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HDD Shock absorber
- Thread starter Glitchen
- Start date
Tough one....
Mount the drive so it is perpendicular to the water surface. Mounted parallel,the drive heads have a great chance of crashing into the platters.
Place a foam cushion under the CPU case, I have mounted CPU's, on small tugs, under Bridge consoles, where I padded the bottom, sides, and back and front, as they hit some rough seas.
I meet a guy who actually suspended the drive with surgical tubing, within the case.
Mount the drive so it is perpendicular to the water surface. Mounted parallel,the drive heads have a great chance of crashing into the platters.
Place a foam cushion under the CPU case, I have mounted CPU's, on small tugs, under Bridge consoles, where I padded the bottom, sides, and back and front, as they hit some rough seas.
I meet a guy who actually suspended the drive with surgical tubing, within the case.
I guess you could mount the 3.5inch IDE drive in a 5.25inch CDrom bay and use springs looped through the mounting holdes to suspend it in the bay.
As there are plenty of slots and holes this should be fairly easy.
You would need to choose your springs carefully to give adequate movement to relieve the shocks.
A full loop through each of the four mounting holes should be secure.
Obvious slack needed in IDE cable and probable use of a glue gun (hot gun) to fix IDE connector to HDD.
Martin
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As there are plenty of slots and holes this should be fairly easy.
You would need to choose your springs carefully to give adequate movement to relieve the shocks.
A full loop through each of the four mounting holes should be secure.
Obvious slack needed in IDE cable and probable use of a glue gun (hot gun) to fix IDE connector to HDD.
Martin
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elovelace256,
I'm going to assume that your boat is a Cruiser and not a
Dingy. Also, that you are talking about the whole PC case.
I would put it some where in the middle of the boat and as far away from the pounding of the bow as possible,but keep it in the cabin or wheel house away from the surf,sun and rain. Probably best to get it up off from the deck. Maybe you can find an old/used Deli Scale and set it on that. The scale platform has springs under it and would make for a very descent shock absorber. Maybe find one big enough to accomadate your Beer as well.
I'm going to assume that your boat is a Cruiser and not a
Dingy. Also, that you are talking about the whole PC case.
I would put it some where in the middle of the boat and as far away from the pounding of the bow as possible,but keep it in the cabin or wheel house away from the surf,sun and rain. Probably best to get it up off from the deck. Maybe you can find an old/used Deli Scale and set it on that. The scale platform has springs under it and would make for a very descent shock absorber. Maybe find one big enough to accomadate your Beer as well.
I used to have a problem with my LP turntable (yeah... I'm that old) skipping when someone walked across the floor. I screwed hooks into the ceiling and set the turntable on a shelf suspended from bungee cords. You might be able to do something similar, but on a boat you would have to prevent the PC from swinging around.
To elaborate on the suggestion by Frank4d, the case could be stabilised by attaching a bungee cord under tension from the case to the floor. This seems to be the best option in my opinion.
I've encountered the turntable suggestion being used in some night clubs where the floor has proved to be a little infirm....
Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
I've encountered the turntable suggestion being used in some night clubs where the floor has proved to be a little infirm....
Regards, Andy.
**************************************
My pathetic attempts at learning HTML can be laughed at here:
Why suspend the whole case, when the only component that is potentially effected is the hard drive.
Sure the CDroms might skip under severe conditions but that won't cause damage.
I would imagine that space is limited on a boat so suspending the whole case could take up a whole cupboard or wardrobe.
Cushioning the one effected piece of hardware surely is a better solution.
Martin
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Sure the CDroms might skip under severe conditions but that won't cause damage.
I would imagine that space is limited on a boat so suspending the whole case could take up a whole cupboard or wardrobe.
Cushioning the one effected piece of hardware surely is a better solution.
Martin
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I agree with Martin... the only part sensitive to shock is the hard drive. You could wrap it in bubble wrap (the kind that has large 3/4" bubbles and place it in the bottom of the case (not installed in a drive mount). Any PC modder who sees it would ridicule you for doing something so ugly... but if it serves the purpose, why not? Unless you have a hard drive that runs hot... then it could be a bad idea.
