> If you (or someone you know) has a write up detailing these statements and tests showing them to be true, I'd be very interested in reading more about this. Please do share.
This is NDA information :) I'm repeating what I've heard from drive makers and my experience after setting up several thousands of RAID systems. I didn't made tests recently, but vibrations can kill an array performance. I've seen a chassis where the central drive slot (among 24) wasn't usable because it vibrated more than the others :)
It sounds like what you're saying makes sense, from a drive business and manufacturing perspective.