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From: gsteckel@vergil.East.Sun.COM (Geoff Steckel - Sun BOS Software)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: HD will not spin up (sometimes), banging it helps; Suggestions?
Keywords: spinup heads
Message-ID: <3168@jaytee.East.Sun.COM>
Date: 1 Nov 90 23:46:47 GMT
References: <1447@pedsga.UUCP> <26953@cs.yale.edu> <0!8%_**@rpi.edu> <3138@jaytee.East.Sun.COM> <4710@trantor.harris-atd.com>
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Reply-To: gsteckel@east.sun.com (Geoff Steckel - Sun BOS Software)
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Organization: Omnivore Technology, Newton, Mass. (617)969-3448
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In article <4710@trantor.harris-atd.com> sonny@trantor.harris-atd.com (Bob Davis) writes:
>In article <3138@jaytee.East.Sun.COM> gsteckel@east.sun.com (Geoff Steckel - Sun BOS Software) writes:
>>A number of winchester disk manufacturers have experienced the
>>`heads stuck to platter' problem - I've observed it on two,
>>
>>Cure:  keep the heads moving.
>>
>	Sir:
>	I am ENTIRELY confused by your post. Do you mean that
>even though the platters are spinning at a very high rate, the heads
>somehow will sometimes suddenly "stick to the platters"? And that
>simply moving the heads occasionally will stop this from occuring?
>	Remarkable.

The story according to the nameless FE is that the platter lubricant
`piles up' somewhere (it wasn't clear whether is was on the head
or on the disk surface), allowing/causing the heads to stick to the
disk when you finally shut it down.  This phenomenon is restricted
to situations in which the disks are run for days to weeks at a time;
it takes a long time with the heads in one place to deplete/move
the lubricant.  Sorry about the unclear posting; the original info
wasn't that clear.  Any disk manufacturing engineers care to clarify
this?

	geoff steckel (gwes@wjh12.harvard.EDU)
			(...!husc6!wjh12!omnivore!gws)
Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Sun Microsystems, despite the From: line.
This posting is entirely the author's responsibility.