Very thin hard disks

[Giampy]

Hail!
With regard to portable hard disks (traditional kind, not SSD) I see above all very thin hard disks, for example thickness 13...15 mm / 0.5 inch about. They are just convenient indeed, but also their mechanical parts are very thin and therefore very fragile.

I don't trust such hard disks.

What do you say about them? Can you judge their reliability?

[mouser]

Excellent question.

I'll just point out one advantage of them that you haven't mentioned which would weigh on the side of improved survivability, which is that they allow greater airflow when put side by side with other components or hds.

[Stoic Joker]

If you mean the 2.5" form factor laptop hard drives, the internals really aren't that much thinner then their 3.5" standard form factor kin. The platters are glass - but surprisingly hard to break.

We just tore down a bunch of drives here (about 50 of all sizes) for data destruction/disposal purposes. A single platter with read heads really isn't that thick (~1/8" - 3/16") so a 1/2" thick case is plenty of room for it.

[mouser]

I don't think he's talking about 2.5s -- i certainly wasn't.  I think we're talking about these 3.5" sata drives that are just half thickness.

[Giampy]

I refer above all to hard disks like Toshiba Stor.e, WD My Passport etc...:

[Stoic Joker]

Ah! Okay... Same rules still apply. The thin 3.5" drives are just single (metal) platter ... hence they just don't need the extra ("full" height) room. For the portable USB drives, they are just 2.5" laptop hard drives in a plastic box. The platter is glass ... But as stated before they are surprisingly hard to break...and by that I mean while out of the drive, laying on concrete, and being hit with a claw hammer. 

[Tinman57]

Ah! Okay... Same rules still apply. The thin 3.5" drives are just single (metal) platter ... hence they just don't need the extra ("full" height) room. For the portable USB drives, they are just 2.5" laptop hard drives in a plastic box. The platter is glass ... But as stated before they are surprisingly hard to break...and by that I mean while out of the drive, laying on concrete, and being hit with a claw hammer. 

-Stoic Joker (June 07, 2013, 11:15 AM)

  That......is no ordinary glass.....

[Shades]

It is glass that is not supposed to alter its shape in any way or form when the temperature changes.

Glass that is used in Windows of old buildings tends to warp as it has been subject to gravity for all these years it has been in vertical position. I'll guess that ordinary glass would also warp when spinning around between 5400 and 10000 RPM (speeds of most hard drives).

[Shades]

If you would create a pendulum of hard disk platters and you would hang it outside, the wind will play a nice harmonic sound/song (and you would make the job of the NSA easier as all your data is out there in public... )

[tomos]

With reference to https://www.donation...ex.php?topic=35130.0 I take advantage of this thread to ask (again):  would you ever use those thin (*) external hard disks for backup?

(*) pocket hard disks, thickness 13...15 mm / 0.5" about (the only ones available in the shops)

-Giampy (January 02, 2014, 12:41 PM)

I know a couple of people using them without problem. I think the verdict above is also that they ok.
Do you have reason to think there might be a problem with them?

[mwb1100]

Glass that is used in Windows of old buildings tends to warp as it has been subject to gravity for all these years it has been in vertical position.

-Shades (July 13, 2013, 01:13 PM)

http://engineering.m...ass-change-over-time

and

http://message.snope...owthread.php?t=23899

[Giampy]

Do you have reason to think there might be a problem with them?

-tomos (January 02, 2014, 01:39 PM)

Normal internal hard disks have a height of 25 mm / 1" about, those thin hard disks have a height of 12...15 mm / 0.5" about. Within half room mechanical components must be thinner, too thin for my liking. I fear/bet those thin hard disks sacrifice reliability for the sake of size.

[tomos]

^ with a single platter, it seems to me like only half as much can go wrong.
But I've never seen any stats about failure rates, so I dont really know.