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A comment on Seagate Announces 12 TB HDD: 2nd-Gen Helium-Filled HDD. Parent comment

Re:Seagate Announces 12 TB HDD: 2nd-Gen Helium-Filled HDD by jdietrich on Thursday March 16, 2017 @09:58PM (#13890761)
Air shear can generate a significant amount of heat. Reducing drag will also reduce the power requirements for the motor and voice coil. HGST claim a 23% reduction in operating power over air-filled drives.

http://www.hgst.com/company/media-room/press-releases/HGST-H...

As I understand it, the crucial factor motivating helium-filled drives is the reduction of vibration due to internal turbulence. Reducing turbulence inside the drives allows platters and heads to be made thinner and packed more closely together without affecting reliability.

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Re:Seagate Announces 12 TB HDD: 2nd-Gen Helium-Filled HDD by astrodust on Thursday March 16, 2017 @11:41PM (#13891275)
Right, so it's the nature of the gas in terms of its viscosity and turbulence that's the factor here, not in terms of friction per-se.
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