Winchester Technology (was Re: MicroVAX equipment

From: Chuck McManis <cmcmanis_at_mcmanis.com>
Date: Thu Jul 19 17:43:45 2001

At 06:16 PM 7/19/01 -0400, Dave wrote:
>On July 19, Iggy Drougge wrote:
> > AFAIK winchester is just old nomenclature for fixed disks. What do you
> mean by
> > winchesters?
>
> The term "winchester" (taken from the IBM 3030 disk drive) implies a
>sealed HDA which cannot (or should not) be opened in an "ordinary"
>environment.

Does anyone know the actual reason that IBM picked the term "winchester" ?
The revolutionary thing about this technology was that the HDA was in a
sealed compartment with a closed loop air supply. This meant you could
guarantee a low particulate count and thus safely fly the heads closer to
the surface (greater density). Previous technologies had extensive
filtration systems that purged the air inside the disk area and kept it
clean but it really wanted to operate in an environment where the air was
_already_ pretty clean. (ie a machine room with its own filtered air)

Without the step of creating a sealed HDA assembly the modern 'hard drive'
would never have been feasible!

--Chuck
Received on Thu Jul 19 2001 - 17:43:45 BST