listen to itunes while I walk on my laptop...is it safe?

OK, so half way back from my walk from campus I realized I may have made a bad decision. I was listening to Itunes with headphones, as I walked home...about 1 mile. I then started to think about the HD spinning and the possibility of ruining my HD. Is that a legitimate fear or is it safe to walk while the laptop is running? The laptop was in a laptop bag, kind of like Jack Bauer Style.

I just read my own topic headline...I wasn't walking 'on my laptop' but rather listening to itunes on my laptop.

 

i think the biggest problem here is that you are using itunes.

 

If I walked home from campus everyday with my 1730 which weighs about 100 lbs I'd be pretty buffed by the end of the year.

 

Definitely. If you were using WinAmp for instance you wouldn't of asked yourself this question.

The HDD can be damaged, of course. Jack Bauer usually has a pretty good laptop around, a really rugged one, like a MacBook Pro . In movies they usually use Toughbooks which usually have shock mounted HDDs, so I bet it's not a wise thing to do to just walk around listening to music with a laptop on your back (so to speak).

 

Unless accompanied with information to backup such claims, comments like that are absolutely useless.

There's nothing wrong with iTunes. Perhaps you're having a case of PEBKAC syndrome?

 

i don't think any harm will actually come...
hard drives have seen worse http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/general-hardware-discussion/45195-hard-drive-shock-vibration-thoughts.html

Scroll down past the first post to see wonder stories about hard drives in cars...regular 3.5 hard drives which are less durable than 2.5

yes that is a scary thread...but anyways, I would keep full disk backups. (I do that just in case anything ever happens, I just swap in a new hdd and then put the image back on it; disaster recovery in less than 2 hours)

you can also check out what your hard drive is saying to you when u shock it with SMART reporting.

http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/

get it for whatever OS you use, then run it and look at the SMART reports for a value about shock or something like that, then look it up on google.

if u actually think u did any damage, i think you can use smartmontools to check for that (i recommend the long comprehensive test), if it does that.

(i actually don't have smartmontools for windows, because I use linux and smartctl from smartmontools is already installed, and so i can't provide specific instrutctions)

 

You're hard drive is able to run under 2 - 5 G's of force, not sure EXACTLY but it's in the manual. So unless you're in a army fighter jet doing barrel rolls or drifting in a car.. you'll be just fine walking.. just don't be shaking you're baby (laptop) like a drunk nanny.

The smaller hard drives have to be more durable because they are in an environment more prone to being thrown around.

FIREitUP, I agree and disagree. I hate iTunes crummy programing on windows. Cover flow lags, and it's a hog, even on the huge workstations in the office. Runs really good on a mac though, figures.. lol But I love me iTunes..

 

sure it will be fine

 

I don't have a mac, nor an ipod, but iTunes is absolutely the best music player on any platform... period.

 

Conventional iPods use small HDD's too. If anything those are more likely to break than your notebooks equivalent as they are far easier to chuck around in a bag, pocket or hand.

 

Walking on your laptop is never a good idea. But whether you are listening to itunes while doing this doesn't make a difference.

 

I'd be more concerned about causing some kind of thermal damage than shock damage. Obviously your computer is running while in an enclosed area where airflow is no doubt obstructed.

Is it just me or am I the only person who would think that this could cause some type of overheating? Just a thought.

 

Thanks for the input guys, to comment on everyones post all at once, no itunes doesn't suck. Try it for a week, you'll love it. Yes big ipods use reg HDD's but I would assume they are built to take much higher shocks, I have dropped it a couple times while playing and it's still pluggin along, the heat issue is a good observation. I did notice it was pretty hot when I took it out. So after all is said and done, im not going to chance it, I would rather listen to my footsteps then throw away my laptop.

 

Maybe he has a Thinkpad, those are tough little things. But then again, even a Thinkpad would make a really lousy treadmill

 

Just buy a small flash based mp3 player, they run like ~$50 for 2 gigs.

 

Please do not bypass language filters guys...

Anyway, I'd worry. I can just walk around with my laptop and the shock protection will kick in. You're almost positively asking for trouble if/when you do that and you don't have shock protection.

 

as mentioned above, i'd be slightly worried about shock damage to HD, but i'd be waaaaaay more concerned about running your computer inside a bag !?!?!??!?!

you might as well wrap your computer inside a blanket or put it in the oven.

 

I'd be more concerned with dropping your laptop than the small amount of G forces your hard drive experiences while it's spinning around.

I do believe smaller platters are less susceptible to the G forces than bigger platters. Just simple physics but there could be other factors i'm missing.

I won't be too worried about the thermals. At worst, your computer will maybe crash. It's take a lot of heat to get to the point where your CPU is melting your internals. And by then, the inside of your bag will probably start melting. For the record, I run my laptop in my bag all the time. Itunes uses like 15% of the processor power at most so the fan hardly struggles.

 

??

Thats is what you should worry the most !. DO NOT KEEP A RUNNING NOTEBOOK INSIDE A BAG!!!