3 ms·

Maybe use a 2.5" hard drive rather than an SSD? I can't think of any downsides for that purpose.

Dalewyn 4y ago
Assuming the car is actually used, an HDD would be subject to numerous physical stresses. Not exactly something HDDs like.
- upofadown 4y ago
  2.5" hard drives are usually very robust when powered down. That comes from the age when they were expected to be used in laptops.
  - gymbeaux 4y ago
    I was about to say “the age? You mean today” and realized 2.5” “laptop” hard drives aren’t really used in laptops anymore, even the low-end ones. Damn.
    - crazygringo 4y ago
      Funny, I thought the exact same thing. I still think of SSD's as "fancy" like it's still 2008 or something.
fbdab103 4y ago
I had some immediate disgust thinking, "Moving parts? I am done with those!", but I think you are totally right. The 2.5" hard drive is likely to have better endurance in the poor environment and repeated thermal cycling of a car trunk. Great idea. Hopefully I never have to try and read data from it.
- Robotbeat 4y ago
  I’m not sure either would be great… An untested backup is a backup that may as well never have happened, make sure to test your backups!
  - fbdab103 4y ago
    This is very much a backup option of last resort. I maintain a real backup solution inside my house, but basically nowhere to keep something off-site. I do not consider the cloud acceptable. For my top tier priority data (low total file size), I really want something stored elsewhere. Given the non-ideal state of the car, I think the plan would be to just replace that drive on an annual basis.
  - sgtnoodle 4y ago
    It's still very valuable to have a reasonably robust backup even if you skimp on maintenance, though. No one's going to smash your hard disk with a hammer to punish you for being lazy. 90% isn't much different than 99% in an exceptional circumstance.
- sgtnoodle 4y ago
  Yep, an unpowered hard disk will be rated to something like 250 g's of shock and -40C to +70C temperatures. You could put it in a sealed pyrex container with some silica desiccant and some foam padding. Just keep it from sliding around loose, and it should physically survive anything but direct impact in a collision.

Assuming the car is actually used, an HDD would be subject to numerous physical stresses. Not exactly something HDDs like.

upofadown 4y ago
2.5" hard drives are usually very robust when powered down. That comes from the age when they were expected to be used in laptops.
- gymbeaux 4y ago
  I was about to say “the age? You mean today” and realized 2.5” “laptop” hard drives aren’t really used in laptops anymore, even the low-end ones. Damn.
  - crazygringo 4y ago
    Funny, I thought the exact same thing. I still think of SSD's as "fancy" like it's still 2008 or something.

fbdab103 4y ago

I had some immediate disgust thinking, "Moving parts? I am done with those!", but I think you are totally right. The 2.5" hard drive is likely to have better endurance in the poor environment and repeated thermal cycling of a car trunk. Great idea. Hopefully I never have to try and read data from it.

Robotbeat 4y ago
I’m not sure either would be great… An untested backup is a backup that may as well never have happened, make sure to test your backups!
- fbdab103 4y ago
  This is very much a backup option of last resort. I maintain a real backup solution inside my house, but basically nowhere to keep something off-site. I do not consider the cloud acceptable. For my top tier priority data (low total file size), I really want something stored elsewhere. Given the non-ideal state of the car, I think the plan would be to just replace that drive on an annual basis.
- sgtnoodle 4y ago
  It's still very valuable to have a reasonably robust backup even if you skimp on maintenance, though. No one's going to smash your hard disk with a hammer to punish you for being lazy. 90% isn't much different than 99% in an exceptional circumstance.
sgtnoodle 4y ago
Yep, an unpowered hard disk will be rated to something like 250 g's of shock and -40C to +70C temperatures. You could put it in a sealed pyrex container with some silica desiccant and some foam padding. Just keep it from sliding around loose, and it should physically survive anything but direct impact in a collision.