Laptop vs. Desktop Drives

Justin wrote:
> Are laptop drives any more durable than a desktop drive?
> I'm not talking about solid state.
> Everyone I know seems to be getting these 500GB portable drives. I just
> have a hard time thinking a desktop drive will react well to being
> transported constantly, even if they're turned off.

A laptop drive has

1) Better shock spec (factor of 3)
2) Higher start/stop cycle spec (factor of 12)
3) Lower power (factor of 2 to 5)

The laptop drive may not match the performance level
of the desktop drive, but with the sluggish performance
of some backup software, that might not be an issue. For
performance numbers, this is one source (site uses popup
advertising).

http://www.storagereview.com/Testbed4Compare.sr

For enclosures that don't pay attention to proper cooling,
a 2.5" drive is likely to last longer.

With a proper enclosure, there is no reason to fear using
a 3.5" drive. The trick is finding a good enclosure. A
good enclosure is likely to be bigger than you planned on.

Dropping a steel ball bearing on a steel plate, has a
deceleration of around 1000G. (As demonstrated in my
Physics 100 class by our professor.) The 3.5" drive has a
shock spec of 350G (2 milliseconds) when in a non-operating
condition. All it takes, is some deformable material, to
afford sufficient protection (i.e. don't drop metal frame
of drive onto a metal plate).

You can see in this picture, how a retail hard drive is
packaged so it survives the trip to the consumer. The plastic
shell protects the product from a fall from the shelf to the
floor. As long as the plastic packaging is not "cut or bruised",
the product would be safe to buy. You want your enclosure to
have some attention to this as well (avoid solid metal
path from drive to environment, in the hope of staying
below the 350G shock spec for a non-operating drive).
It doesn't take much deformable material, so stay below
350G.

http://www.futureshop.ca/multimedia/products/large/10099566.jpg

Paul

In article <jollyroger-12E630.08214623122008 DeleteThis @news.individual.net>,
Jolly Roger <jollyroger DeleteThis @pobox.com> wrote:

> I bought one of these to make opening such plastic packages easy:
>
> <http://www.enjoyzibra.com/openit/>
>
> Funy thing is, the damned thing came in its own plastic package.
>
> Doh!...

That said, the thing does work great - once you get it out of its own
package.

--
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JR

In article <jollyroger-12E630.08214623122008.DeleteThis@news.individual.net>,
Jolly Roger <jollyroger.DeleteThis@pobox.com> wrote:

> I bought one of these to make opening such plastic packages easy:
>
> <http://www.enjoyzibra.com/openit/>

Have you used it enough to rate it? It looks intriguing with the offset
cutter head that appears to protect the hand.

> Funy thing is, the damned thing came in its own plastic package.
>
> Doh!...

Hehehehehe! Now that IS funny! HA!
--

JR

In article <jim.redelfs-0FA650.08230124122008 DeleteThis @news.west.cox.net>,
Jim Redelfs <jim.redelfs DeleteThis @NOSPAMredelfs.com> wrote:

> In article <jollyroger-12E630.08214623122008 DeleteThis @news.individual.net>,
> Jolly Roger <jollyroger DeleteThis @pobox.com> wrote:
>
> > I bought one of these to make opening such plastic packages easy:
> >
> > <http://www.enjoyzibra.com/openit/>
>
> Have you used it enough to rate it? It looks intriguing with the offset
> cutter head that appears to protect the hand.

Oh absolutely! It excels at the task.

The cutting edge is designed with enough leverage to make cutting
through the toughest plastic a breeze. The cutting head has a hole where
the piece you are cutting off travels through while you continue
cutting, which means you can slice through packaging without having to
stop at each side as you would with scissors or other package openers.
The handle has a lock so you can lock the things shut when not in use,
which is also handy.

I haven't ever used the razor blade part on mine, because I haven't
needed it.

> > Funy thing is, the damned thing came in its own plastic package.
> >
> > Doh!...
>
> Hehehehehe! Now that IS funny! HA!

Yep. Extremely ironic, I thought. : )

--
Send responses to the relevant news group rather than email to me.
E-mail sent to this address may be devoured by my very hungry SPAM
filter. Due to Google's refusal to prevent spammers from posting
messages through their servers, I often ignore posts from Google
Groups. Use a real news client if you want me to see your posts.

JR