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News Seagate announces multi-actuator hard drive tech

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by bit-tech, 19 Dec 2017.

  1. bit-tech

    bit-tech Supreme Overlord Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    Read more
     
    bit-tech, 19 Dec 2017
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  2. Anfield

    Anfield Multimodder

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    More moving parts = Lower reliability
     
    Anfield, 19 Dec 2017
    #2
  3. Wakka

    Wakka Yo, eat this, ya?

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    All this money being invested into an already archaic tech... I know mechanical HDD's still have a place right now, but the quicker we move to an entirely low power, zero noise, higher reliability, more environmentally economical, 100% NAND world, the better.
     
    Wakka, 19 Dec 2017
    #3
  4. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    Shows what i know, i always thought HDD actuators already moved independently, at least on a per platter basis. :oops:
     
    Corky42, 19 Dec 2017
    #4
  5. Hustler

    Hustler Minimodder

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    I've had enough Hard Drives fail on me over the years, all Seagates BTW, to know that trusting your data to mechanical drives will always end in tears eventually.
     
    Hustler, 19 Dec 2017
    #5
  6. jb0

    jb0 Minimodder

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    I'm not sure how Seagate thinks this is new. Connor did it in the early '90s... which Seagate should know, given that they're the ones that bought Connor.

    So start a few fabs, saturate the supply chain, and drive flash memory costs down. By all means, please get solid state storage down to a price where it is a viable replacement for disks.

    Stuff is entirely too expensive right now, and until that changes disk technology will continue to evolve, just because the market for high-capacity storage isn't going away. Companies are storing more data about more people every year, and until silicon die is even close to comparably priced with magnetic platters, the humble disk drive will rule that market with a cobalt-plated fist.
     
    jb0, 19 Dec 2017
    #6
  7. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    You're not wrong: US Patent 5293282 A, Multiple Actuator Disk Drive, Connor Peripherals Inc., filed November 9th 1990. Also US 5355486 A, System for Allocating Tasks Between Two Actuators Servicing the Same Magnetic Disk Media in a Single Disk Drive.

    Did Connor ever bring it to market, though? A quick search hasn't brought anything up...

    EDIT: Apparently not: while Connor patented the tech, it hadn't actually released anything commercially before Seagate bought it out. Seagate, however, has launched multiple-actuator drives: an initial model which used the standard single actuator arm but added additional read-write heads in the middle as well as at the end, and a proper dual-actuator model which had a second actuator arm in the opposite corner. The company abandoned the design, though, because it proved too bulky.

    That's probably why it's acting as though this is new: instead of, effectively, having a second everything-but-the-platters hard drive at the far end of the housing, it splits a single actuator arm assembly in half and offers each half independent movement - meaning you get the advantages of multi-actuator without the size and weight issues of the old implementation.
     
    Gareth Halfacree, 19 Dec 2017
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  8. jb0

    jb0 Minimodder

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    I honestly thought Connor had made it to market. Ah well, not the first time I was wrong.

    Credit where it is due, stacking the voice coils like this new implementation is impressive. Can't imagine it was easy to stop them from interfering with each other.
     
    jb0, 20 Dec 2017
    #8
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