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Rockbox mail archiveSubject: RE: Re[2]: Hard Disk QuestionRE: Re[2]: Hard Disk Question
From: Fred Maxwell <rockbox_at_anti-spam.org>
Date: Sat, 8 May 2004 11:56:17 -0400 Roland wrote: > i`m no mechanic - but - regarding the new 1.8" HDD models: > > shouldn`t such HDDs be more robust than a 2.5" HDD in general ? > Less weight means less forces - so probably a tiny HDD is more > robust than a bigger HDD ? You are a better mechanic than you give yourself credit for. There are several mechanical factors at work: A larger hard drive requires a longer arm to hold the head. That means that, in general, the arm has more mass. Because the arm is longer, there is also greater leverage when it receives a G-shock. Since a 1.8" hard drive has a shorter and lighter arm, it's, in general, going to be more shock-resistant. Here's where things get interesting: The primary reason that mass is kept down on the arm and head assemblies is to allow faster seeks (the head moving from one track to another). This is important when reading and writing randomly placed data as one normally does when using a computer. In the case of an MP3 player, the needs are totally different. There is a specific rate at which you can use the data (e.g., 128kbps, 192kpbs, etc.) and as long as the hard drive can seek and read fast enough to keep a buffer of audio data filled, you're golden. Therefore, it would be possible to design a slower, but more rugged, hard drive that would be well-suited to a portable MP3 player -- even though it would have too slow an average access time to be satisfactory in a personal computer. (It would still be plenty fast for reading directories on the player). The next step in making an optimized MP3 player hard drive is to reduce power consumption. The best ways to do that are 1. Reduce rotational mass and centralize it more (translation, smaller diameter, lighter platters). That reduces current consumption to spin the platters up to speed. 2. Reduce the drive RPMs. You just don't need high rotational speed to keep up with MP3 data rates. Regards, Fred Maxwell _______________________________________________ http://cool.haxx.se/mailman/listinfo/rockbox Received on 2004-05-08 Page template was last modified "Tue Sep 7 00:00:02 2021" The Rockbox Crew -- Privacy Policy |