What wears out in an HDD?
On Fri, 15 Jan 2016 06:41:54 +1100, "Rod Speed"
wrote:
Micky wrote
What wears out in an HDD?
That varys. Sometimes the don't spin up because the heads are
stuck to the platter. Sometimes the electronics dies. Sometimes
they end up with too many bad spots, usually due to crap
floating around inside the 'sealed' chamber.
Is it only the tone arm that breaks?
There is no tone arm. The preamp for the heads on
the heads arm can die and the head can come off too.
or can the bearings the platter rides on break???
Not break so much as wear out and get very noisy.
Good watches use jewels, rubies, as bearings;
Only the older analog watches.
and cheap watches use metal. What do hard drives use?
Originally metal bearings but now fluid bearings.
I googled but couldn't find much about this.
Does the spindle really ride on an air cushion?
No, the heads do.
Even when the drive is positioned sideways?
Yep. And upside down too. The bigger drives
have more than 1 head and some of the heads
use the underside of the platter even with the
drive positioned normally. They have springs
that hold the heads against the platter and the
heads don't contact the platter when its rotating,
they fly on a layer of air between the platter
surface and the head itself.
Thanks all, and good to see you back, Rod.
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