At 06:08 PM 01/14/2001 Alan Evans wrote:
>
>Does it matter if a HD is mounted upside down?


Alan:

This post may sound a bit officious, but I want to point out some of the
contingent consequences....

Yes, although a modern hard drive should still function reliably and
probably beyond its warranty life... Note that a hard drive company lawyer
could make a convincing legal argument that you voided your warranty by
"improper" (not pursuant to instructions) installation, notwithstanding the
technical realities.

Yes, if you have an ancient stepper motor drive, because it makes a big
difference because the heads will drift and may not properly align the
heads to the tracks. It also may matter significantly to older hard drives
which park the heads in a landing zone (heads may not park correctly).

Yes, if you want to earn a living working on computers. I teach
microcomputer classes and usually berate a student who installs a drive
upside down because it demonstrates that either the student technician is
unaware of what he is doing, or, he's rigging it this way out of laziness
(cables not long enough, screws don't line up without moving other drives
around, etc.). This is an unprofessional practice and a quality company
would not knowingly hire a technician with such habits.

Yes, because the drive's circuit board is usually mounted on the bottom of
a drive so that an up-side down installation would expose the drive
electronics to falling and collecting dust, debris and moisture, which may
have a deleterious effect on the drive electronics.

Regards,

John Chin

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