Vacuum-filled drives?

WD Internal Drives Internal Drives
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If helium(He) improves drive efficiency because of it’s lesser density compared to air, shouldn’t a vacuum(not a VACUUM CLEANER LOL) give maximum efficiency due to there being nothing in the drive’s internal atmosphere to slow down the disk(s) with there being a thin compartment molded into the drive’s frame with 10PSI air inside to keep dust out that is hermetically sealed? Just an idea…

:slight_smile:

1 Like
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Status: Acknowledged

Idea approved for voting.

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A hard vacuum wouldn’t work. The heads of a hard drive “float” on air (or whatever gas is in there). In fact if you took a non-sealed HDD into space, the heads would crash and destroy it.

A lower pressure of normal air might work, but then you’d have to fight the higher outside pressure of the atmosphere trying to get it. That’s why helium is better - it has lower mass, and therefore, lower drag, at 1 atm (14 PSI). That’s also why it’s used for balloons.

Perhaps they could make hydrogen filled drives for those who like excitement? :slight_smile: