8 Dec
2006
8 Dec
'06
5:59 p.m.
Marvin Johnston wrote:
Something else I've noticed is that if a drive has stiction, that stiction
will return after the drive sets for a while again. Anyone know what actually
causes stiction?
my dim recollection (back in the day I did actually talk to people from
rodime, lapine, nec, etc about 10 & 20mb 3" st-506 drives) is that it
was combination of the media plating, coating on the platter and the
heads themselves.
since there is no landing zone the heads set down on the media. if the
media was very smooth and the lubricant too thick, the heads would glue
themselves to the media.
I suspect there is slightly more to it than that, but it's been a while
for me. I know the firmware often did a lot to try and mitigate the
problem but I think in the end it was changes in lubricant/coating which
made it go away.
-brad