30 Jan
2003
30 Jan
'03
9:55 a.m.
Tony gets a cigar!
Sorry, don't smoke :-)
Yes. It is true that hard disk makers didn't warrant drives that were
installed in funny positions such as on their face's or corners or
Some manufacturers specifically stated that some mounting positions were
not allowed, even if you formatted the drive in that position (it was
often things like panel-down). I assume this was either a cooling issue,
or the fact that the servo amplifier (if servo tracked) would have to
work harder to keep the head on-track in that position.
One of the first drives I'm aware of that used
this method was the
popular server drive by Seagate. The ST4096. It differs from today's
There were older ones, I suspect, if you go to larger platters. Many of
the 14" 'washing machines', and things like the RL01 and RK07 were
servo-tracked. The Micropolis 1200 series (8" Winchesters) were also
servo tracked.
drive by having dedicated a whole platter to the wedge
positioning
information. Now they use something called 'embedded servo' where the
I beleive one of the first embedded servo drives was the RL01.
-tony