---------------------------------------------------------- AeroElectric-List Digest Archive --- Total Messages Posted Tue 10/19/10: 4 ---------------------------------------------------------- Today's Message Index: ---------------------- 1. 11:14 AM - Re: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane (Scott R. Shook) 2. 12:03 PM - Re: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane (Robert L. Nuckolls, III) 3. 12:17 PM - Re: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane (Tim Olson) 4. 12:41 PM - Re: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane () ________________________________ Message 1 _____________________________________ Time: 11:14:35 AM PST US From: "Scott R. Shook" Subject: RE: AeroElectric-List: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane Actually hard drives are sealed units (air-tight). They are built in clean rooms to exacting standards. The only thing that altitude will do is change the air pressure outside causing strain on casing of the hard drive. I have completely recovered data off of hard drives that were completely immersed in floodwaters. Once a roof collapsed and flooded a data center - the hard drives were removed from the servers, dried out, placed in fresh servers, and spun right up. Scott R. Shook RV-7A (Building) N696JS (Reserved) -----Original Message----- From: owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Eric M. Jones Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 06:18 Subject: AeroElectric-List: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane Remember that anything using a hard drive depends on a little cushion of air between the read-write head and the disk. Using a HD above 10,000 feet cabin pressure is risky. Apple, Maxtor and Seagate state 10,000 feet as the maximum operating altitude. Don't forget those IPods. -------- Eric M. Jones www.PerihelionDesign.com 113 Brentwood Drive Southbridge, MA 01550 (508) 764-2072 emjones@charter.net Read this topic online here: http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=316027#316027 ________________________________ Message 2 _____________________________________ Time: 12:03:19 PM PST US From: "Robert L. Nuckolls, III" Subject: RE: AeroElectric-List: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane At 01:10 PM 10/19/2010, you wrote: Actually hard drives are sealed units (air-tight). They are built in clean rooms to exacting standards. The only thing that altitude will do is change the air pressure outside causing strain on casing of the hard drive. I have completely recovered data off of hard drives that were completely immersed in floodwaters. Once a roof collapsed and flooded a data center - the hard drives were removed from the servers, dried out, placed in fresh servers, and spun right up. Hmmmm . . . I can see that a drive might be liquid tight for low pressure heads but they're not well 'sealed' Emacs! Looking at the spacing between cover screws that hold a thin sheet metal cover down against a gasket does not suggest any ability to keep the drive interior from exhausting at altitude. I've had one experience with a data gathering task where I put my laptop in the tail of a Beechjet. The intent was to stay below 10K feet. I had other equipment in the passenger cabin too. During the flight, it was determined that we needed to go up in altitude. Putting a new hard drive in my laptop was a whole lot cheaper than the cost of fuel and $time$ to land and recover the un-protected computer. After the flight, the hard drive was trashed and could not be recovered. I seem to recall foam-plugged vent holes in hard drives that I've taken apart . . . but examination of the WD and Maxtors laying around right now failed to find one without tearing it apart. This teardown article speaks to an on-purpose hard drive vent. http://www.pcdoctor-guide.com/wordpress/?p=595 Bob . . . ________________________________ Message 3 _____________________________________ Time: 12:17:46 PM PST US From: Tim Olson Subject: Re: AeroElectric-List: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane Definitely not true. They aren't sealed 100%, they have vents, and over 10K' definitely does kill them. I had a couple that wouldn't operate at 13K' one day. Switched to SSD's because that's what you need over 10K. Yes, sometimes it'll be fine, but sometimes it won't. And it CAN damage the drive because the heads need to float on a cushion of air, and even if it works, the cushion will be less at altitude. Air permeates the vents, even if water stays out reasonably well. Tim On 10/19/2010 1:10 PM, Scott R. Shook wrote: > --> AeroElectric-List message posted by: "Scott R. Shook" > > Actually hard drives are sealed units (air-tight). They are built in clean > rooms to exacting standards. The only thing that altitude will do is change > the air pressure outside causing strain on casing of the hard drive. > > I have completely recovered data off of hard drives that were completely > immersed in floodwaters. Once a roof collapsed and flooded a data center - > the hard drives were removed from the servers, dried out, placed in fresh > servers, and spun right up. > > > Scott R. Shook > RV-7A (Building) > N696JS (Reserved) > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com > [mailto:owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Eric M. > Jones > Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 06:18 > To: aeroelectric-list@matronics.com > Subject: AeroElectric-List: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane > > --> AeroElectric-List message posted by: "Eric M. Jones" > > > Remember that anything using a hard drive depends on a little cushion of air > between the read-write head and the disk. Using a HD above 10,000 feet cabin > pressure is risky. > > Apple, Maxtor and Seagate state 10,000 feet as the maximum operating > altitude. Don't forget those IPods. > > -------- > Eric M. Jones > www.PerihelionDesign.com > 113 Brentwood Drive > Southbridge, MA 01550 > (508) 764-2072 > emjones@charter.net > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=316027#316027 > > ________________________________ Message 4 _____________________________________ Time: 12:41:00 PM PST US Subject: RE: AeroElectric-List: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane From: I understand solid state drives do not suffer the same demise. Where I live on the east coast 10k in light airplanes is a bit like going to the moon, so not really a factor over here. Take a good backup before you leave. Do not archive Glenn E. Long -----Original Message----- From: owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com [mailto:owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Tim Olson Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 3:13 PM Subject: Re: AeroElectric-List: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane Definitely not true. They aren't sealed 100%, they have vents, and over 10K' definitely does kill them. I had a couple that wouldn't operate at 13K' one day. Switched to SSD's because that's what you need over 10K. Yes, sometimes it'll be fine, but sometimes it won't. And it CAN damage the drive because the heads need to float on a cushion of air, and even if it works, the cushion will be less at altitude. Air permeates the vents, even if water stays out reasonably well. Tim On 10/19/2010 1:10 PM, Scott R. Shook wrote: > --> AeroElectric-List message posted by: "Scott R. Shook" > > Actually hard drives are sealed units (air-tight). They are built in clean > rooms to exacting standards. The only thing that altitude will do is change > the air pressure outside causing strain on casing of the hard drive. > > I have completely recovered data off of hard drives that were completely > immersed in floodwaters. Once a roof collapsed and flooded a data center - > the hard drives were removed from the servers, dried out, placed in fresh > servers, and spun right up. > > > Scott R. Shook > RV-7A (Building) > N696JS (Reserved) > > -----Original Message----- > From: owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com > [mailto:owner-aeroelectric-list-server@matronics.com] On Behalf Of Eric M. > Jones > Sent: Sunday, October 17, 2010 06:18 > To: aeroelectric-list@matronics.com > Subject: AeroElectric-List: Re: Laptop supply for your car/airplane > > --> AeroElectric-List message posted by: "Eric M. Jones" > > > Remember that anything using a hard drive depends on a little cushion of air > between the read-write head and the disk. Using a HD above 10,000 feet cabin > pressure is risky. > > Apple, Maxtor and Seagate state 10,000 feet as the maximum operating > altitude. Don't forget those IPods. > > -------- > Eric M. Jones > www.PerihelionDesign.com > 113 Brentwood Drive > Southbridge, MA 01550 > (508) 764-2072 > emjones@charter.net > > > Read this topic online here: > > http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=316027#316027 > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Other Matronics Email List Services ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post A New Message aeroelectric-list@matronics.com UN/SUBSCRIBE http://www.matronics.com/subscription List FAQ http://www.matronics.com/FAQ/AeroElectric-List.htm Web Forum Interface To Lists http://forums.matronics.com Matronics List Wiki http://wiki.matronics.com Full Archive Search Engine http://www.matronics.com/search 7-Day List Browse http://www.matronics.com/browse/aeroelectric-list Browse Digests http://www.matronics.com/digest/aeroelectric-list Browse Other Lists http://www.matronics.com/browse Live Online Chat! http://www.matronics.com/chat Archive Downloading http://www.matronics.com/archives Photo Share http://www.matronics.com/photoshare Other Email Lists http://www.matronics.com/emaillists Contributions http://www.matronics.com/contribution ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- These Email List Services are sponsored solely by Matronics and through the generous Contributions of its members.