So I noticed many of you guys like to use 5 in 3 cages that mount the HDDs vertical.  How does this affect the lifespan of a HDD since it's mounted in a fashion not?  I've done a bit of research on it, but there isn't a clear consensus.  I'd like to ask your personal experience and opinions because... well... everyone on this board has a ton of HDDs. 

 

Note:

My personal preference is horizontal, but haven't really had any personal experiences that could validly make a conclusion.

All 5-in-3's force you to mount the drives vertically.  They wouldn't fit any other way.  The cages are rectangular, not square.  Only 4-in-3's and smaller allow you to mount drives horizontally.  If you really want horizontal drives with 5-in-3s, then you just have to place the entire server on its side.

 

I personally believe that vertical drives are better, as the rising heat doesn't concentrate on the upper drives, but instead spreads out evenly.

Very interesting. Will vertical also help in life span for the heads?

I don't know of any studies proving it one way or another, but common sense seems to say...maybe?

My OCD streak has struggled with this very issue forever.  I prefer the drives be vertical because, in my mind, the server's most likely to experience vertical movement while running- even if it's on a small scale (I'm thinking movement of flooring)  And since my OCD goal in life is to prevent those heads from ever skidding across those platters, vertical seems to be the safest bet. 

 

With the reinforcement of the convection issue, my notion of 'vertical is better' is pretty much cemented.

Wow, I've never heard the vibration argument before.  Maybe you could put your server on top of some foam or corkboard to absorb vibrations?

 

I've seen pictures of people placing their servers right next to their home theater system's sub woofer.  I always freaked out because I figured the disks could get demagnetized, but it has been demonstrated to me that it isn't a problem.  Now I have new ammo for that battle...

Sound vibrations causing head to skid...ohh that could be bad.

I can testify first-hand that it is practically impossible to demagnitize a hard drive.  I have a homemade demagnitizer that I used to erase videotapes.  My Frankenstein machine draws close to 20-amps and can easily erase a videotape or suck a hard drive right out of your hands.  Nada!  Drive was fine.  I'd like to think I weakened it, but I gotta admit, I felt impotent when I plugged that drive in.....business-as-usual.  I stand by my suspicion:  vibration will hurt you long before stray magnetic fields. 

 

As for the foam idea:  I've considered sitting the server atop a layer of bubble wrap, but I guess my OCD just hasn't reached that level.  And I think corkboard is too dense- the vibrations I'm worried about are too low in frequency to be reduced by it. 

Wow, big time OCD. Since it probably doesn't matter which way drives are mounted I bet you won't find any tests otherwise. Once the platters start spinning 0 gravity comes into affect and I bet the platters don't know which way is up or down. Also, about the temps rising...if all the platters are spinning then all the platters will go through that heat and heat up uniformly.

 

Yea, I have OCD myself but not like this.

 

I bet you won't find any tests otherwise

Don't need to.  Ever look at a radiator?  Their elements run vertical for a reason- so the heat generated can rise out due to convection.

 

if all the platters are spinning then all the platters will go through that heat and heat up uniformly

Why do you presume all the platters are spinning?  Why do you presume a drive sandwiched between others will run at the same temperature as a drive at the top or bottom of the stack- with one of its sides exposed to the cooler, outer air?

 

Once the platters start spinning 0 gravity comes into affect

Interesting.  I wasn't aware gravity was optional.

What you guys haven't considered is gravity's effect on the arms and bearings.  I ask this here because this is actually a huge debate, but interesting enough, most people outside of these forums prefer horizontal.  There are many anecdotal evidence of veterans in the industry claiming verticals go bad sooner than horizontal and even in some cases, the ones that wouldn't work when oriented vertically work when reseated horizontally.  I'm half OCD also, which is why I often think about this issue.  I'd like to know the exact physics of operating HDDs so I could understand this issue better.  Being an electrical/computer engineer doesn't help with this issue as much as I'd like. 

The server can make as much noise as it wants, but please whisper if you want to talk near your server.

 

The server can make as much noise as it wants, but please whisper if you want to talk near your server.

 

 

I will never shout at my unRAID server again!!

The server can make as much noise as it wants, but please whisper if you want to talk near your server.

 

 

I will never shout at my unRAID server again!!

WHY WON'T YOU UNMOUNT STUPID DISK1!!!!!!!!

What you guys haven't considered is gravity's effect on the arms and bearings.

Please, I've got enough to worry about already. 

 

most people outside of these forums prefer horizontal.

I've seen the way 'most people' are oblivious to the fact that you have a head screaming by your irreplaceable data on a 1-micron cushion of air.  Most move their machines while they're running.  I've seen users slap their machine when they misbehaved.  Next point, please.

 

There are many anecdotal evidence of veterans in the industry claiming verticals go bad sooner than horizontal

Can you provide some specific, qualified, unbiased references?  There are many anecdotal evidence of rational people claiming the existence of bigfoot. 