You could also use one of the noise damping mounting kits that are available. But most I have seen would not be very effective at reducing shock and vibration on a boat.
You could also use one of the noise damping mounting kits that are available. But most I have seen would not be very effective at reducing shock and vibration on a boat.
I would build a box in which i could put the hard drive. I would install fans to keep it cool and a slot in the back of the box to fit the ide or sata cable and power connector.
Inside the box the drive would be padded on the corners and suspended inside the box with suitable springs. The inside of the box would have foam glued to the sides, top, and bottom.
The box itself, connected to a 24 inch ide connector, could be outside the pc and again be either suspended or covered with foam to dampen the first shock and then the suspension inside the box would finish the dampening job. May sound like overkill, but with a boat i dont think so. I have done this sort of thing before, just not quite so elaborate, but i have found that a double-dampening system works much better.
Also, same can be done with cdrom.
Start, perhaps, with one of those very small cases that come with mobo in one package and cut out slot for ide cable to go thru for h drive and cdrom or just h drive.
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
Inside the box the drive would be padded on the corners and suspended inside the box with suitable springs. The inside of the box would have foam glued to the sides, top, and bottom.
The box itself, connected to a 24 inch ide connector, could be outside the pc and again be either suspended or covered with foam to dampen the first shock and then the suspension inside the box would finish the dampening job. May sound like overkill, but with a boat i dont think so. I have done this sort of thing before, just not quite so elaborate, but i have found that a double-dampening system works much better.
Also, same can be done with cdrom.
Start, perhaps, with one of those very small cases that come with mobo in one package and cut out slot for ide cable to go thru for h drive and cdrom or just h drive.
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
You don't need the silencing part of this mechanism, however the suspended elastic would suit your needs perfectly.
Alternatley, get a notebook hard drive and suspend them like in the link above. They generally are more robust than desktop drives and able to withstand more movement and precussive damage than desktop drives.
Just be sure to turn off the computer in really bad weather and seas, unless this is a mission critical system then you probably need to assemble something completley designed for bad weather. There are solid state drives that you could use, that are prohibitivley expensive at the moment but getting more and more affordable.
Martin Dare
Affordable data recovery
Martin@darepc.com
The elastic suspension system looks good but may I remind people how badly ellastic perrishes when subjected to continuos heat, thats why I suggested springs instead.
The picture is a very good illustration of the basic design I was suggesting though.
Packing the HDD in a sandwitch of foam is very bad news, foam is an excellent insulator so is a poor solution for a cool running hard drive.
Martin
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The picture is a very good illustration of the basic design I was suggesting though.
Packing the HDD in a sandwitch of foam is very bad news, foam is an excellent insulator so is a poor solution for a cool running hard drive.
Martin
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- Thread starter
- #12
Thanks for everyones reply. I think I am going to use a 40gig laptop hdd mounted with springs all four sides. I am testing this now and I think I am going to want about a one inch travel in any direction. I guess I should have specified what kind of boat I am going to be using this on I have a 21ft sea ray bow rider. I decided to mount the pc in the back by the engine compartment so it doesn't take the brunt of the waves and maybe make this thing actually work. No ocean waves just on lakes. I will post a link with pics as soon as I get it done.
Thanks Eric
Thanks Eric
Be prepared, i do believe you are in for a lot of trial and error. You do need to provide extra cooling as i do believe you are going to need some sort of padding in addition to the springs, even though paparazi has pointed out that you can run into heat buildup if using foam. You are still gonna need an original system and then some additional backup or extra support for those bad waves that you are gonna hit! I say this as i have had boating experience. Personally, i think you are gonna kill some hard drives, but of course i hope i am wrong. I would sure like to know the outcome this spring or summer.
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
I must admit this question did get me thinking a little.
Although suspending the HDD from springs may well turn out to be the best compromise it does create another problem.
As with car suspension, if the wheel was mounted just on a spring, everytime it hit a bump it would cause an oscillation, bouncing up and down and so would take several decreasing movements back and forth before it came to a stop.
With motor vehicles they use dampers (shock absorbers) which absorb this kinetic energy by forcing fluid through a series of restrictive valves in the body of the unit.
