Can a desktop take being transported weekly ?

Can a desktop (like Dells slim optiplex) take being transported (over slightly bumpy roads) weekly ? Or will this cause the HDD to fail prematurely ?

 

The HDD will be fine unless you're in a car crash multiple of times.

As a safety precaution, just backup your data.

 

If it's off - I assume it will be - it will be fine.

 

It should be fine, but it can obviously take damage all the time during transport. But so can anything else, too

 

If you ever had something shipped via UPS it probably took 8x more havok than a weekly car transit

HDD's lock there heads when off, so it wont get damaged.

If you were really concerned though make a safer way to transport it, like go spend $15 at bed bath and beyond and get a 2" thick memory foam matress pad, cut it into a few layers and put it in the bottom of a box and then put the computer in that box. That stuff will absorb almost all impact/vibrations.

Also keep in mind a desktop and laptop are the same thing really just different sizes, people take there laptops to/from school/work daily for years with no ill effects.

 

No, they are not. Laptop HDDs can take more shocks than Desktop HDDs. last time I checked (~3 years ago) the shock tolerance of an off desktop HDD was that of a live laptop HDD.

The memory foam thing is a good idea, thanks

 

Im pretty sure it will be fine. I honestly wouldnt take any precautions. The way i see it is these things are shipped and they most likely take more abuse in the shipping then you will be giving them. Parts arent that fragile i have dropped ram outside on the ground and it still works just fine.

 

I have actually dropped a desktop hard drive onto asphault while off from about 3 feet on 2 occasions, while not recommended the drive is fine and was in service until its 80 GB capacity became too small to hold a days worth of footage lol.

A drive in running condition is a different story, had an external which btw is of course mounted in its case with a bit of rubber. Fall 1 foot onto carpet and instantly die... 500GB eeek.

 

I used to take my desktop along with me to other studios and on stage when doing live sets...seriously That was before any laptop could handle the stuff we were doing with it. I often found i had to reseat a lot of the stuff in the desktop like the soundcard and GPU.

 

I only moved my machine 20 times a year at the most, never had this issue. On a daily basis and depending on the machine I could see that though.

I had a machine that the video card kept coming out of all the time. A close inspect revealed one side of the case had actually been crushed a 1/2 inch putting the plate mouting side out of alignment with the motherboard. A hammer and some pliers eventually solved the issue lol.

 

aktually, all 3.5" disks i get shipped are surrounded with a lot of those fancy plastics one can pop several cm. and then some packaging material, and the finishing box around it is around 5-10times as big as the original hdd.

that removes mostly all shock that can affect the disk.

 

Im talking about a prebuilt desktop shipped to like bestbuy for resale to consumers not an individual hard drive.

 

I have a desktop computer in my trunk that runs, while driving, to power my GPS, car stereo, movies and emulators (while parked). Though I do want to get a laptop drive eventually for it.
If I can run a desktop drive, I'm sure you can move your desktop while it's off. Just don't submit it to excessive shock, and make sure the computer is secured so it's not sliding around/falling over.

 

God enough jolt with the system on and i mean like a deep pot hole at over 45 lol could kill a drive. General driving it would probably survive. I had given thought to doing something similar in previous projects just never have. Got a Vaio P from a friend i was intending to make into a music/gps unit that mounts to the dash.

Purpose built hard drives for automotive applications are still in low capacities compared to the normal desktop market.

 

I know, it's just an 80GB drive I had laying around. It was a "temporary" solution until I got a laptop drive (though enough time has passed that SSDs are now a consideration)... it's now been in there for about 2 years and still running strong.
I know one day we're gonna BSOD and that'll be the end. I have had one BSOD before, when I hit a pothole. Only one in the time I've had it is pretty good I think.

 

SSD's had slipped my mind those are an option and even with a decent music collection ruling out movies and stuff 64GB would be plenty, if not going HD 128GB should be good for what your doing.

 

A 32GB SSD would suit my needs, I used to have like 60GB of music but don't listen to most of it anymore, now my "carry around on an MP3 player" collection is about 11GB.
I would just store anything that doesn't need to be there while driving (movies, video games, etc) on a separate, conventional drive, and just wire in a switch so I could turn it on when I needed it, otherwise leave it off.

 

There is actually a peice of software I used to force shutting down the power on my second hdd. I cant find it at the moment had a friend in england send it to me.

I found removing and reinserting a sata drive from the laptop actually causes it to not recognize again until reboot. I remember on old ide pata u could remove power and then add it again.

 

Well, it's not a good idea to do that unless it's hot swap capable...
The board in my car is hot swap capable on the SATA ports, so it wouldn't be a problem.

 

I would have figured it capable as how else does the eSATA port actually work. But being an internal drive its not necessary so....

 

eSATA ports aren't necessarily the same as regular SATA. Some boards will have some hot swap capable ports and some non-hot swap capable.

 

I'm sure they are packed with lots of padding.

It would be taken on dirt rodes, with unavoidable potholes (driven over slowly).

 

A Vostro 220s should handle it fine, especially if you put a SSD in it. If we're talking custom built with massive heatsink and video card that can fall and jostle around, probably no.

 

Your situation is with the drive off, which can probably withstand the car slamming into another one at like 15 mph. Assuming the chassis doesnt go flying somewhere.

On and Off are WAY different scenarios. As i said before ive dropped drives straight onto asphault from about 3 or 4 feet and they survived untill he end of their usefulness.

 

Like uncomfortably bumpy?
If you're moving it this often, why not do one of the following
-Get an SSD
-Make some shockproof mounts for your case if you're handy enough
-Take out the HDD and pack it up in some foam for transportation

 

Yes, uncomfortably bumpy in a sense (the car will be driven very slowly over the bad portions).

Do you think a notebook HDD would be OK or do I need to go for an SSD ? BTW can notebook HDDs be put into desktops ? What are the shockproof mounts ? Are they for the HDD ?

I realise that transporting it a fe times would probably be ok. But we're talking about regular movement; and for that I'm not sure.

I guess I may have to stick with a laptop for this kind of usage.

 

While I am not familiar with mounting a laptop drive in a desktop the SATA interface is the same on 1.8 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives, one of the pros. While Laptop drives have higher overall shock resistance im not convinced in the off and head locked position that one actually has an advantage over the other though.

 

A laptop drive would be more resilient than a desktop drive.
You can get a 2.5" to 3.5" mount kit that will allow you to mount a laptop drive in a desktop.
Shock resistant mounts are usually just thick, flexible (usually soft rubber) washers that go between the hard drive and the place it mounts. Your case has to be able to accommodate them (pretty much all Antec cases have this capability) and it just gives the hard drive the ability to move a little to reduce shock.

 

Replace the old fashioned mechanical HDD with a SSD.

 

Or you could you know just build another desktop and not have to transport it at all for the same price

 

dude ik the best solution....

just get like 10 pillows and tie them around it so it is going to be really safe

 

Right.

I know the op asked about transporting a tiny desktop but.........tons of laptops are way more powerful than that desktop.

This is still the notebook forum isn't it?

" Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades Discuss Processors, RAM, Hard Drives and other basic notebook components here. Includes upgrade questions."