h a l f b a k e r yA few slices short of a loaf.
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Rotating drives are on their way out, but this may postpone
their obsolescence. Instead of using round, rotating platters,
which waste space in a square drive, use square platters and
place the read/write head on a rotating actuator. It should be
faster than the rotational speed of the drive
and/or store less-
frequently used data on the corners to reduce wear and
improve access speed.
crystalline storage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HD_DVD
[Voice, Jan 16 2016]
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How would the read/write head reach the corners? |
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By using x,y instead of r, theta, obviously. |
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Not to ruin the fun. but you could also just use a traditional
drive, and add 4 detached corner plates, each with an r/w
head. |
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While you're at it you could counter-rotate the platter and the r/w head to double access speed. |
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How about four miniature platters, tiled in a square enclosure? |
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// By using x,y instead of r, theta, obviously. // |
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Not really possible for any hard drive that uses flying heads,
which is pretty much every hard drive since the IBM 1301,
which came out in 1961. And the access speeds would be far
lower that way, even if that problem was solved. |
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You say that as if it's a bad thing. |
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The "Slow Food Movement" is a thing. I suggest that
perhaps Slow Data could also be a thing. A cat
picture that took seven hours to download would be
better appreciated. |
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How, pray tell, do you intend to communicate with the
spinning head? |
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^<resists urge to crack Linda Blair joke> |
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If trying to eliminate wasted space, then just make circular drive housing. |
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Make the read head like a miniature Roomba, motoring
along in a straight line. At the end of the data furrow, it
moves over a notch, and goes the other way. It can
communicate wirelessly, and be powered like a bumper car
(which can also help it hold itself in position, if your drive is
in a laptop). Multiple independent heads could dramatically
improve seek times. |
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// How, pray tell, do you intend to communicate with
the
spinning head? // |
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How about a rotary transformer, like VCRs use(d)? |
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// Make the read head like a miniature Roomba,
motoring along in a straight line. At the end of the data
furrow, it moves over a notch, and goes the other way. It
can communicate wirelessly, and be powered like a
bumper car (which can also help it hold itself in position,
if your drive is in a laptop). Multiple independent heads
could dramatically improve seek times. // |
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Effectively an inverse tape drive. Hmm. |
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The solution to all this is to have a fractal series of
circular drives. One big platter in the middle. Four
smaller ones at the corners. Then eight smaller ones
in the crevices... et cetera. |
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Sierpinski carpet disk drive ? |
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So, allowing for some sort of rotary transformer how is the
read head rapidly shifted from tracks? Tiny screw drive?
Finally, if the head can read sectors in the corners how
does it do so without requiring the entire radius to spin in? |
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// Then eight smaller ones in the crevices// Is this for use in a non-euclidean enclosure? |
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// So, allowing for some sort of rotary transformer how is
the read head rapidly shifted from tracks? Tiny screw drive?
Finally, if the head can read sectors in the corners how does
it do so without requiring the entire radius to spin in? // |
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Instead of rotating, simply have the head follow a Hilbert
curve. This will cover the entire surface of the platter with
no stopping or backtracking, allowing the head to fly. (Sharp
corners could be a problem, but I think they could be
rounded a little bit without distorting the tracks much.) |
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Makes sense to me, after all skittering around making
millions of tight 90* corners is the perfect way to access
data memory. I'm sure that this alone should save the disk
drive from retirement. Current top end platter drives run
at 15000 rpm which means the edge speed is around 140
mph. Your head enacting a similar read rate will have to
pull a similar pace but while enacting a pattern that
constantly reverses direction. The equivalent of trying to
achieve 60 fps with an etch-a-sketch. |
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//60 fps with an etch-a-sketch// [marked-for-tagline] |
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what if my computer is round shaped? |
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^ that would be pointless... |
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You could have a disk drive with a platter that is concave, its surface part of a sphere. The enclosure could be similarly curved. Different radius curvature could allow different-size enclosures to be nested inside one another. |
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