[pct-l] using hard drive above 10,000'

[Jeffrey Olson]

       From Dylan...


      http://www.instantfundas.com/2010/02/interesting-hard-drive-facts-you.html


      High altitude can damage your hard drives

skydiving

The hard drive's spindle system relies on air pressure inside the 
enclosure to support the heads at their proper flying height while the 
disk rotates. The air pressure inside the drive is maintained by the 
hole which communicates with the air pressure outside. If a drive is 
used at too high an altitude, the air pressure drops and become too thin 
to support the heads at their proper operating height. If the head gets 
too close to the disk, there is risk of head crash and disk failure will 
result. For the same reason, a hard disk cannot operate in vacuum.

The safe operating altitude for a hard drive is usually 3000 meters 
(~10,000 feet). Specially manufactured sealed and pressurized disks, 
such as these 
<http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/consumer_electronics/ee25_series/>, 
are needed for reliable high-altitude operation. Above 12,000 meters 
(~40,000 feet) a normal desktop hard drive will fail to operate.

Using a laptop on a commercial airliner is safe because the cabin is 
pressurized, but if you live in a high altitude region, you should 
switch to a more rugged disk drive.