working magnetic drum stores?

From: Tony Duell <ard_at_p850ug1.demon.co.uk>
Date: Fri Apr 2 17:56:16 2004

> Drives like the RK05 retract the heads as part of spindown, so the
> heads never land on the platter. They only load when the disk is up
> to speed.

You hope... If the power fails and your NiCd pack isn't any good, then
the heads will land on the platter with nasty results...

Anyway, the 'ting' when the heads load on an RK05 is claimed to be the
heads bouncing off the platter, so they may well touch for an instant.

>
> Gravity is a component of the head loading force, which is why the
> "up" and "down" heads are different -- different springs.

They're different because they have to be mirror images (so that they'll
fit into the position carriage, so that the cables come out on the same
side, so that the right edge of the head profile is the 'leading edge'
and so on.

The obvious test (try the spings against each other) suggests that the up
and down head springs have much the same tension. There may be
differences, but I don't thing it's that major.

-tony
Received on Fri Apr 02 2004 - 17:56:16 BST