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power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) Steve I was planning on mounting the hard drive in the corner with the power switch. the drive would partially go on top of a portion of the power supply. I am worried about the magentic field generated by the transformer directly underneath the harddrive. there are also other coils on the power supply. Anyone know anything about the effect on harddrives operating near magnetic fields? with the harddrive rotating thru the magentic field would it cause a problem to the hard drive? Steve ------------------- There is no spoon. The Matrix. 05-02-2000 11:59:02

RE:power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) mooo I m try&^$&ng t o se)#_$nd thi+s f:rom my WS bu+ th@#)e HD is b@*$eing era*@#^sed. YES! you are screwed! Magnets and HD's don't mix! 05-02-2000 12:22:46

RE:power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) Magnetic Man Let's see... On 3 different slim case computers here in the office The hard drives are mounted under or next to the power supply's (Actually touching them flat and full on!) the magnetic fields here are small because ofthe wonderful switching power supply design, and the aluminum casing of a HDD makes for a nice Anti-magnetic shield. As far as I can tell you, the WSP's power supply puts out a helluva lot less magnetic waves than a standard desktop case power supply... therefore dont worry. 05-02-2000 13:14:00

RE:power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) Amino Profile I would recomend not putting your HD over the ps. I experimented with this by placing an old 255 MB hd resting on the power switch (inverted) and part of the powersupply (no contact with anything conductive). I let it run for a few hours playing a full screen video clip. The drive died at the end and will no longer spin. This could have been caused by heat, magnetic fields or just old age. The weird thing is that it somehow reset my bios to defaults. I now have an extra fan on the ps, and have the hd and my ls120 sitting on top of the box. I also tried putting the hd on the ps2 port and resting on the dimms. If you have low dimms (like the original) this can fit quite well. 05-02-2000 14:15:02

RE:power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) nytrus i toasted a 1 gig western digital drive after putting it right side up(pc board on drive down)over the power supply and power switch. I had the power supply insulated with electrical tape so i know it didnt short out. The WD drive had been running fine for two days upside down but i wanted to close up the case, as soon as i put the cover on the system hung. upon reboot drive not found. Now the drive spins real slow :>[ At first i thought i may have squeezed the drive but there is enuf room... so i dunno.. maybe it was its time to go. 05-02-2000 15:11:45

RE:power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) IZen Aminno This could also be from mounting the drive upsidedown. If it's a 3.5", some of them don't like to run upside down:( I think most 2.5" drives are spec'd to run this way, but some 2.5s don't like to be oriented with the connectors pointing down (or is it up, I can't remember.) I have a bigfoot 5.25x.75" 2.5 gig sitting over most of my PS. I've run it cased closed on the TV for several hours for each of the past 3 nights without any problems. Note: The drive does not touch the PS or cover at all, execpt for the power switch cable. 05-02-2000 22:42:55

RE:power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) tegg Profile maybe you should try posting something about HD positioning, heat tolerences and such in the i-opener section. There are alot more active members of that forum. 05-02-2000 22:54:56

RE:power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) lukevaxhacker It is probably a bad idea to mount the hard drive over the power supply for at least two reasons: 1) the power supply is passively cooled and should have unobstructed airflow. 2) the heatsink is electrically live with dangerous voltage, and would need to be insulated from the bottom of the drive by robust means, not some tape or somesuch that is likely to fall off. 05-03-2000 02:48:09

RE:power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) Setes I had a 3.5" hd placed partially over the ps initially. Yesterday after running it for several hours w/ cover off, the HD was really hot. I've since repositioned the hd after locating a low profile 64 meg dimm (look for 4 chip dimms). Also mounted a fan on the bottom of the case under the hd (in front of ps) blowing onto hd as well as a fan pulling air out the back of the case near the power connector. I feel much better about this setup as the hd is brand new (Maxtor DM+ 40g). (in fact, I'm typing this message on the WS over my DSL/LAN ;) 05-03-2000 09:29:35

RE:power supply and magnetic fields / harddrive (modified 0 times) Bolex I mounted my hard drive over the power supply. I inverted the power switch, so the wires faced downward ( I had to bend the wires a bit, but it fits cozy). The drive was getting real hot, so I mounted a fan underneath the drive that blows air out the bottom. This was a CPU fan. I just drilled som holes to mount it, and drilled a bunch more for the air to pass thorough. For added cooling, I mounted another 1" fan (I pulled this out of an old external SCSI CD-ROM drive)on the back by the power supply. This is mounted where the 2nd com port hole is. So now I have two fans; 1 cooling the drive, and the other blowing air out by the power supply. The case closes nice, and it stays really cool. I've been running it for a day now, and the case is still very cool to the touch. I don't think that the magnetic field is what will kill your drive, I think it's just the heat. Bolex 05-03-2000 22:23:11

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