 

 

 

What you guys haven't considered is gravity's effect on the arms and bearings.

Please, I've got enough to worry about already.   

 

most people outside of these forums prefer horizontal.

I've seen the way 'most people' are oblivious to the fact that you have a head screaming by your irreplaceable data on a 1-micron cushion of air.  Most move their machines while they're running.  I've seen users slap their machine when they misbehaved.  Next point, please.

 

There are many anecdotal evidence of veterans in the industry claiming verticals go bad sooner than horizontal

Can you provide some specific, qualified, unbiased references?  There are many anecdotal evidence of rational people claiming the existence of bigfoot. 

 

 

 

 

IMHO yer a miserable guy.

 

 

What you guys haven't considered is gravity's effect on the arms and bearings.

Please, I've got enough to worry about already.   

 

most people outside of these forums prefer horizontal.

I've seen the way 'most people' are oblivious to the fact that you have a head screaming by your irreplaceable data on a 1-micron cushion of air.  Most move their machines while they're running.  I've seen users slap their machine when they misbehaved.  Next point, please.

 

There are many anecdotal evidence of veterans in the industry claiming verticals go bad sooner than horizontal

Can you provide some specific, qualified, unbiased references?  There are many anecdotal evidence of rational people claiming the existence of bigfoot. 

 

 

When I say most people, I obviously didn't mean the masses.  I meant people who obviously understand the question of horizontal vs vertical HDD alignment.  If you want to nitpick, most people don't even know what a HDD looks like.  I'm obviously not talking about those people.

 

Google horizontal vs vertical HDD and you'll get plenty of results.  Many who post responses are people who work with servers on a daily basis.

Google horizontal vs vertical HDD and you'll get plenty of results.

Actually, I did that long ago.  I also did it a few days ago after reading your post.  What I found were multitudes of forum discussions, just like this one, filled with opinionated people with only 5-6 hard drives' experience to draw upon.  Hell, I have better than that:  Every hard drive that's EVER failed on me- was mounted horizontally...going all the way back to my 20mb MFM Miniscribe.

If there was a problem with vertical, server manufacturers would not ship servers with the drives in that orientation.

 

Like my new baby server!

 

I will go even further

 

all EVA / XP storage drives are all inserted vertically

with the new server series G6 and G7 almost all drives are vertically

 

i think only the dl180 an dl 360 are still horizontal  and a few MSA's as most of them are 1U and that doesn't hold a vertical drive

 

anyway Hp has been mounting disks for at least 6 years vertically and we have no issues with that

 

see the disk storage page on the website

 

http://h18006.www1.hp.com/storage/disk_storage/index.html

 

 

 

Nearly all of your Toaster syle NAS's are installed the same way. Laid on their side and slid in.

 

Vibrations how about Laptops? They are compressed to be tiny and yet people still pick them up and carry them around. Sure you could argue that their drives are built a little different to take the shock, but if you open one up don't they look exactly the same?

Moving a laptop while the drive is spinning is guaranteed to kill the drive eventually.

 

It accounted for about 90% of the repairs we did in my shop.

 

Some laptops have g-force sensors (and some hard drives have them too) that park the heads if the laptop is dropped.

 

I managed to create a bad sector on a laptop drive by accidentally lifting it 1/2" off the desk and it dropping back.

 

ETA: If the drive is powered down, it can survive some major Gs.

You said picking it up and droping it back? As in litterally dropping it or placing it on the table?

Not to argue, but I've had several laptops over the years and yet to ever have a drive problem. I've had countless battery and monitor issues for one reason or another, but never drives.

 

Then again I don't work in a shop and don't see users that treat their stuff like its a purse or set of car keys you toss on the table when you walk in the door.

That's why I use SSDs in my laptops

Sound vibrations causing head to skid...ohh that could be bad.

 

Interesting theory. I have had one for a while on why Guitarists love high powered tube amps and why they sound so good but only when cranked.

 

First you have the power requirements, but the other part of this is.. The sound vibrations of the cabinet reach the head and subsequently the tube, which then alters the flow of electricity as it jumps across the cathode/anode... thus adding to the harmonic distortions.

 

also worth mentioning. I have a high fi friend who spent over $500 on these pin point sound isolator stands for his solid state amplifier. Now this is not tubes this time, but a high powered transistor amp. He said the theory was the pinpoint isolator mount/stands helped alleviate interference from the speaker vibrations.  He swore up and down that he could hear the difference in his transistor amp after using these stands.  I questioned it, but then again, he spent over $75,000 on his hi fi.

 

I know my Marshall Tube amp sounds good, but it starts to sing sweetly when it's so loud the cabinet is vibrating.

 

So can subsonics interfere with your hard drive?

I would assume any high powered sound would have an effect on anything mechanical and possibly electrical.