mac mini (2012): on its side okay?

[therealseebs]

I have a setup in which it would be stupendously convenient if I could put the mini on its side next to a thing that has about 3" of space left next to it. I have checked Apple's support site, and found nothing. Google in general turned up threads from 2005-2009 or so which linked to an Apple support article for those models, but the article link is now dead (it just goes to the new support page). Apple's support search form suggestions include multiple variants of "on its side" or "orientation", but do not link to any articles which are even a bit relevant.

[Darby67]

I've not done it personally but I've seen several people doing just that, in fact there are a few bases around which help to keep it in that position. Good luck!

[therealseebs]

Originally Posted by Darby67

I've not done it personally but I've seen several people doing just that, in fact there are a few bases around which help to keep it in that position. Good luck!

Thanks! I'm hoping for the best, anyway.

I'd be a little less concerned if I had the resources to swap the drive out for an SSD (since the only drives I've ever heard of caring about orientation were hard drives), but I figure laptop drives are probably pretty good about this anyway.

[dasx]

There's a stand for the Mini (see attached photo) so it can't be too bad.
The only problem I could think of might be the HDD. I'm not sure if a mechanical drive will perform at its best when on its side. My point being I think there would be a higher probability of failure of the drive.

BUT. I might be wrong, that's all a guess based on how regular drives work.

On the other hand, and if you own an SSD and no mechanical drives, I think there shouldn't be any problem. (Again, can't tell for sure).

[poloponies]

Originally Posted by dasx

There's a stand for the Mini (see attached photo) so it can't be too bad.
The only problem I could think of might be the HDD. I'm not sure if a mechanical drive will perform at its best when on its side. My point being I think there would be a higher probability of failure of the drive.

BUT. I might be wrong, that's all a guess based on how regular drives work.

On the other hand, and if you own an SSD and no mechanical drives, I think there shouldn't be any problem. (Again, can't tell for sure).

There are no issues whatsoever with a vertical orientation.

[Mojo1]

Mechanical hard drives are not the equivalent of a record player where the LPs will fall off the platter if stacked on its side (not to mention the tone arm will have considerable trouble with gravity). You can turn the Mini upside-down and it will still function (but it will look rather funny in that position...)

The previous respondent did not provide a link but I think that OWC sells the Mini stand that is pictured in his post.

[CausticPuppy]

In the old days, hard drives generally only worked when horizontal. By "old days" I mean the 80's and early 90's.

Today's hard drives will work fine in any orientation.

[dasx]

Originally Posted by poloponies

There are no issues whatsoever with a vertical orientation.

Great to know!

I was only "worried" about the HD being in a vertical position. Although now that I think about it I can recall servers having their drives vertically.

Originally Posted by Mojo1

The previous respondent did not provide a link but I think that OWC sells the Mini stand that is pictured in his post.

Assuming the OP is USA citizen… Here's one.

[bbucy]

Drives are vertical in an iMac.

[nikolajlr]

It is not an issue these days. It was 20+ years ago especially with SOME (but not all) 5,25" hard drives (perhaps some 3,5" as well, but personally I only had problems with 5,25" drives). And as bbucy pointed out the 3,5" drive in the iMacs are mounted vertically.

[Caromsoft]

As far as I know all of the Mac Mini Colocation sites have their Minis vertically. Here they even have a photo of the rack on the main page.

http://www.macminivault.com/

[jfriedman8]

I've used mine like this and no problems so far.