Hard Drives

I know hard drives are very delicate if jostled internally. I also know there is a way to "park" a hard drive to prevent it from damaging itself during travel, etc.

Offered by Thor.

The old hard drives needed to be parked, but I think all newer hard drives park themselves automagically when not in use. I'm not 100% sure though. I've carried my computers around in the car a lot with no problem, so I wouldn't worry about shaking too much. As long as it doesn't slam into anything, vibration probably won't do much.

Offered by Joe.

Only fairly old hard drives have this problem. 'Parking' the heads over a non-data area protects the data recorded elsewhere on the drive. Most systems which need a head-parking utility program have it. Many hard drives automatically park the heads when powered down. Hard drives manufactured in the last few years are very much more rugged, particularly those in laptops. Most can survive being dropped even while operating. They are less prone to damage while powered off, in any case.

Offered by George.