I'm seeing a lot of people either lay their HDs on foam or completely engulf them in foam (notebook drives).

Isn't this dangerous for static? Can the foam release static electricity to the HD's board located underneath it?

I'm not a n00b at SPCR but its a n00b question so I guess I'll post it here...

No, it's safe.

Some have said you should obey the sticker which says 'do not cover holes'. I never have - no problems either.

3.5" drives are a different story.

theoretically you should use antistatic foam but i've never had any problems; use the foam the HD came in (if any).

In terms of heat dissipation, right?


What I've done is turned an anti-static bag inside out and placed foam in it, then placed the HD on top... perhaps a little paranoid.


So how can you differentiate anti-static foam from ordinary foam? Is it more expensive?

I would be more worried about grounding myself while handling a hard drive than placing foam around it. Foam is a poor conduit of electricity anyways isn't it?

Which is exactly why static builds up on it.

You can always use some copper tinsel to connect the foam to the case to dissipate the static.

Ahh... I forgot to turn on my brain last night apparently The tinsel to draw away any static charge is a good idea.

I don't know if I would put it inside a static bag while running. The static bag is slightly conductive (on the order of 1 Mega Ohm) so it could cause some funkiness if it was touching the circuit board side of the drive.

I'm putting the foam in a reversed static bag, not the hard drive... or does you point still apply?

I'm thinking the easiest solution is some sort of metal plank screwed to the bottom of the the hd to protect the circuit board.

But the metal plank would still have to be grounded to the case to prevent static buildup.

I really think you're worrying too much about this. Many people here run their drives on foam without problems. I'd imagine that the relatively low amount of static generated is carried away by the power connector anyway.

Not really. Static buildup on the plank is no problem as the plank will never touch any of the components on the drive's board.

My insanely loud 5yo V80-series Samsung has been running on foam for the last 2 years and still going strong. Too bad I don't have any pictures of it, because it's one fugly ghetto build. I taped the Samsung to foam and then used 2 sided tape to attach the foamed Samsung to the case floor, so the case can be transported with the drive inside.

I swear in the name of foam, it's probably the most convenient and easiest suspension one can make. I currently have my enclosed Raptor sitting vertically on foam.

Physical contact is not necessary for an ESD event; if you're going to go totally overboard with this, you should consider arc discharge as well.

If you're going to go that far with it, you can also look at the distance between the hard drive and make sure theres a wire leading to the case, not connected to the plate, but closer to it than the drive, so that the ESD would arc to the wire, and not to the drive, this wouldn't mean a connection, thus no vibration going on, but still would in effect earth the thing