hardware guys:: DEBATE:: "hang harddrive vertically or horz." for console comp.

[n8rsk8r]

just what it says, designing center console computer. I need to decide if I am going to have the harddrive and cd player hang vertically or horizontally. I don't want harddrive failure (needles coming in contact with the harddrive platters and scratching them) what angle would be best? I kind of figured vertically, that way if I hit bumps the needles will float maybe up and down if at all, just not slamming down and causing damage.

As far as the CD player goes, I think I am going to have it under the console also facing vertically. That way it looks stock, and I can open the console door and then access the cd player and the power buttons.

anyway, I am serious about this, so please let me know what you think!

here are some examples of my work, this is the center console for my 91 mustang coupe

 

[shoisfast]

as far as the hard drive it makes no difference. but the design on som cd/ dvd drives make it dificult to go vertical unless you get a pioneer dvd that loads with a slot and a motor then it does not matter plus some other units have tabs to hold the cd in place so those are fine too

 

[1995mtxsho]

Being a computer repair person with my own business, and years of tinkering under my belt, I would say that I think your theory about mounting it vertically is probably best for the reasons you stated. However in a car, reguardless of how its mounted you WILL get less life from the hard drive. After all it only takes the force from an inch high drop to potentially **** a hard drive while spinning. Just my .02

 

[shoisfast]

you might want to go with a laptop hard drive as you can get adaptors for them to use in regular ide ports and they seem to be alot tougher . I have had only one of my car intallations fail and it was a power surge .I have dropped hard drives from my bench and they were fine but touch one without being grounded and they will crap out imediately

 

[jelloslug]

If you biggest concern is absorbing vibration you should try and find some small liquid filled mounts for the hard drive. That is how car CD players isolate the drive from the vibration of the car.

 

[n8rsk8r]

Thank you jelloslug, shoisfast, and 1995mtxsho! Jelloslug, do you know where I could find such mounts? When I was getting my IT degree, I went to a school auction, I bought a pallet of computers and monitors 18 for $150.00. I have a ton of spare parts laying around, not all 18 comps worth, but enough( I actually sold and gave most away after my home network was done). I have all the parts harddrives, motherboards, video cards, drives, floppy drives, you name it, so I will have to use them, I wish I could use a laptop though! LOL Thanks again for the info, I will give updates as this comes along!

 

[qiksho]

Well I kind of agree with everyone. In all honesty its not going to matter if you mount it vertical or horizontal. If you think about it most cd players are horizontal...

1. In some vehicles, the heat vents run back here and things get damn hot. You will need to find a way to keep the thing from getting too hot.

2. You WILL need to devise a plan (like stated above) to keep it from gettin jarred hard. This may be a good time to go to a Mac's or something similar and just browse the junk. Sometimes the materials you need you don't realize are available until you see it. I would also experiment with the caseing you build with some of your spare hard drives.

gl with the project...keep us updated.

 

[Bizzy]

use a notebook HDD, they are usually more resiliant to the impact forces. I'd definately make up some sort of mount to give the HDD some cushion.

 

[n8rsk8r]

yeah, I have been scooping some stuff at radioshack, I will lookinto getting one of the notebook harddrives, never thought of it, so thanks for the idea netviper And yeah qiksho I hear you, I have been cruising BestBuy (have card ) and other places thinking of ideas, they sell pci slot blowers to help take heat away. I think I may incorportate that into the design, honestly lately though, I have been working on my painting business, but this is always on my mind. I will keep everyone posted, I am trying to keep the weight down on this project, no need to add a ton if I can help it!

 

[ghostrider]

And I know for notebook hard drives, they make adapters to hook them up to a standard IDE connector.

 

[n8rsk8r]

I was wondering about that! thanks!

 

[40BelowSummer]

My hard drive is mounted horizontally and I havent had a problem with it since it was mounted. Its in the glovebox though.

 

[n8rsk8r]

My hard drive is mounted horizontally and I havent had a problem with it since it was mounted. Its in the glovebox though.

Where is your motherboard? How is yours set up?

 

[40BelowSummer]

Via epia m10000 motherboard w/ 1 ghz cpu, custom mounted in the glovebox w/ a vga touchscreen in the first din slot right above the relocated eatc, radio is where the eatc used to be.

go to the chatroom or PM me for more info

 

[element913]

Some people may disagree with me on this.

Hard drives and CD Drives are very different pieces of machinery. A Hard Drive can be mounted vertically in almost all cases.

I think that the best thing you can do as far as a custom computer would be, to use USB (max length of cables are 5M) which is/should be plently of room to move the heart of the computer to the back of the car (where it is far cooler, less interference from other in dash components and you have far more space. Also, from a suspension perspective, the front of the car is heavier and therefore has less "float" over bumps. The rear suspension seems more gushy and should shock the hard drive less. Theoretically, you can wire up a touch screen and cd-rom (w/ usb) drive up front and have the rest of the computer in the back of the car where it is far safer. Heat, next to power supply irregularities are by far the most common killer of pc components. You work in IT so you probably know this already. I think if you take the guts out of one of those external usb drive cases, you can use that to wire your cdrom drive up through usb. You can also install a far more adequete cooling system in the rear of the car (and it takes less modification of the dash and/or dash support system).

Hope it helps,
Mike

 

[40BelowSummer]

I have been running my setup in the glovebox for nearly 6 months with NO cooling issues and NO hard drive issues. 80GB hard drive & Motherboard w/ 1GHz CPU. The only cooling is the fan on the CPU.

 

[oh_SHO]

Why are you putting/put computers in the car? Audio jukebox?

 

[40BelowSummer]

Tuning, Tweecer R/T

 

[Piccolo]

I have been wanting to do this setup for over one year now. :cry: No money though...

I was going to redesign my guage cluster to fit a small screen in the middle with new guages. I wanted to update the SHO look so this seems to be a good idea. The 89 guages look so old! I was planning on putting a cd-rom drive where the stereo is, using USB, and running little wires in a bundle to put a new switch up front for the comp. (If you have ever built a comp, I mean the little wires that go from mo-bo to the switch on the tower.) To put the video to the monitor, I was going to use S-video jacks coming from a geforce 4 vid card. I plan on mounting the battery in the trunk anyway, so I figured connecting a power inverter to the battery and then mounting the smaller tower in the trunk. (I say smaller cause I want to make my own.) I want to leave some kind of system to demount the smaller tower easily and quickly for track racing. (The inverter and battery will stay. ) For sound I want to use XM or sirius for radio, and just use the comp for CDs. The HD will have all the mp3s I need. I would like the HD to be in a tray for easy removel to update with more songs. I want the audio to come out of the omputer, into a amp, and into the speakers. The only thing I can't decide on, since I'm not using a touch screen, is what to do for Keyboard and Mouse. Maybe wireless mouse with a laptop size keyboard, but I don't know where to put the stuff when not in use. Any ideas? Also, tell me what you think of this design?

Sorry for the long post, but I have been wanting to do this for such a long time. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

 

[40BelowSummer]

AIM: Palmer83221 Hit me up and I can help you!!