hard drives on the trails

[metalonmetal]

just wondering how everybody's hard drives in their laptops are holding up out on the trail, if anybody's ever had to get one replaced due to vibrations, dust, etc.

 

[waldrtw]

I have been using an old Compaq in my rig for about 3 years and it is still going!! I have not had any hard drive problems yet.

Tim

 

[Jerry D.]

I sometimes use a laptop with a GPS, not had any problems with it, as yet. Also have a video camera that is mounted to the roll bar that uses a hard drive, it will sometimes shut off due to shock, but restarts OK with no lose of video.

Jerry D.

 

[Grolar]

Hi

I just bought a 120 GB compact HD to use as a music bank for my 80 and so far it works. No offroad yet, but the vibrations from West LA's infamously patched streets are quite demanding to men and machines.

 

[MSGGrunt]

Itronix IX250 military grade laptop, shock mounted hard drive. Topo GPS program off-road, military use in all sorts of conditions... No problems.

 

[sprocket3]

I have been looking at the IX300 last couple days I am just thinking tablet as i don't imagine myself typing much on it. They do make cool stuff.

 

[metalonmetal]

i'm looking at budgeting for one of these:

http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=5&l2=25&l3=350&l4=0&model=1663&modelmenu=1

it doesn't look like it would be easy to replace a harddrive, whereas a more standard laptop would. but if nobody's experiencing any problems off the road with their laptops i don't see why this would be any different.

 

[metalonmetal]

i had never heard of Itronix until now. just checked out their website, pretty hardcore stuff.

 

[theferg]

Itronix IX250 military grade laptop, shock mounted hard drive. Topo GPS program off-road, military use in all sorts of conditions... No problems.

Any pics of how you've got this mounted? I'd love to see this type of setup.

-Ferg-

 

[sprocket3]

You guys should check out the Itronix tablet. Just getting mine all set up last night and it's pretty nice. Runs Topo and I Nav software very well. The small size and not having to deal with the L shape of a laptop works pretty well. Ram makes a holder for it that i'm either going to bolt to the arm rest area or the dash in front of the clock. So far i only purchased the holder, not all the arms and brackets as they are a little too intrusive..

 

[shinny]

vibrations & shock okay, temperature - not so much.

I use laptops in a truck in the bush all the time. Never had a problem with shock, vibrations, or even dust. I've had 2 hard drive failures, and know of others due to operating temperatures. Probably not a big problem where you are - but here, operating a hard drive below -20C will seriously shorten it's life expectancy.

 

[Arsenal]

Sorry to hijack but what are you guys using (hardware or software) to display your GPS on your laptop screen? I have been looking for something for this.
Thanks

 

[Waorani]

Sorry to hijack but what are you guys using (hardware or software) to display your GPS on your laptop screen? I have been looking for something for this.
Thanks

I really like Delormes 3D Topo Quads - $100/state (but often have discounts). This is actual 7.5min 24k USGS Quad imagery. The version 2.0 allows you to store the data on your HD rather than have the data cd/dvd in. Their TOPOUSA software is NOT actual Quad imagery.

Lots of folks use National Geographic's state quad software. I've used it a couple of times with no problems.

Of course if you really want to get serious - ArcView!!

 

[alia176]

just wondering how everybody's hard drives in their laptops are holding up out on the trail, if anybody's ever had to get one replaced due to vibrations, dust, etc.

Never had a problem with any of my laptop HDDs since the mid 90's. The keyboards take a beating from the dust but that's about it. I do set the HDD to shut down after 10 min of idle, not sure if that helps it out or not. Laptops are the usual Dell, Compaq and now HP business units.

For software I use: Topo!, 3D Topo Quads, Topo 5.0 and Microsoft S&T.

 

[Xanatost]

I use this for my trail and shop computer:

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs...ngId=-1&categoryId=577&parentCategoryId=16154

If I need a key board off road I go by compusa and they have a roll up keyboard. It is very rugged and water proof.