Is it dangerous to use laptop while moving (on train, car, subway, etc)

N

NleahciM

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Hey there - is it safe to use a laptop on a train or car or anything else along those lines? I occasionally do it - but I always worry about how the vibrations and hard stops and whatnot might be affecting my hard drive. I suppose an SSD would probably take care of the problem - but for those of us that aren't dripping with cash...

Anybody know?
 
Yes it's safe. Hard drives are pretty durable. I'd be more worried about someone stealing it from you in the subway..
 
j3ff86 said:
Yes it's safe. Hard drives are pretty durable. I'd be more worried about someone stealing it from you in the subway..
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What he said.
Not really an issue. For the miniscule amount of space seperating the head from the platter, that space never really changes.
 
If it is very vigorous jolts while the HDD is working it can cause issues, but for standard fluid movement like on a train or subway it usually causes no issue.
 
Grentz said:
If it is very vigorous jolts while the HDD is working it can cause issues, but for standard fluid movement like on a train or subway it usually causes no issue.
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Ever driven in Boston? I think most minefields are easier on cars. It's like urban off-roading. It seems like it could be pretty damaging.
 
I've used my laptop in cars and on the metro (or subway for the uninformed), and it's perfectly safe.
 
I wouldn't be overly concerned. However, if you want peace of mind, some manufacturers (like Lenovo's ThinkPad R/T lines, or the Apple Macbook Pro) have a sudden motion sensor in their systems, and included utility software designed to move the heads off the drive platters in case of sudden impact. With the software on my ThinkPad T61, you can even adjust the sensitivity.
 
It's also worth noting that while using it on your lap or whatever is fine, mounting it probably isn't. As a passenger in a car or on a train, you're sitting on a cushioned (usually--ever rode on Chicago's public transport) seat and you're cushioned in a layer of compressible meat. Ever rested your head on the window of a bus or train? Lots of vibration, because the mass and cushioning of the seat and your ass aren't there to isolate your skull from the vibrations traveling through the vehicle.

The same goes for hard drives. People building car PCs are often vexed by repeated hard drive failures. Their problem is that they're mounting the drives in such a way that the drive receives all the vibrations from the car--meaning everything, from engine vibrations to cracks in the road, jiggles the hard drive. Failure is unavoidable.

Of course, I'm not sure why you'd mount a laptop to the structure of a bus just to use it until you get off, but you might want to avoid resting it on a window ledge or anything else that's going to be vibrating with the vehicle.
 
Tell that to all the police and firemen in every city who have their toughbooks and hammerheads living in their cars.
 
Their computers are mounted on laptop mounts which are designed to absorb shocks and vibrations. You can buy those for pretty cheap if you're mounting a PC in a vehicle, but I don't really think a semi-permanent laptop mount point is practical for use on most subway trains.
 
j-dawg said:
Their computers are mounted on laptop mounts which are designed to absorb shocks and vibrations. You can buy those for pretty cheap if you're mounting a PC in a vehicle, but I don't really think a semi-permanent laptop mount point is practical for use on most subway trains.
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Oh, I misunderstood what was being discussed. Yea that would be dumb to mount a laptop in a train.:p But yea I thought those car mounts were pretty protective.
 
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