Keeping Laptops Safe On The Bike

[Mr AusAdventure]

Hi guys, I am doing some last minute planning for an upcoming road trip that will see me putting well over 5000 kilometres on the bike.

One of my dilemmas is that I am taking my laptop so that I can upload footage of my trip along the way, keep in touch with my family, business, etc, but I am worried that the computer might suffer from heat exposure in my RJays top box which is black and located right above the exhaust!

The only thing I can think of that might help is to insulate the laptop with clothing from any heat below and then tie one of those windscreen sun reflectors over the top of the box. This will be a bit ugly and will flap about in the breeze no matter how well I tie it town though I feel and will most likely become annoying.

Has anyone out there travelled long distance with a laptop in one of these boxes? If so, what did you do and how did the laptop handle the heat?

Thanks in advance.

Bill

 

[BikersReviews]

my rucksack has laptop compartment in the bit closest to my back.... that might help you

 

[SwitchBiker]

I think you'd be suprised at how well these bags insulate against outside tempuratures. I stuck frozen steaks in one and they were still frozen 6 hours later. If you are worried about heat getting into your laptop I'd slide it into one of these bags and wrap it in a towel, should be fine for the trip. or wrap the laptop in a towel and shove them both into one of these.

 

[Mr AusAdventure]

I think you'd be suprised at how well these bags insulate against outside tempuratures. I stuck frozen steaks in one and they were still frozen 6 hours later. If you are worried about heat getting into your laptop I'd slide it into one of these bags and wrap it in a towel, should be fine for the trip. or wrap the laptop in a towel and shove them both into one of these.

Thanks for that. So simple, but it should work a treat I reckon!

I think I should be able to find something like that here in camping stores perhaps.

I had thought of a regular cooler bag, but did not think it would work too well.

 

[weeemrcb]

Does the laptop have a solid state disk?

If not then I'd highly recommend getting one otherwise you may come back with nothing...

 

[Mr AusAdventure]

Does the laptop have a solid state disk?

If not then I'd highly recommend getting one otherwise you may come back with nothing...

No idea? It is a Macbook Pro 13".

I have never heard of a solid state disk before. Will the heat get to it more if it does not have one?

Confused....must go to Google now! :lol:

 

[Chris033081]

SSD (Solid State Drives) all the rage. They have no moving parts and not susceptible to shock like traditional HDD (Hard Disk Drives) There are no disc platters in solid state units. Imagine having 250GB of data like those in tablets and smartphones. Those are solid state storage units. Like USB thumb drives.

Your laptop will be safe from heat. Most CPU's run at over 55 C. I'm sure you will not be riding around in that heat, but the cooler bag is a good idea.

Don't worry about shock either...Most HDD's are rated to a few G's.

 

[Mr AusAdventure]

SSD (Solid State Drives) all the rage. They have no moving parts and not susceptible to shock like traditional HDD (Hard Disk Drives) There are no disc platters in solid state units. Imagine having 250GB of data like those in tablets and smartphones. Those are solid state storage units. Like USB thumb drives.

Your laptop will be safe from heat. Most CPU's run at over 55 C. I'm sure you will not be riding around in that heat, but the cooler bag is a good idea.

Don't worry about shock either...Most HDD's are rated to a few G's.

Aah, thanks for the info! I am pretty basic when it comes to all this tech stuff. Not up to speed with it much at all!

I posted this message on another bike forum as well and most guys there had done multiple long distance trips in severe heat, had crashes, been offroad etc with no issues whatsoever to their computers. I think if I pad it with clothes underneath and on top and then have a cool bag as well, then I should be OK.

 

[UnstableBoy]

macbook pros can take a beating... mine was in my backpack when I went down in sept. still works fine.

 

[Mr AusAdventure]

macbook pros can take a beating... mine was in my backpack when I went down in sept. still works fine.

Wow! That is incredible that it is still working.

Good to know in case I ever get frustrated with the fact that it does not work like a Windows PC and throw the thing! :lol:

 

[weeemrcb]

I guess it comes down to how important your files are on your laptop.
You don't want to get to 4950 Km and the disk fail on you if that's your storage.

I used to mollycoddle my laptop. All wrapped up and secured on the passenger seat when out on a photo assignments. Once I moved to SSD (4-5 years ago) I could just sling it in the boot safe in the knowledge that my data will make it to the other side no matter what.

It's singularly the best upgrade you can make to any computer
Once you use one you'll never go back to HDD (guaranteed)

Here's a couple of old vids showing some of their benefits:
Lab testing:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJMGAdpCLVg[/youtube]

Chris Parillo
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bowjy6dm7_c[/youtube]

 

[CurlyBlakey]

I'd love to have to worry about things overheating whilst riding my bike, I really would!

 

[Trinith]

I've put thousands of miles on my bike with my laptop stuffed inside a backpack stuffed inside a sidecase, practically hanging from a muffler. Never had even a slight issue. Summer, winter, rain, whatever. I've never opened one of my cases and though "Wow, it's warm in there." There's a LOT of wind going across the case to cool it off, and there isn't as much heat transfer from the exhaust to the case as you might think, especially when there's bike parts between them. Air, in fact, is an awesome insulator. I'd wager that unless you're riding in 70C temps you won't have any problems.

 

[Skully521]

my laptop lives in my backpack and comes wiht me on every commute to uni. the thing about Hard drives isnt always correct. many of the 2.5" hard drives park the reading heads when its not in use. this means any shocks wont damage it. laptops can be surprisingly tough. The heat from the exhaust i wouldn't really worry about. it would be melting your top box before its damaging your computer, but just get one of them cool bags if it gives you piece of mind. one of the things you want to do is make sure the laptop is secure so it dont go flying around in the top box if the worse happened. if your putting clothing in the topbox id put it in the middle of the pile. it would be save some everything there.

If your really worried about loosing the data on your machine id look into online storage.

 

[Mr AusAdventure]

It's singularly the best upgrade you can make to any computer
Once you use one you'll never go back to HDD (guaranteed)

Unfortunately I do not have the time or the money before I leave on the trip to make the upgrade to SSD, but I am impressed by those tests so I will look into it for the future I think. I am pretty confident after hearing about all the trips that people have made carrying laptops and macbooks in particular that mine will be fine if I pack it carefully inside the box with loads of soft stuff all around it.

Thanks everyone for your advice and for sharing your personal experiences travelling with these devices. I really appreciate it and am now a lot wiser for the discussion.

 

[weeemrcb]

...the thing about Hard drives isnt always correct. many of the 2.5" hard drives park the reading heads when its not in use. this means any shocks wont damage it.

Yup. If you look at the g-shock rating of unpowered harddrives it's something like 100g which is a pretty immense shock.
The real problem is when bits are moving and start colliding with impacts or vibration.

That's where it comes down to the risk element.
It's more an issue when someone's paying for your footage. Then you have to make sure it makes it home.
If you can lose your data then it's really only personal loss.

It's singularly the best upgrade you can make to any computer
Once you use one you'll never go back to HDD (guaranteed)

Unfortunately I do not have the time or the money before I leave on the trip to make the upgrade to SSD

No worries. You could still stick one in an external caddy just to get you through the trip, but if funds are tight then another £100 for 128Gb drive may be £100 too much.

I'm sure you'll make it back with everything you need and hope the trip is a success

 

[Trinith]

my laptop lives in my backpack and comes wiht me on every commute to uni. the thing about Hard drives isnt always correct. many of the 2.5" hard drives park the reading heads when its not in use. this means any shocks wont damage it. laptops can be surprisingly tough.

My laptop was in my backpack when I was hit by a deer a few years ago. There's a big rip in the top of the bag where it hit the ground. I landed flat on my back at one point, which means almost 275lbs slammed into the laptop and mashed it into the ground at 30mph. It never skipped a beat.

 

[Mr AusAdventure]

If you can lose your data then it's really only personal loss.

No worries. You could still stick one in an external caddy just to get you through the trip, but if funds are tight then another £100 for 128Gb drive may be £100 too much.

I'm sure you'll make it back with everything you need and hope the trip is a success

Funds are tight as I had to fork out for a GoPro for the trip as my Drift finally died completely last week. So I have had to eat into my travel funds or else I would just go out and get one. There are lots of cheap hard drives out there, I could always just get something cheap for now I guess and protect it in the same way I am planning to protect the macbook. But I am pretty confident now that it will be fine anyway.

Thanks for the well wishes!

My laptop was in my backpack when I was hit by a deer a few years ago. There's a big rip in the top of the bag where it hit the ground. I landed flat on my back at one point, which means almost 275lbs slammed into the laptop and mashed it into the ground at 30mph. It never skipped a beat.

Whoa! That is pretty impressive that it (and yourself) survived that! Did you get it on film? I watched a vid a few months back where someone hit a deer, perhaps it was your footage? I am sure it was someone from this site.

 

[Trinith]

Whoa! That is pretty impressive that it (and yourself) survived that! Did you get it on film? I watched a vid a few months back where someone hit a deer, perhaps it was your footage? I am sure it was someone from this site.

No, it wasn't mine. I actually came out of it very well, only a banged up shoulder and a very tiny amount of road rash. Destroyed all my gear though. Stupid deer. It came out and attacked me, was actually running along beside me for a few seconds.

 

[Mr AusAdventure]

Whoa! That is pretty impressive that it (and yourself) survived that! Did you get it on film? I watched a vid a few months back where someone hit a deer, perhaps it was your footage? I am sure it was someone from this site.

No, it wasn't mine. I actually came out of it very well, only a banged up shoulder and a very tiny amount of road rash. Destroyed all my gear though. Stupid deer. It came out and attacked me, was actually running along beside me for a few seconds.

I have had kangaroos bouncing along the road beside me while I have been riding a few times. Very freaky as they have a tendency to panic and jump out in front of vehicles! :shock: