Laptop outside -> may cause condensation on hdd when going inside ?

[Peter]

James Knott <james.knott at ...> writes:
> I've often used a computer shortly after bringing it in from the cold
> without issue. I could be wrong, but I believe disk drives are sealed
> and don't admit ambient air. There was one disk drive model I used to
> service many years ago, that was filled with helium. After opening them
> up for service, they required a purge cycle to replace the air with helium. 

hdds do have a single small hole through which pressure equalization occurs. You
can see it on most drives as it is marked (do not obstruct). Old big drives were
indeed purged with dry gas for a number of reasons (two for using Helium being
excellent heat transfer capacity and low density and viscosity which permits
higher rpm for the same power, plus the dew thing).

So in theory putting the hdd in a zip lock bag with silica gel and blowing it
with dry air or nitrogen and then sealing the bag with silicone should do the
trick. But I think that just using a hand warmer is a better interim solution.

Peter


--
The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists