Helium filled HDD: how hard are they to extract data from?

[Russwinters]

I just wanted to post this quote from that article for a laugh:

“Basically, we’re taking the high-capacity hard drive a customer already needs and expects, and magically doubling the IOPS the customer gets from it — with no down side,” says Borden.


no down side, says the people who aren't going to have to try to bring these beasts back from the dead. hah!

[fzabkar]

For those HDDs with dual actuators, are the actuators electrically independent, ie do they have separate flex leads with separate preamps? If so, then I wonder if it would be possible to interchange them in the event that one of them had a bad head.

[Motoko]

There are screws but under a VERY thick "foil" that looks liked it's welded to the edge of the drive. This "foil" was a pig to remove as it was about the same thickness as the Aluminium on a Coke can!

Wow... that's scary considering how porous aluminum is to He. He can leak through anything, given enough time, but the thinness of that cover is alarming. Do you have calipers by any chance? Can you measure the thickness of it?
Also, what was the brand and capacity of the drive?

[fzabkar]

Here is a review of a Seagate 14TB Skyhawk:
https://msn.pcworld.com/article/3328480/seagate-skyhawk-14tb-hard-drive-review.html

No mention is made of helium, but the screw-less cover would suggest that the drive is in fact a helium model. That said, the casting appears to have 7 tapped holes to accommodate a screwed-down cover. :?

[Amarbir[CDR-Labs]]

For those HDDs with dual actuators, are the actuators electrically independent, ie do they have separate flex leads with separate preamps? If so, then I wonder if it would be possible to interchange them in the event that one of them had a bad head.

Well Frank ,
That Would Depend ,On Many Factors ,Lets See If They Come And We Can Lay Our Hands On Those