iMacs: Bad engineering design? (HDD related)

I was under the impression that moving 3.5 HDDs under operation is a big no no. IMacs have them in the same container as the lcd, and people move the lcds, tilt them around etc. This is bad for the HDD.

So, bad engineering design?
(If you care about the HDD that is)

 

Bad usage from the computer's owner. The iMacs weren't designed to be moved around when powered on. They were designed to stay stationary on the desk while taking the least amount of space.

 

Where I work, we've got several hundred iMacs deployed in various public spaces. People move and touch the display assemblies all the time. We only get a handful of hardware failures with the actual machines every year, and it's hardly ever an HDD problem. So I'd say this is a non-issue...

 

Any computer can suffer hard drive failure if moved, this doesn't just affect iMac's. I can't tell you how many people move their laptops around while the OS is still booted up...and not all laptops have have Active Protection Sensors like ThinkPads (some HP's, Toshiba's).

 

Yeah laptops are the best example lol Many many people move them around while they're on and the HDD is spinning so the iMac really isn't any different.

 

2.5 inch drives are generally more tollerant of being moved around, but they can still fail. You really shouldn't change a 3.5 inch drives plane of rotation when it's running though since they really aren't designed to be moved.

 

This.
Related to my thread:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/har...s/624374-shock-resistance-2-5-vs-3-5-hdd.html

About 7 years ago when I checked, the shock resistance of a 3.5 powered off HDD was the same as a running 2.5 drive.

This doesnt mean that its ok to move a 2.5 HDD around while on, its just that it shows just how fragile 3.5 powered on HDDs are. Hence this thread.


Commander Wolf, I'm quite surprised by your experience!

 

3.5" hard drives are not fragile. I move around running 3.5" drives all the time. If you are gentle, nothing is going to happen. Only if you bang it or knock it can anything happen. Moving around or tilting the LCD on your powered on iMac is not a bid deal. That is extremely gentle. Only if you knock the iMac over can there be a problem.

So to answer your question, no, not "bad engineering design."

 

So if the iMacs are using SSDs instead, will this issue be resolved?

 

There is no issue to speak of. The iMacs were designed to stay stationary, tilting the screen, turning it a bit won't be enough to be harmful to the drive. Commander Wolf's experience points to that too. Apple sometimes (ok, i'll say often) make design choices i don't agree with, but for a case like this, the fault would lie with the user and not the computer's design. I don't see why they are using 3.5" HDDs given their form factor, the extra space freed by a 2.5" HDD could go to a better GPU and/or more cooling, but let's not get into that.

To answer your question, yes the SSD would eliminate the danger of moving a spinning HDD, but if you move your iMac around a lot, then that means you would have been better off with a macbook or a notebook.

 

Ah I see... So another benefit of SSD = you can move the notebook/macbook w/o any data loss?

 

Yes and no, moving a laptop while the HDD is spinning won't incur data loss every time, there is just a remote possibility of it happening. This is due to the fact that HDDs have spinning platters with read/write heads hovering very close to them. In the event of a shock or very bad handling, it is possible that the heads will touch the platters causing damage to the platters, also known as a head crash. Honestly i never saw this happen to me or any of my friends and sometimes the way they handle their notebooks makes me cringe. There is the one time i knocked my external drive on the floor that resulted in a head crash, but that would be like dropping the notebook while it is powered on.

SSDs having no moving will never run the risk of a head crash as there are no platters or heads in a SSD.

 

There's no issue here. I have several external 3.5" drives, and move them all the time. Sure, I don't purposely pick them up and shake them, but they can withstand quite a bit of movement with no issue. Tilting the display or sliding the iMac along a desk will be no problem at all. With laptop 2.5" drives, this is even less of an issue.

 

I doubt that would be a problem, however there isn't much I can say that hasn't been said in above posts... Haha .

 

I assume you do this while they are powered off.

 

You can move them carefully while powered on. You seem obsessive about the idea that hard drives are extremely delicate. They are more resilient than you think.

 

Both while on and off...

Yep. I don't encourage you to go testing their limits, but moving around modern 3.5" HDDs while they are on won't destroy them. Even gently changing the orientation of the axis of rotation won't kill a HDD.