Hard Drive Installation: Vertical or Horizontal

Alpha0mega · 24 Jun 2013

Before posting here, I googled and read a lot about vertical, horizontal, diagonal HDD positioning, However, such comments did not make a sound advise.

I bought a seagate 7200rpm 1TB HDD, and until now I have not installed. My PC is 10months old only, and when I opened the case, I noticed that the HDD (seagate 7200 500GB) was installed VERTICALLY/UPRIGHT.

As I see it in my tower case, it cannot accommodate 2-HDD installed VERTICALLY, but IT IS possible to have 2-HDD HORIZONTALLY.

My inquiry is that IF I CHANGE THE ORIENTATION of my 10month old HDD from VERTICAL to HORIZONTAL position:

1) WILL IT AFFECT ANYTHING SUCH AS HDD PERFORMANCE, LIFESPAN, or ERROR READING SOON?
2) others say THAT ONCE YOU CHANGE HDD ORIENTATION, YOU MUST REFORMAT THE DISK? (and I dont want to do that)
3) Anyone who experience the same situation like me? Advise please..

Thanks in advance..

Lady Fitzgerald · 24 Jun 2013

1. Performance and reading errors will not change. Lifespan might possibly change a bit for the better; it will not get worse.

2. No

3. Kindasorta. I have run the same HDDs vertically in docks and horizontally in swap bays without any problems.

Alpha0mega · 24 Jun 2013

Lady Fitzgerald said:

1. Performance and reading errors will not change. Lifespan might possibly change a bit for the better; it will not get worse.

2. No

3. Kindasorta. I have run the same HDDs vertically in docks and horizontally in swap bays without any problems.

thanks for the comment/idea.

> i just read one comment a while ago via google, mentioning about the change in "HDD center of gravity" from vertical to horizontal mounting which will affect performance as he claims.
>> also "that heat accumulation is lesser in HORIZONTAL than VERTICAL." in the same comment of his.

TVeblen · 25 Jun 2013

Stop reading that page and delete it from your bookmarks. Gravity has no effect on a hard drive unless you drop it.

The only importance in orientation is airflow. If the case is designed to pull air over the hard drives and exhaust it out the back then it is best to orient the drives so they have the smallest surface directly facing (blocking) the airflow, and the largest surface parallel with the airflow. Think of a wing of an aircraft.

madcratebuilder · 25 Jun 2013

Alpha0mega said:

Lady Fitzgerald said:

1. Performance and reading errors will not change. Lifespan might possibly change a bit for the better; it will not get worse.

2. No

3. Kindasorta. I have run the same HDDs vertically in docks and horizontally in swap bays without any problems.

thanks for the comment/idea.

> i just read one comment a while ago via google, mentioning about the change in "HDD center of gravity" from vertical to horizontal mounting which will affect performance as he claims.
>> also "that heat accumulation is lesser in HORIZONTAL than VERTICAL." in the same comment of his.

Voodoo BS. Hard drives are designed to operate in any orientation. You could argue wear factors on the bearing but I don't think it's a concern in the real world. Mount for best air flow around the drive. My 1tb WD has never been more than 2-3*C above ambient.