WD's Subsidiary HGST Announces Helium-filled Hard Drives

Rob Williams · 09-14-2012, 03:03 PM

The great thing about innovation is that it never has to end. Just when many were beginning to feel that roadblocks would prevent mechanical hard drives from progressing much further, WD's subsidiary HGST has just announced a small breakthrough. One of the biggest detriments to mechanical storage has been the fact that it's air-sealed. That of course offers no support to the platters, increasing drag and causing other maladies that could wear a drive out over time. The solution? Helium.

Read the rest of our post and then discuss it here!

madmat · 09-14-2012, 03:59 PM

If they really want to get the maximum efficiency from the minimal space inside a HDD they should put the drive in a chamber flooded with helium, enclose the drive and pull a vacuum before sealing it off. The vacuum offers even less mechanical resistance and whatever residual gas would be in the drive would be helium so it would still have the same benefit.

Rob Williams · 09-14-2012, 06:43 PM

From what I understand, current drive designs wouldn't allow a vacuum implementation. Some have said that it'd affect the gas that's needed to have the platters rotate smoothly while others have said you might die if you drop it on the ground and it explodes (that'd be cool to see).

https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&n....1._ZrNN75tDOs

Helium on the other hand basically compliments current designs a lot more so the implementation is easier.

Tharic-Nar · 09-14-2012, 06:59 PM

Air is required for the heads to float above the platter surface, the high speed spinning creates the layer, preventing the head from crashing into the platter.

madmat · 09-14-2012, 07:13 PM

I wonder if you'd still get the boundary layer if it was a soft vacuum rather than a hard vacuum.

Tharic-Nar · 09-14-2012, 09:23 PM

Vacuums can leak, even sealed low pressure 'pockets' will eventually normalise after a year, especial with large temperature changes. With these helium drives, can they maintain the gas inside without loss? Evaporation can occur with only a few nanometers gap in the structure.

madmat · 09-14-2012, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tharic-Nar

Vacuums can leak, even sealed low pressure 'pockets' will eventually normalise after a year, especial with large temperature changes. With these helium drives, can they maintain the gas inside without loss? Evaporation can occur with only a few manometers gap in the structure.

I've seen vacuum tubes older than I am that are still going strong. Sealed properly they won't leak.

09-14-2012, 03:03 PM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	WD's Subsidiary HGST Announces Helium-filled Hard Drives The great thing about innovation is that it never has to end. Just when many were beginning to feel that roadblocks would prevent mechanical hard drives from progressing much further, WD's subsidiary HGST has just announced a small breakthrough. One of the biggest detriments to mechanical storage has been the fact that it's air-sealed. That of course offers no support to the platters, increasing drag and causing other maladies that could wear a drive out over time. The solution? Helium. Read the rest of our post and then discuss it here! __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

09-14-2012, 03:59 PM	#2
madmat Soup Nazi Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: No soup for you! Posts: 1,639	If they really want to get the maximum efficiency from the minimal space inside a HDD they should put the drive in a chamber flooded with helium, enclose the drive and pull a vacuum before sealing it off. The vacuum offers even less mechanical resistance and whatever residual gas would be in the drive would be helium so it would still have the same benefit. __________________ M4N82 Deluxe Phenom II 940 Black Edition quad core @ 3.5Ghz 2x1 gig OCZ PC26400 Platinum, 2x1gig GSkill PC26400 EVGA GTX260 Buncha drives, Some other stuff, Even more stuff, If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. --Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine Sign Me!

09-14-2012, 06:43 PM	#3
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	From what I understand, current drive designs wouldn't allow a vacuum implementation. Some have said that it'd affect the gas that's needed to have the platters rotate smoothly while others have said you might die if you drop it on the ground and it explodes (that'd be cool to see). https://www.google.ca/search?hl=en&n....1._ZrNN75tDOs Helium on the other hand basically compliments current designs a lot more so the implementation is easier. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

09-14-2012, 06:59 PM	#4
Tharic-Nar Techgage Staff Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: UK Posts: 1,152	Air is required for the heads to float above the platter surface, the high speed spinning creates the layer, preventing the head from crashing into the platter. __________________ PSU: Corsair 1000HX - Case: Thermaltake Xaser VI Full Tower - CPU: Intel Core i7 2600 @3.8GHz - Cooler: Thermaltake FRIO - Motherboard: ASUS P67 Sabertooth - Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic 1600 - GPU: 2x AMD Radeon HD 5870 - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB 6Gb/s - Audio: ASUS Xonar DX + Corsair HS1 USB Headset K/B: Corsair K90 - Mouse: Corsair M60 - Monitor: DELL U2410 - Speakers: Corsair SP2500 - Headset: Corsair HS1A - Mic: Blue Yeti USB Microphone - I need Fiber to fix my Irregular Bandwidth Syndrome -

09-14-2012, 07:13 PM	#5
madmat Soup Nazi Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: No soup for you! Posts: 1,639	I wonder if you'd still get the boundary layer if it was a soft vacuum rather than a hard vacuum. __________________ M4N82 Deluxe Phenom II 940 Black Edition quad core @ 3.5Ghz 2x1 gig OCZ PC26400 Platinum, 2x1gig GSkill PC26400 EVGA GTX260 Buncha drives, Some other stuff, Even more stuff, If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. --Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine Sign Me!

09-14-2012, 09:23 PM	#6
Tharic-Nar Techgage Staff Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: UK Posts: 1,152	Vacuums can leak, even sealed low pressure 'pockets' will eventually normalise after a year, especial with large temperature changes. With these helium drives, can they maintain the gas inside without loss? Evaporation can occur with only a few nanometers gap in the structure. __________________ PSU: Corsair 1000HX - Case: Thermaltake Xaser VI Full Tower - CPU: Intel Core i7 2600 @3.8GHz - Cooler: Thermaltake FRIO - Motherboard: ASUS P67 Sabertooth - Memory: 16GB Corsair Vengeance LP Arctic 1600 - GPU: 2x AMD Radeon HD 5870 - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB 6Gb/s - Audio: ASUS Xonar DX + Corsair HS1 USB Headset K/B: Corsair K90 - Mouse: Corsair M60 - Monitor: DELL U2410 - Speakers: Corsair SP2500 - Headset: Corsair HS1A - Mic: Blue Yeti USB Microphone - I need Fiber to fix my Irregular Bandwidth Syndrome - Last edited by Tharic-Nar; 09-15-2012 at 12:10 AM.