"Denny" wrote in message
oups.com...
[...]
These observatories are above 10,000 feet... The astronomers have no
hard drive problems I am aware of... The OP is repeating old wives
tales without any real knowledge...

Drive manufacturers often specifically state a maximum elevation for use of
their drives, because the issue *is* real.

It is true that, with a design maximum elevation of 10K, and a failure mode
that is not immediate, one can use a hard drive above 10K for some period of
time without it crashing (for example, at 10,001 feet you're unlikely to
ever have a problem). But that doesn't mean there's no issue. It just
means the issue isn't generally catastrophic.

And why would you be aware of their hard drive problems anyway? It's not
like the drive is necessarily going to fail *while* above 10K feet. It can
easily be damaged at altitude, and then not actually show signs of failure
until the computer is back at a normal altitude. Do these astronomers
report all of their technical problems, including hardware failures, to you?

Pete