Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:56:31 -0700
Reply-To: Larry Chase <roadguy@ROADHAUS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Larry Chase <roadguy@ROADHAUS.COM>
Subject: Re: "Car Computer" in your Vanagon?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes
Bob & Neil,
I assume we are talking about Laptop computers and not Desktop.
My recommendation ...
* Fully back up your Hard drive.
I would actually clone it and for that you would need;
- USB Hard Drive Enclosure like this ... be sure to get the right one
for your Hard Drive Type (SATA / IDE)
http://tinyurl.com/6ltzdk
- Spare hard drive same size as original
- Cloning software like "Casper 5.0" this is for Windows so if running
Mac find an equivalent
http://www.fssdev.com/products/casper/
You clone the drive one a week or month and switch out the drives so
you are always using the most recent clone. This tests it to insure
functionality.
While on the road for your years I used an IBM Thinkpad. Never really
babied it ... so it saw a lot of dust, vibration, heat and cold.
Never had a failure or a problem. Came off the road and had two
hardrive failures over the next 2 years. Go figure.
But with the clone approach, if the Hard Drive fails .... you just pop
in the clone and your back in business and only loose new data created
since the last clone.
larry
roadhaus.com
- - -
Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:26:19 +0000
From: Bob Stevens <mtbiker62@COMCAST.NET>
Subject: Re: "Car Computer" in your Vanagon?
I've done a little bit of wondering on this issue myself lately. I
just took delivery of the MacBook Pro 15.4" and plan on using it for
all kinds of vanagon travel "stuff", Delorme included. I'll use a
Verizon "stick" for wireless service (best for my part of the
country). Noticed in the instructions it says to turn it off before
moving it from a stationary position as the spinning hard drive can be
critically damaged if still spinning while the unit is moved.
Sooooooo. Glad to see Mike's post and I do know several listers who do
this, and have for years, seemingly without consequence (Larry Chase
as example).
bob
'87 Syncro Westy
> Are there any Vananauts running a "car computer" in their Vanagon?
> i.e. a Mac/PC adapted to a Vanagon.
>
> Any hard drive (or other hardware?) issues? Anyone running a flash
> drive in place of the HDD?
>
> From what I've read, one potential problem spot is the hard drive
> surviving bumps/vibration/temperature extremes.
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