Just how fragile are desktop computers? (mobile recording related)

[Badside]

Seeing how difficult it is to find a laptop computer that fits both my needs and my budget (not to mention: I have those small keyboards and, I've decided to simply carry my desktop PC around using a carrying bag: www.lansoft.ca (thank you gamers!)

 

But I'm wondering just how sensible HDs are. I'm always afraid of damaging my drives whenever I move my PC around. But seeing how much abuse laptops get, it can't be that bad... or are laptop HDs built more solidly because of their intended use?

Or what about micro-HDs in iPods...

Or internal HDs in stand-alone digital multi-tracks (or that good old Alesis Masterlink)

I've never seen one of those fail, actually I haven't seen any HD fail in a long time (knock on wood).

 

I could simply use a firewire enclosure for my audio drive (which is what I'd be doing with a laptop anyway) and take the HD cage (with the OS drive in it) out of the tower (a 30 seconds operation) when moving it (wrap them in a big fat towel for extra protection).

But really, am I worrying too much? Can I just put the tower in the bag and not worry as long as I don't bang it everywhere? (of course, frequent backups are a must)

 

For the record, my computer has the HDs mounted using rubber grommets, which provides some minimal vibration dampening.

[blue2blue]

I'm leery of going too far out on this limb but... the big vendors ship their computers (and outboard HDDs, etc) via FedEx and UPS...

 

Nuff said?

[chugheshc2]

The actual problem with fragility in desktops (when you are moving them) is

unsecured cables, heavy heatsinks & fans on expansion cards and bunging up the connectors while move the case. I'm pretty sure most HDD are suitable for multiple G shock loads and pretty strenuous vibration.... in other words it's the mechanical connections inside the box that get goofed up, not the hard drives.

If you are reasonably gentle, and the guts of your PC are strapped down well you should nto have too many problems.

cheers

C.

[blue2blue]

Excellent point!

[weeman]

IVe moved PC's from my house to a car to my friends and have the hardware fail! Buy a shuttle or laptop the hardwares much safer. BTW IL RECOMMEND this laptop! as i bought it 2nd hand and it owns most stuff.

DELL D series 510 "myn" alternatives 610, 410 "mobile office should be light as" and the 810 if you want summet a bit hardcore.

1.8ghz minimum!!! 1gig DDR2 and 40gig hd sorted me right out at

[weeman]

IVe moved PC's from my house to a car to my friends and have the hardware fail! Buy a shuttle or laptop the hardwares much safer. BTW IL RECOMMEND this laptop! as i bought it 2nd hand and it owns most stuff.

DELL D series 510 "myn" alternatives 610, 410 "mobile office should be light as" and the 810 if you want summet a bit hardcore.

1.8ghz minimum!!! 1gig DDR2 and 40gig hd sorted me right out at

[weeman]

IVe moved PC's from my house to a car to my friends and have the hardware fail! Buy a shuttle or laptop the hardwares much safer. BTW IL RECOMMEND this laptop! as i bought it 2nd hand and it owns most stuff.

DELL D series 510 "myn" alternatives 610, 410 "mobile office should be light as" and the 810 if you want summet a bit hardcore.

1.8ghz minimum!!! 1gig DDR2 and 40gig hd sorted me right out at

[Badside]

 

The actual problem with fragility in desktops (when you are moving them) is unsecured cables, heavy heatsinks & fans on expansion cards and bunging up the connectors while move the case. I'm pretty sure most HDD are suitable for multiple G shock loads and pretty strenuous vibration.... in other words it's the mechanical connections inside the box that get goofed up, not the hard drives. If you are reasonably gentle, and the guts of your PC are strapped down well you should nto have too many problems. cheers C.

 

 

Good point

[chugheshc2]

Sounds like you have a good plan then Hardtail. I would maybe look into one of the drive shuttles that lets you plug the drive right into the face of the pc though - I have some external drives, and I am more concerned with knocking them off of something, or bumping the power connector, or inadvertently disconnecting the data cable, or even leaving them behind! (I left a usb drive at a guys house LAST NIGHT!)

Cheers

C.

