{"id":13508,"date":"2008-11-26T13:00:34","date_gmt":"2008-11-26T20:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2008\/11\/26\/hard-drives-by-analogy.html"},"modified":"2008-11-26T13:00:34","modified_gmt":"2008-11-26T20:00:34","slug":"hard_drives_by_analogy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/26\/hard_drives_by_analogy.html","title":{"rendered":"Hard drives, by analogy"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"img-shadow-right\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Hard drive\" height=\"124\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/hard-drive.jpg\" width=\"124\" \/> <\/div>\n<p>We are so blas\u00e9 about hard drives and how they work. But <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tomshardware.com\/picturestory\/476-6-seagate-hard-drive.html\" target=\"_blank\">the precision involved is astonishing<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The dimensions of the head are impressive. With a width of less than a hundred nanometers and a thickness of about ten, it flies above the platter at a speed of up to 15,000 RPM, at a height that\u2019s the equivalent of 40 atoms. If you start multiplying these infinitesimally small numbers, you begin to get an idea of their significance. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"spip\"> Or, to give an amazing analogy:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"spip\"> Consider this little comparison: if the read\/write head were a Boeing 747, and the hard-disk platter were the surface of the Earth:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"spip\">\n<li class=\"spip\"> The head would fly at Mach 800<\/li>\n<li class=\"spip\"> At less than one centimeter from the ground<\/li>\n<li class=\"spip\"> And count every blade of grass<\/li>\n<li class=\"spip\"> Making fewer than 10 unrecoverable counting errors in an area equivalent to all of Ireland.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"spip\"> Wow.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><small><\/p>\n<p class=\"spip\"> (via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kottke.org\/08\/11\/counting-all-the-blades-of-grass-in-ireland\" target=\"_blank\">kottke<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p><\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We are so blas\u00e9 about hard drives and how they work. But the precision involved is astonishing: The dimensions of the head are impressive. With a width of less&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-tech"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13503,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/26\/i_waste_madame_leota_with.html","url_meta":{"origin":13508,"position":0},"title":"&#8220;I waste Madame Leota with my crossbow!&#8221;","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 26-Nov-08 8:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The Haunted Mansion (Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom version) done up lovingly as a level map for the FPS game Counter-Strike.\u00a0 It's impressive both as an effort and as a...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Disney\/Pixar&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Disney\/Pixar","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/disney"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14029,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/03\/06\/significant-figures.html","url_meta":{"origin":13508,"position":1},"title":"Significant figures","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 6-Mar-09 7:28am","format":false,"excerpt":"I, too, used to be amused when Mr. Spock would correct people with computer-like precision on various numbers. MR CHEKHOV: We should be there in 22 minutes, sehr. MR SPOCK: I should say 22.47589 minutes, Ensign. I do wish you would endeavor to be more precise. MR CHEKHOV: (Mutters something\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Science &amp; Nature&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Science &amp; Nature","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/science"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":130802,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/05\/the-nuclear-donald.html","url_meta":{"origin":13508,"position":2},"title":"The Nuclear Donald","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 5-Jun-16 5:04pm","format":false,"excerpt":"As if the idea of the mercurial Donald Trump having his finger on the button isn't itself pretty scary, he also seems blase, even encouraging (when not walking it back) about other countries developing and deploying nuclear weapons, including S Korea, Japan, even Saudi Arabia. Because how can that possibly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11309,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2007\/09\/28\/gah_5.html","url_meta":{"origin":13508,"position":3},"title":"Gah!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 28-Sep-07 1:34pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Came home and found on the table a note from Littleton Public Schools about how Katherine's school had been locked down on Wednesday because of Sheriff's activity in the area.\u00a0...","rel":"","context":"In &quot;School Daze&quot;","block_context":{"text":"School Daze","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/school-daze"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26200,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/08\/yes-denver-so-definitely-needs-more-donut-shops.html","url_meta":{"origin":13508,"position":4},"title":"Yes, Denver so definitely needs more donut shops","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 8-Feb-12 10:34am","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember the (literal) feeding frenzy when Krispy Kreme came to town? Or Lamar's? And now Dunkin' Donuts? Meh. Whatever. (Oh, I understand they also serve coffee. Cool -- we've such a shortage of coffee shops in this town.) #ddtbReshared post from +The Denver PostWho doesn't like donuts? Coloradans will find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26202,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2012\/02\/08\/yes-denver-so-definitely-needs-more-donut-shops-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":13508,"position":5},"title":"Yes, Denver so definitely needs more donut shops","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 8-Feb-12 10:34am","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember the (literal) feeding frenzy when Krispy Kreme came to town? Or Lamar's? And now Dunkin' Donuts? Meh. Whatever. (Oh, I understand they also serve coffee. Cool -- we've such a shortage of coffee shops in this town.) #ddtbReshared post from +The Denver PostWho doesn't like donuts? Coloradans will find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;~PlusPosts&quot;","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}