Undocking and temporarily parking of the hard drive

[BillW50]

I have used XP's undocking and I don't think it is such a good idea for
me to use that opinion. As undocking gives the laptop a pretty good
jolt. And that can't be good unless the hard drive is parked first at
least.

So I usually use standby or hibernation instead (this parks the heads)
which Microsoft claims is unsupported and you are on your own. Microsoft
does say you can shutdown and then reboot, but that takes too long IMHO
if you want to undock temporary and quickly. And I also do the same to
redock as well.

But I rather not even use standby or hibernation modes if I don't have
too. And it would be nice if there was a way to tell all disk writes to
cache for a second or two and park the heads for the docking or
undocking. Anybody know of software that can do this?

Microsoft's EWF can do this (plus you have to reboot to enabled it
anyway), but that is a bit drastic. Also antishock drives and SSD you
don't have to worry about head crashes. Although I need a few dozen of
them and that would be very costly. As I rather keep using my current
lot of hard drives if all possible. I do use SSD in my netbooks because
they are moved around a lot and nothing to worry about small shocks
there.

 

[BillW50]

In

I have a Latitude D series notebook with Latitude D series docking
stations (as well assupported C, D and E series).
I have/had no problems undocking.

I have no problems undocking either David. It is just when I undock, it
is spring loaded and it gives the laptop a good jolt. It is bad enough
that it could cause a head crash if the heads are not parked in the
drive.

 

[BillW50]

In

I don't see that as a problem. That "jolt" doesn't exceed the
G-Force for a hard disk that is powered-up and with *ALL* the
notebook computers I have managed (with the vast majority being on
docking stations) I can't contribute any problems with that action.
This is not like storing a notebook in a car in the Winter months and
then bringing it into the office and powering it up right away
without an interior temperature acclamation period. There you you
have a direct correlation to hard disk failure from that action.

Of course using a SDD negates either situation. I wouldn't mind
replacing the 21GB IDE drive, implemented in the MyGig VES in my
Dodge Grand Caravan, with a SSD.

I have dozens of hard drives here and I could afford to trash a few of
them, but I rather not if I don't have too. I did undock a few times and
it was like smacking the laptop with a 1lb hammer from an inch away.
Maybe hard drives can handle that, I dunno. Seems a bit extreme for my
tastes though. So I rather park the heads before I undock.

Yes my SSD machines, I don't worry about such things. As they could get
smack here and there and nothing to worry about. While this was years
ago, but I one talked to a tech who serviced laptops in police cars. And
he said the hard drives only last about two months on average before the
hard drive was trashed. I'm sure they are using SSD by now in those
laptops. ;-)

 

[BillW50]

In

I love the fact that they don't even get warm. Even when I Ghost an
image to them.

Yes they are wonderful, except for the price. ;-)

Spindle hard disks in *any* mobile environment such as in an auto or
boat should be shock mounted drives. The vibrations get to them due
to sympathetic and harmonic resonance. That's why the IDE hard disk
used in my auto's MyGig is limited to 21GB. It is a shock mounted
drive and they are not as common as standard drives.

When I worked as a Value Added Reseller (VAR) technician we had a
shipping client out of the Port of Newark and the AST computers we
sold them *had* to only have shock mounted drives.

Yes shock mounts really help. When somebody wanted to buy an electron
microscope, we had to test for floor vibrations with very sensitive
equipment. As an (transmission) electron microscope could magnify up to
a million times. Sounds great and all, but vibrations would also magnify
a million times too. So that was terrible. And of course if you could
feel vibrations with your hand, this was already way too much. And lots
of fancy options were available. More shock mounts to floating floors,
etc.

 

[BillW50]

In

I envision that vibrations would blurr the image taken by Scanning
Electron Microscopy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibration_isolation

Yes most definitely. Although a scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a
bit different than a transmission election microscope (TEM). I know both
really well, but the idea is the same. The magnification also magnifies
the vibrations. And to reduce the vibrations down to hundreds of
thousands of times less starts to become an art form.

One of the most basic is the understanding that all matter (even shock
mounts) have a harmonic frequency. Which also covers multiples of or
halves, quarter, etc of such to a lesser degree. And all of this has to
be factored into the equation.

Ideally, no measurable vibrations are always best (thus no need for any
antishock measures). Yes I am talking mostly about electron microscopes,
but it could include hard drives too. Thus any shock mount that fits
into the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. harmonic of the vibrations would definitely
be bad news.

Damping vibrations to a hard drive isn't such a big deal (or as like an
art form) compared to electron microscopes (that also magnifies
vibrations up to a million times). And even though drive manufactures
have improved the shock tolerances over the years, they can only take so
much still.

 

[BillW50]

In

While I have a strong understanding of SEM, I do not know of TEM.

Would you please educate me ;-)

The most basic understanding is that normally a SEM is half of the top
half of the TEM. The sample in the TEM is inserted in the middle of the
column. While in the SEM, this is the end of the line. So the rest as in
the TEM is unimportant as far as a SEM is concern.

Another big difference is that a SEM actually places a small beam of
electrons on a sample and scans it like a CRT image (a TEM places a
small beam only to be magnified). TEM does not scan per se (but they can
if they support that option and they can act like a SEM), but rather use
more like a floodlight on the sample. Yes it is really electrons and not
photons, but the idea is basically the same. And electrons have far
greater resolution than photons have. Thus why the resolution is so much
better.

A SEM you could use a rock or anything you want as a sample. If it is
nonconductive it works best first with sputtering (aka coating) it with
something conductive (otherwise it creates a very bright image with very
little contrast). This means throwing it in a vacuum chamber with
something conductive (gold works really well) and apply high voltage and
using it like a vacuum tube. So in the end in this sample to the human
eye it looks like in this case, the sample looks to be pure gold. Not
anything to be worth anything of any value, but it looks good. But you
probably know all of this.

A TEM sample is totally different. It has to be sliced super thin. So
thin that every case I can think of that you can actually shine light
through it (even metal - that is super thin). But it is using an
electron beam instead.

The other half of the TEM that the SEM doesn't have even magnifies this
image enough further (the same electron does not actually go through but
bumps one to another until one makes it out the other side). It can
under ideal conditions to see almost an atom itself. Yeah a SEM can't do
this and a TEM under ideal conditions can almost see them. As you could
see burry bumps and not much else.

I really oversimplified everything for everybody so forgive me if you
disagree. ;-)