Hard Drive Orientation

[milanlad]

If I've had a hard drive running in a verticle position for about 6 months, should it be okay to then start using it in a horizontal position?

Thanks

[aidanjt]

Yes

[-ChEM-]

according to my brother its not ideal but it will still work

[chuckskull]

Yup should be not problem.

[aidanjt]

Idealy you should always have a harddrive sitting horozontally anyway, it puts less strain on the motor bearings.

[MadduckUK]

id always go horizontal as it seems more natural... but some SFF cases, and some older compaq/dell comps iv come across have the HDD cage on its side, i dont know if anyones done any testing (how the hell can you when the life of a drive varies so much?) but it would be interesting to know.

something else.. i once had a drive at work that had started to turn nasty, and the only way to get it to be accessible (rather than sitting there grinding to itself) was to lay it on its side. needless to say i got everything important off and got a new one on order then and there. Weirdness!

[arthurleung]

I usually flip the harddrive and let it face downward once in a while to reduce bearing damage

I suppose the same could be done sideway