Everything Apple (the Mac heads thread)

^ would've be the case before, but nowadays hdd's have a lock mode that locks the 'tone arm' (correct term?) so it can't scratch the disks

As a computer scientist, I can tell you that this is rubbish.

If you had a SSD, then fair enough.

But the distance between the reading head and the magnetic layer on the platter is so small, and the arm so thin, that even if the arm is secured against movement, a knock can very easily wipe out your hard drive.

If your computer doesn't have a SSD: Show caution, always.