Newsgroups: comp.arch Path: utzoo!henry From: henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) Subject: Re: Disk drives. Message-ID: <1990Aug1.194105.26093@zoo.toronto.edu> Organization: U of Toronto Zoology References: <10058@pt.cs.cmu.edu> <36331@masscomp.ccur.com> Date: Wed, 1 Aug 90 19:41:05 GMT In article <36331@masscomp.ccur.com> arun@tinton.ccur.com (Arun Kandappan) writes: > If I remember right, the SMD disks of CDC had a head which would >literally "take-off" and land. It was designed in such a way that any abrupt >shutdown of the disk would not cause a crash because the head glides down. Essentially all modern disk drives do startup and shutdown that way. But the clearance has to be maintained during operation, which is why you need an air cushion under the head. -- The 486 is to a modern CPU as a Jules | Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology Verne reprint is to a modern SF novel. | henry@zoo.toronto.edu utzoo!henry