 

ps: Thx blue2blue, and in a comment on your post, I have received new computers with cables shaken loose (possibly by our good friends at FX & UPS), but never have I unpacked one that had a doa hard drive (I've upacked several computers).

C.

[Phil O'Keefe]

Does Windows automatically "park" the heads on HDD's when it shuts down?

 

I tend to use really big / heavy heatsinks and fans (such as Zalman products) for my CPU cooling, and some of those carry cautions about moving them around after they are installed. As long as you don't have something along those lines in your system, and put it into a very well padded bag or case for transport, and treat it as the delicate piece of gear that it is, you'll probably be okay, but a tower is probably never going to be as ideal for mobile use as a laptop.

 

Ever considered something like a Mac Mini for your mobile needs? Small, light, relatively inexpensive, reasonable computational "power"... toss that plus a keyboard, mouse, small flatscreen (LCD) display and a external HDD (and your USB or firewire interface of choice) into a small bag and you'd probably have a decent mobile system IMO.

[Badside]

I tend to use really big / heavy heatsinks and fans (such as Zalman products) for my CPU cooling, and some of those carry cautions about moving them around after they are installed. As long as you don't have something along those lines in your system, and put it into a very well padded bag or case for transport, and treat it as the delicate piece of gear that it is, you'll probably be okay, but a tower is probably never going to be as ideal for mobile use as a laptop.

 

Funny you should mention that.., while buying the carrying bag, I picked up the top of the line Zalman HSF (heatsink and fan), with the huge ass copper hs and 120mm fan... only to realize that a 908g heatsink was a stupid thing to have on my mobo if I was gonna carry it around...

[Badside]

 

Ever considered something like a Mac Mini for your mobile needs? Small, light, relatively inexpensive, reasonable computational "power"... toss that plus a keyboard, mouse, small flatscreen (LCD) display and a external HDD (and your USB or firewire interface of choice) into a small bag and you'd probably have a decent mobile system IMO.

 

 

A Mac is complicated cause all my projects are in Sonar.

Sure I can run bootcamp but still...

 

The carry bag I bought (www.lansoft.ca) is quite easy to use, it has compartments for the mouse and keyboard. I bought a 19" LCD at the same time, I wish they made carry bags for that but at least the box it came in has a handle. I can carry the whole thing with both hands in just one trip.

[chugheshc2]

Phil - I'm pretty sure "parking" the heads is not a concern in these modern times; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk

 

As for those spiffy Zalman copper flowers, I imagine they have pretty decent hardware for securing them; still, if I was transporting a CPU with one of those on it I would make sure that it was not sideways.

 

One day, it will all be solid state & affordable.......

C.

[ermghoti II]

 

www.lansoft.ca

 

 

$130USD? For a bag? Fornicate that with a pointy stick. For that cash, you can buy a rack-mount chassis, and a used SKB case, maybe a suspension mount, even.

[Badside]

 

$130USD? For a bag? Fornicate that with a pointy stick. For that cash, you can buy a rack-mount chassis, and a used SKB case, maybe a suspension mount, even.

 

 

98$CDN is what I paid.

 

I looked into rack-mount chassis, but most of them aren't designed to be quiet, and Antec's Studio serie is like 300$.

 

As for CPU coolers, I exchanged the Zalman copper beast for a Scythe Andy Samurai which is 300g lighter and has the added benefit of a replaceable fan (although the stock is actually very quiet, better than Zalman).

However, both the Zalman and the Scythe are attached using the same plastic pins as the stock Intel cooler. I might secure it to the frame holding the PSU for good measure.

 

Now that I've eliminated CPU cooler noise, case fan noise and most HD noise, my PSU is driving me nuts!

But having my computer running next to my gf's one, the difference is shocking! And mine still slays her's as far as performance goes!

[Badside]

Update: I've been carrying my computer around to recording gigs with the LanSoft bag for a couple months now.

I've yet to encounter a problem...

 

I did go back to the stock heatsink. Even though the Scythe never actually fell, it did come lose a bit too easily. The stock one is not so bad once you slow down the fan. My cheap E4300 Core2Duo is quite easy to keep cold anyway, even oc'ed to 2.4GHz.