21 Mar
2011
21 Mar
'11
2:16 p.m.
I'm not sure I understand this. The absolute
filter is used to
filter the air in the platter compartment (with the platter and
heads); this is a sealed area once the cover is closed. The
prefilter is not in the air path of the absolute filter, so how would
it extend the life of the absolute filter?
As far as I know the pack is _not_ a sealed area. The air comes from the
blower, goes through the absolute filter, then over the disk/heads, and
that part is, indeed sealed, but the output from the pack area back to
the input side of the blower is not. The blower takes in air from inside
the drive, and that will partly be air that's come throug hte pre-filter.
So if you have no pre-filter, there will be more dust on the input side
of the absolute filter.
A practice I make is to allow the air to circulate for several
minutes after mounting a new pack in the drive (with the cover
closed), before spinning up the drive and loading the heads. The
intent is to let the air circulate through the absolute filter and
pick up any crud I might have allowed in, before the heads load.
In an RL drive, the blower is driven by the same motor that runs the
spindle. Unles the pack is spinning up, there is almost no air flow
through the absolute filter nad over the disk. So I wonder just what you
are doing.
-tony