🚀 go-pugleaf

In <phrDH6ouJ.4Dz@netcom.com> phr@netcom.com (Paul Rubin) says

> Seagate's 4 GB "desktop" drive is the Hawk 4 (ST15230), which is
> slightly slower and cheaper, and runs cooler because of its lower
> spindle speed of 5400 rpm instead of 7200.  I sold my ST15150
> recently because I didn't want to deal with cooling it, and I'll
> probably get an ST15230 soon.

The capability that generally causes a drive to use lots of power and thus
run hot is NOT spindle speed.  It is track-to-track seek.  It takes POWER
to accelerate the mass of the head assembly from rest and to decelerate it
back to rest and do both FAST.  Keeping something running at almost any
constant speed is trivial.  Drives that do fast track-to-track seeks do
tend to have higher spindle speeds, but that is more-or-less a given.  It
is the seek that has a bigger effect on performance in most cases, and the
user of power in all cases.  However, large numbers (spindle speed) stand
out, while small numbers (seek) sink into the paper.  (And that is why
MTBF is used to describe the real property which is failure rate.)

Also note that this is track-to-track seek, which is really the difficult
property to improve.  Fast average (one third stroke) seek is generally
MUCH easier to lower than track-to-track.  So naturally the average seek
is the thing that appears in most advertisements.

Harvey

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