Sony hdd drive high altitude?

Question

in my manual for my camcorder it says my hdd drive MAY be damaged if i use at over 3000meters.

does anyone know the reason why and what are the risks?

i am going up Kilimanjaro next week and would like to use my hd camcorder but kilimanjaro is jyst under 6000 meters

Answer 1

Agree with iridflare...

Note that miniDV tape and flash memory camcorders typically do not have an altitude restriction like HDD based camcorder have.

Answer 2

I'd never thought of this before - thanks for pointing it out!

The heads in a hard drive "fly" over the disk surface - if there's not enough air they can't fly and you get a head crash.  Obviously, air pressure reduces as you get higher, hence the altitude restriction.