Hard drive in a car....

tylert14

New Member
I don't have time to type up what I plan on doing but it involves having a Hard drive in a car. It will be reading and writing while the car is running and moving. Will I fry the HD real quick from the bumps, or even "interferance" from the car? Are they HDs specifically for cars? (that wont cost an arm and a leg), or would mayby a laptop HD work better? Any advice appreciated!
 
uhm, try flash memory, like USB drives if possible, if not, then yeah, a HDD can be damaged by bumps... try to get some really nice shock absorbing stuff, like try suspending the HDD in the glove compartment with rubberbands or something
 
I thought about flash memory but that would be pretty pricey because this is going to be running a computer actually... With windows xp and its going to mainly be for storing movies and audio. So it needs to have allot of space... I was planning on puting the HD in a foam enclosure with some channels cut through it (to allow airflow) and a fan... Then I was going to suspend it with "rubber bands"... I hope it wont kill the HD. I think it may though because its going to have all the songs stored for my stereo so it will be reading allot... Do you think a laptop harddrive would be any better?
 
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Does this mean that if you were driving your pc to a friends house and hit some bumps (the pc is off) would it damage the HDD?

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, I dont think this questions is big enough to have its own thread :)
 
lowcar100 said:
threadhijack.jpg

Does this mean that if you were driving your pc to a friends house and hit some bumps (the pc is off) would it damage the HDD?

I'm not trying to hijack the thread, I dont think this questions is big enough to have its own thread :)


Not likley. The issue is jarring the heads and making them strike the disc while it is spinning. In the off state, the heads are tucked back and the drive isn't spinning.
 
Thats not saying t cant be damaged at all when the har ddrive is off, it can still break, a hard enough bump will cause the platters to become loose or even become de-attatched, the youve got a dead drive. Its just a lot more easy to kill it whilst its spinning.
 
Well no not really, I'm going to build a custom case and put a computer in it, run it off a power inverter since its in a car. Im taking out the head unit of the stereo in the dash and putting a 6 inch LCD screen there. Then Im hooking the computer to that. Then Im going to put a wifi adapter on the computer, and add a wireless keyboard and one of those mouses with the big ball that you move around with your hand (I think that will be easier to use in a car...). Now I thinnk all of this should be pretty easy but here are the things im unsure off.... How to add a FM tuner. Now... Im not real up to date on technology, how much would wireless satellite type internet be? Mayby I could do that and download XM radio to the computer... The other problem is, I want to be able to play music and videos on the system without using a keyboard, my care (trans am) has a few buttons on the wheel that im wondering if I can amke them work sort of as "hot keys" for the computer, is there anyways I can wire them into a keyboard of somesort??? This is all going to be hooked up to me cars sterao system so it should be a neato little deal when its done. COuld your guys recomend any cheap mobos and laptop HDs to use? Will I need a laptop mobo for a laptop HD or do most modern laptop Hds use standard SATA or IDE connectors??
 
Well what your planning to do is a great idea, But you should be able to take the PC out with you when you leave, I've heard that they break through windows and steal everything in the car, I friend of mine was a victim with wis Mercedes, he didn't lose anything though, except for his window...
 
It's going to be hidden somewhere. Nothing of the project will be exposed. I was thinking of doing it in the glove box but I have a locked gun safe in my center console so I dont want to use the only place I have to store things.
 
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