A theoretical (although not practical) solution would be to somehow suspend the hard drive in oil to dampen down the oscillation (obviously no more than a thought)
Martin
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Although suspending the HDD from springs may well turn out to be the best compromise it does create another problem.
As with car suspension, if the wheel was mounted just on a spring, everytime it hit a bump it would cause an oscillation, bouncing up and down and so would take several decreasing movements back and forth before it came to a stop.
With motor vehicles they use dampers (shock absorbers) which absorb this kinetic energy by forcing fluid through a series of restrictive valves in the body of the unit.
A theoretical (although not practical) solution would be to somehow suspend the hard drive in oil to dampen down the oscillation (obviously no more than a thought)
Martin
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thats why, in addition to the springs, which would have to be tried and tried again with various strengths, i suggested padding for those times when you might hit a wave!
Another possibility which just came to mind, after reading what paparazi said was that you could even use two different sets of springs, one set for a mild shock and another set as backup, for a larger shock and to act as a dampening effect. The first set of springs, lighter, would possibly absorb some of the shock and the second set would absorb the rest. This is all theoretical anyway, but something worth thinking about. Suspending in oil, i would think you would be running into more of the heat issues again? But, again, this is all very theoretical. I have never even heard of anything like this.
Also, someone mentioned a bungee cord and that could be used in addition to the springs, even a few of them, to keep the drive in place and also to act as a damper.
Either way, i would certainly start out with cheap, small, older h drives and surely you would kill some in the making of this historical setup!
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
Another possibility which just came to mind, after reading what paparazi said was that you could even use two different sets of springs, one set for a mild shock and another set as backup, for a larger shock and to act as a dampening effect. The first set of springs, lighter, would possibly absorb some of the shock and the second set would absorb the rest. This is all theoretical anyway, but something worth thinking about. Suspending in oil, i would think you would be running into more of the heat issues again? But, again, this is all very theoretical. I have never even heard of anything like this.
Also, someone mentioned a bungee cord and that could be used in addition to the springs, even a few of them, to keep the drive in place and also to act as a damper.
Either way, i would certainly start out with cheap, small, older h drives and surely you would kill some in the making of this historical setup!
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
garebo
Suspending electrical components in oil based products is nothing new and is a highly efficient heat conductor, much better that air! (every motor vehicle ignition coil is encased in oil to efficiently dissipate heat and electrically insulate) many industrial products like transformers are also encased in oil derivatives.
Oil has some very valuable properties when compared to say water as a coolant:
It's boiling point is much higher
It doesn't conduct electricty
It has very good anti corrosive properties
It is a good heat conductor
It is cheap and plentyful
And if ever there was a time that a thread went off topic
THIS IS IT! lol
Martin
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Suspending electrical components in oil based products is nothing new and is a highly efficient heat conductor, much better that air! (every motor vehicle ignition coil is encased in oil to efficiently dissipate heat and electrically insulate) many industrial products like transformers are also encased in oil derivatives.
Oil has some very valuable properties when compared to say water as a coolant:
It's boiling point is much higher
It doesn't conduct electricty
It has very good anti corrosive properties
It is a good heat conductor
It is cheap and plentyful
And if ever there was a time that a thread went off topic
THIS IS IT! lol
Martin
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ya, if you noticed my statement has a question mark as i wasnt sure on that, was first thinking along the lines of water-cooled and then thinking oil might be used as a coolant. Then used a question mark as i am not familiar with this stuff at all.
Getting back on topic, I wonder if there is a water-cooled product available for hard drives, similar to the water-cooled cpu's then one could use that for cooling the hard drive? Or, gettin back to the oil-cooled, maybe an oil-cooled setup for a hard drive?
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
Getting back on topic, I wonder if there is a water-cooled product available for hard drives, similar to the water-cooled cpu's then one could use that for cooling the hard drive? Or, gettin back to the oil-cooled, maybe an oil-cooled setup for a hard drive?
Good advice + great people = tek-tips
- Thread starter
- #18
I have also been thinking, What do you guys think about an Ipod drive? I know they have to be more shock absorbant then a laptop drive.But I don't know about the pin out, Is it a straight though 40 pin like a laptop drive?
Thanks
Eric
Thanks
Eric
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