On 2013-08-16 16:00 (GMT-0400) Greg Freemyer composed:
A 3 1/2 inch across drive with a 2 inch useful radius. Where do you buy your drives? I need some of those!
Seriously, I'd say a desktop 3 1/2 inch drive only has about 1 inch of useful radius. There's dead space in the middle that is about 1 inch in diameter (1/2" radius) and at least an 1/4th of an inch dead at the edge between the chassis / air / unused platter edge.
fyi: I don't have a dead / disassembled drive handy to actually measure so I'm going from memory.
I always have platters from '3.5"' HDs laying about. :-) The one in hand actually measures just short of 3.75" across. The hole in the middle looks like 31/32". The width available for heads to to stroke is about 1.375" gross. So, usable width of the surface of an inch or a bit more would seem about right. -- "The wise are known for their understanding, and pleasant words are persuasive." Proverbs 16:21 (New Living Translation) Team OS/2 ** Reg. Linux User #211409 ** a11y rocks! Felix Miata *** http://fm.no-ip.com/ -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org