NetFixer
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edit:
May 8th, @02:58PM
| reply to Name Game
Re: Recovered Seagate Disk Gives Clues to Columbia Crash
Interesting article. It mentions that this was an older drive which contributed to its survival while new drives were totally destroyed. Since newer drives use glass platters as opposed to the aluminum platters used on many older drives, I would have thought that the newer glass platters would have been more likely to survive the high temperature reentry due to the relatively low melting point of aluminum. I am also pretty sure that the ST9655 family does not use glass platters, so I am guessing that the reentry temperature did not pass the melting point for aluminum at the location where this drive was mounted, and the difference might be that the oxide coating bonds to aluminum better than to glass.
The environmental specs for the ST9385AG are:
1.11.1 Ambient temperature
Operating 5° to 55°C (41° to 131°F)
Nonoperating –40° to 70°C (–40° to 158°F)
1.11.2 Temperature gradient
Operating 30°C/hr (54°F/hr) max, without condensation
Nonoperating 30°C/hr (54°F/hr) max, without condensation
1.11.3 Relative humidity
Operating 8% to 80% noncondensing (10% per hour max)
Max. wet bulb temperature: 29.4°C (85°F)
Nonoperating 8% to 90% noncondensing (10% per hour max)
Max. wet bulb temperature: 40°C (104°F)
1.11.4 Altitude
Operating –1,000 ft to 10,000 ft (–300 m to 3,000 m)
Nonoperating –1,000 ft to 40,000 ft (–300 m to 12,190 m)
I guess that rules out NASA getting a warranty replacement from Seagate. 
I do have to wonder exactly what "Clues to Columbia Crash" were recovered from this drive since the article says it was part of a dedicated device used for a zero gravity orbital experiment. 
--
We can never have enough of nature.
We need to witness our own limits transgressed, and some life pasturing freely where we never wander.
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