Gyroscopic effect and HDD's

[DocClock aka MadClocker]

I was thinking the other day about my laptop and the way I was sitting with the laptop at an angle, and thinking about how most spinning disks that are tilted will tend to right themselves if allowed to...and this got me to thinking about MTBF(mean time between failure), and am now wondering if the gyroscopic effect will cause unnessesary wear to the hdd bearings holding the platter assembly when the laptop is not level.

Does anybody know if this is an issue to be considered, or have the manufacturers found a way around the problem?

edit: removed personal opinion....change of heart

[Carnil]

You're misinterpreting the "gyroscopic effect". A gyroscope (or any other spinning object) tries to maintain a constant orientation in space, so no, using your laptop at an angle won't affect the hard drive bearings.

[Cjwinnit]

I've seen pre-built computers where the HDD was sitting perpendicular to the desk in the case (i.e "Sitting up".) That computer is about 3 years old and has had no problems with it.

Seems like they build them well :)

[Ravsitar]

Gyroscopic effects on a disk as small and light as a Laptop HD will be little. You need some weight at the rim to get noticable effects.

[four4875]

it dont try to right itself, it just tries to stay spinning in the same direction.

[Hawker-rider]

interesting!! It probably has a factor in failure rates in harddrives.

It doesn't matter how you orientate the drive, because it will want to move back to the original position that is was when you started spinning the disc itself... and offcourse the force excersized on the bearing will be 90 degrees with the rotation FROM the force exerted... LOL

[Xaotic]

As others have stated, the gyroscopic effect tends to try to retain positional orientation. When mounted and stable, the HDD should have no adverse effects. A much greater danger would be in an operational shock and vibration condition. Oscillation or sudden shock can cause far more damage to the bearings. For this reason, many laptop HDDs have far more stringent requirements for testing.

[electromagnetic]

At work when I pull out a hot swappable drive that's been spinning at 15k RPM I can definately feel the angular momentum effect when I rotate it either direction. This isn't at all dangerous however because the needle or read/write head is kept afloat by means of presure difference from the disc spinning underneath, think of it more like an airplane wing.

[Cjwinnit]

Originally posted by four4875
it dont try to right itself, it just tries to stay spinning in the same direction.

Yep, that's why gyroscopes work.