Does it hurt a backup drive to be put on it's side?

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Lack of space and a desire not to put it on top of the AEBS had me put a small Iomega drive on it's side. Will this make the drive work harder or shorten it's lifespan? Should I find another place to put it?
 

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Hard drives in flat panel iMac's are "on their side" all the time. So no...it won't hurt.:)

- Nick
 
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As long as you don't move it, or cause it to move abruptly while spinning, you should be okay. It's easier to cause damage from a vertically mounted/placed hdd than a horizontally mounted/placed hdd because of centrifugal force...the disk platter doesn't want to move while spinning at high speeds, while you are forcing the enclosure to move. This will cause microscopic scratches that leads to errors and irreversible damage. Good HDD's now-a-days come with very fast reacting vibration sensors that park the head(s) of the drive upon vibrations. A very loose example of this is placing an XBOX 360 vertically, and jiggling it...you know what happens:) Though, the hdd's platter is MUCH MUCHHHH more tightly attached to the bearing assembly that allows it to spin, the force from it spinning actually allows the disk platter to ever so slightly bend when placed vertically. This kind of vibration is near eliminated by placing it horizontally.

With that said, half of all my hdd's are placed vertically.
 

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As long as you don't move it, or cause it to move abruptly while spinning, you should be okay. It's easier to cause damage from a vertically mounted/placed hdd than a horizontally mounted/placed hdd because of centrifugal force...the disk platter doesn't want to move while spinning at high speeds, while you are forcing the enclosure to move. This will cause microscopic scratches that leads to errors and irreversible damage. Good HDD's now-a-days come with very fast reacting vibration sensors that park the head(s) of the drive upon vibrations. A very loose example of this is placing an XBOX 360 vertically, and jiggling it...you know what happens:) Though, the hdd's platter is MUCH MUCHHHH more tightly attached to the bearing assembly that allows it to spin, the force from it spinning actually allows the disk platter to ever so slightly bend when placed vertically. This kind of vibration is near eliminated by placing it horizontally.

With that said, half of all my hdd's are placed vertically.

Exactly. This is particularly true of desktop drives. Laptop drives and the micro drives in iPods are designed to be moved around and exposed to extreme angles and g-forces. Desktop drives on the other hand tend to be designed for more stable use. I'd recommend fashioning some kind of a stand if you intend to use it this way to avoid the inevitable tipping that can happen.
 

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I've moved your post to a more proper forum; please be sure to check the forum descriptions to find the best place to post.

By posting in the right forum you help people not only find your question faster, but it helps others looking for the same information in the future.

Thanks for understanding!
 

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