Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Disk Drives Explained

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the stuff-to-read dept.

CowboyRobot writes "Magnetic disk drives are one of those things I usually take for granted without thinking about, but I recently realized how little I understood about how they really work. ACM Queue has an article from their 'Storage' issue titled, 'You Don't Know Jack About Disks', which does a very good job of explaining exactly how magnetic disks have evolved since the 70s and how they work today."

9 of 132 comments (clear)

  1. Funniest /.'ed message by Bob+Wehadababyitsabo · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Fatal error: Call to undefined function: message_die() in db/db.php on line 88"

    So... anybody got a mirror?

    --
    fsck -u
    1. Re:Funniest /.'ed message by AsnFkr · · Score: 4, Funny

      "Fatal error: Call to undefined function: message_die() in db/db.php on line 88"

      Yea, that is exactly how hard disks *don't* work.

      --


      adventure-today.com
    2. Re:Funniest /.'ed message by AyeRoxor! · · Score: 2, Funny

      I, too, find that message rather suspect. If message_die is an undefined function, then clearly it was placed in the code by a sabateur. A cracker? Or was it the webmaster himself, falling on his slashdot-induced sword?

      Or is it a message from the future?

      Man, I can't wait for T4.

  2. Re:Nintendo Gamecube by carpe_noctem · · Score: 2, Funny

    I love people that start their posts out with "Wrong!". I was instantly convinced!

    --
    "Quoting famous computer scientists out of context is the root of all evil (or at least most of it) in programming." - K
  3. Re:Magentic disk drives are bad for environment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Wow, is this true, or the usual net conspiracy thoery?

    The only reason the parent was modded "Insightful" was that he spelled Congo with a 'K'.
    Remember, alternate spellings always mean that the writer knows the 'real' story.

  4. ILLEGAL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    This type of explaination is ILLEGAL. If you explain Disk Drive YOU MUST PURCHASE SAID DRIVE. We are going to see that this website is taken down immediately. We will log IP addresses of anyone who visits this site and we WILL find you and prosecute you to the maximum extent permissible under the LAW.

  5. Well... by mraymer · · Score: 4, Funny
    I think acmqueue.org just learned something new about hard disks. Namely, that they turn into a pile of warm liquid goo after a severe slashdotting...

    --

    "To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit." -Stephen Hawking

  6. Aha! by bythescruff · · Score: 3, Funny

    Fatal error: Call to undefined function: message_die() in db/db.php on line 88

    Yup, my hard drive did that a few weeks ago...

    --
    Chuck Norris: Socialism == a thousand years of darkness.
  7. Re:Nintendo Gamecube by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Spins the CD from the "outside" to the "inside" eh? Yeah, why don't you just think about that for a few minutes..