backpack and the thing felt like it was on fire).

Now I certainly wouldn't recommend dropping your laptop, but moving it around a bit during use should not cause any issues :rofl: . I always use my laptops like this to watch tv/movies etc... Most modern laptop drives have prevention measures like frequent head parking and shock protection to avoid being easily damaged, just a little swaying will not do anything.

I also had one incident, where I knocked over my pc tower during a large file transfer between drives (I went to pull my chair back, it caught the edge of the tower and the thing slammed on the floor pretty hard). I was super paranoid that I destroyed my drives or something, but I'm still using those drives fine today :pinch:.

Of course you should always have backups regardless! hdd's are mechanical and can and will fail unexpectedly.

[SyZy]

Thanks all! :)