Hi, mantek!
The idea isn’t stupid at all. I also came to the same idea a few months ago. Then I conducted a patent search - many guys through the last 25 years saw the distinct advantages of SHD - static head disk (as opposed to SSD and HDD abbreviations). You counted the advantages right, while there are even more: increased MTBF, less noise, reliability, shock resistance etc.
To accommodate such large amount of static heads, the heads should be small - in order of few microns. Thus, VLSI (very large scale integration) techniques should be employed for manufacturing. And here comes the biggest challenge - how to produce viable (capable of read and write) head in such dimensions.
I personally have a vast experience in VLSI and academic research - and I tell you this isn’t simple at all. I think (again it’s my personal belief) that it’s possible by combining advanced VLSI with advanced signal processing (and this will be the real patentable know-how). Consequently, to provide a meaningful answer re applicability of this approach to the modern drive capacities, a serious research effort (probably 2-3 years) to be furnished. Such research would concise multiphysics simulation, numerous prototypes and extensive experimenting. A tight connection to a big HDD manufacturer, like WD is also mandatory for both technical and budget issues.
Summarizing, your question (IMHO) should be actually addressed to WD, not to forum participants:
“Hey, WD guys, did you investigate seriously the possibility to design SHD (static head disk)? If yes, please, post your results (we understand that since SHD isn’t on the market, the decision was negative. But why? - technical? cost? other?). If not, but you’d like to - contact me by email and we’ll discuss the aspects of high quality research of this topic.”
