# Hard Drive Analogy



## dirtbikerac

Hey,

I read an analogy a while ago on the internet about Hard Drives and can not find it again! It went something like this:

If the pin on a hard drive was a Boeing 747, and the disk was earth, the plane would be traveling x inches from the ground, traveling at x mph, and counting x blades of grass every x seconds.

It went something like that, and was very fascinating and put a new spin on how amazing today's hard drives are. Anyways, if you find it, please post!

Dirtbikerac


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## Zatharus

You are referring to this article from Tom's Hardware.

From the article:


> 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’s the equivalent of 40 atoms. If you start multiplying these infinitesimally small numbers, you begin to get an idea of their significance.
> 
> Consider this little comparison: if the read/write head were a Boeing 747, and the hard-disk platter were the surface of the Earth:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The head would fly at Mach 800
> At less than one centimeter from the ground
> And count every blade of grass
> Making fewer than 10 unrecoverable counting errors in an area equivalent to all of Ireland.


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## Cromewell

The analogy is a little off though, flying 1 cm off the ground is much more difficult when you have hills to contend with...of course it'd be pretty hard to do on level terrain too


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## Hass

tom cruise could do it.


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## dirtbikerac

Thanks, just what I was looking for!


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## ganzey

Hass said:


> tom cruise could do it.



tom cruise is gay. But chuck norris could do it while he was round house kicking 3 people and getting laid.


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