Disk Heads Park on Each Reboot?

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KAWill70

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Aug 23, 2008
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I have a Windows 7 desktop computer with Western Digital Caviar drive and hear some kind of click on every reboot. Could that be parking of the disk heads or something else?

Is it true that there is a maximum design specification on the number of times that the disk heads are parked? I would like to minimize that if possible.

Also, I'm curious what happens to the disk heads when power fails suddenly.



 
Solution
K
Here is some information from PCGuide.

"Modern voice-coil actuated hard disk drives are all auto-parking. On some disks, a weak spring is attached to the head assembly that tries to pull the heads to the landing zone. When power is applied the actuator is able to overpower the spring and position the heads normally. When the power is shut off, the electromagnetic force from the voice coil abates, and the spring yanks the heads to the landing zone before the platters can spin down; this can sometimes be heard on older drives as an audible clunk when you turn the power off. Other disks use a different mechanical or electronic scheme to achieve the same goal. Some even make use of the rotational energy remaining in the spindle motor to...
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K

KAWill70

Distinguished
Aug 23, 2008
25
0
18,540
Here is some information from PCGuide.

"Modern voice-coil actuated hard disk drives are all auto-parking. On some disks, a weak spring is attached to the head assembly that tries to pull the heads to the landing zone. When power is applied the actuator is able to overpower the spring and position the heads normally. When the power is shut off, the electromagnetic force from the voice coil abates, and the spring yanks the heads to the landing zone before the platters can spin down; this can sometimes be heard on older drives as an audible clunk when you turn the power off. Other disks use a different mechanical or electronic scheme to achieve the same goal. Some even make use of the rotational energy remaining in the spindle motor to move the heads off the data surface when the power is cut off! This means that modern hard disks will automatically park their heads--even in the event of a power failure--and no utilities are required. The BIOS landing zone parameter for modern drives is ignored."
 
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