[neilep (OP)]

Reading about Dr Geezers luff for disembowling hard drives and being in awe of the majestic beauty within I did in fact wonder what this is !

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Something I Wonder What It Is !



About 3cm long and 1cm wide it's filled with back ball things !!

what are they?...what are they made from ?..what do they do ?

They're in a sealed plastic little box as ewe can see !


*le sigh*

I just do not know !


bet ewe do though !!


Hugs & shmishes




mwah mwah mwah mwah



Neil
All my Balls Are Small
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[RD]

Replacement (spare) ball bearings ? ...

... HDD have ball bearing spindle motors. These ball bearings are metal balls that are lubricated by a thin layer of grease. Imperfections in the roundness of the bearings and within the raceways (in which the bearings reside) set up random vibrations that can cause problems

http://storage.toshiba.eu/cms/ar/meta/storage_device_division/technology.html

[Geezer]

Lead shot I would guess. Can you test to see if they are magnetic?

I've never seen anything like that in a drive before. The only thing I can think of is that it is acting as an inertial damper (a sort of shock absorber), perhaps to counteract the acceleration of the head positioner or eliminate some undesirable resonance.

[RD]

"airfilter"  "dessicant" and "damper" have been suggested elsewhere ...

http://www.electronicspoint.com/lead-shot-hard-drives-why-t26382.html

http://www.rittercnc.com/metalworking/Mysterious-Capsule-in-Maxtor-Disk-Drive-466210-.htm


 I'd like to retract my spare ball bearings suggestion [:I], and change my vote to "internal shock absorber" (damper).

[Geezer]

I think I better retract my inertial damper suggestion too!

There's nothing else for it. Neil will have to open the 
capsule

I'm wondering if the balls allow the drive to be hermetically sealed. If they are squishy, they could be reducing pressure fluctuations inside the drive.

[RD]

I think I better retract my inertial damper suggestion too!

A container with tiny ball bearings could make a good shock absorber provided there was at least one complete layer of ball bearings, with some loose ball bearings free to move over this layer.

The movement of the free balls over the complete layer of balls could absorb the energy of impacts in a horizontal plane, but not the vertical.

BTW the silica gel desiccant does have little balls in it, but they are in a little (usually white) bag which moisture can permeate, not a sealed rectangular perspex container, ...

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http://www.techrepublic.com/forum/discussions/102-220069-2221650