Light weight helium hard drives and used server drives. HGST.

[Oldschool297]

I got two used HGST 10tb drives. I bought one from Amazon last year and one in September this year. I even got a paper with 3 and 5 years warranty. One are from May 2018 and helium should not last longer then 5 years? Can they refill? I got a sticker on one drive. I removed it so the sate should be visible. Then the sticker changed text to Void. It was a special sticker.

Which drives are in ligther weight?

 

[Steevo]

Don’t take off the stickers….. it says to not remove the stickers so it keeps the helium IN the drive.

The helium is not to make it “light weight” it’s in there to reduce the chances of corrosion, decrease frictional losses and the heads float more consistently.

They can’t refill them, it would require a lot to refill it and know how much pressure/partial pressure is required. Plus a vacuum chamber and tank of helium.

 

[Dr. Dro]

I got two used HGST 10tb drives. I bought one from Amazon last year and one in September this year. I even got a paper with 3 and 5 years warranty. One are from May 2018 and helium should not last longer then 5 years? Can they refill? I got a sticker on one drive. I removed it so the sate should be visible. Then the sticker changed text to Void. It was a special sticker.

Which drives are in ligther weight?

Nonsense, I don't know where you read this but the drives' helium neither expires nor does it require a refill

 

[ir_cow]

Nonsense, I don't know where you read this but the drives' helium neither expires nor does it require a refill

This is also why data recovery on helium isn't really a thing yet besides really specialty data places. Once you pop the lid, the drive becomes useless.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Nonsense

There seems to be a lot of nonsense "floating" (pun intended) around here.

Most hard drives are NOT "sealed" at all. In fact, most have a tiny vent hole specifically designed to allow air in and out as the atmospheric pressure changes. This change in air pressure is very common - for example, for travelers who fly and change altitude. Our ears pop, hard drives vent through those tiny holes. They are filtered to prevent dust but make no mistake, they are NOT sealed, hermetically or otherwise.

Helium drives are sealed, however. This is to prevent the helium from escaping. Helium is good in this usage because being much less dense than air, changes in altitude do not result in any significant change in pressures, that may affect the drives performance.

As mentioned above, helium does not promote corrosion and being less dense, allows the platters to spin while encountering less resistance.

Once you pop the lid, the drive becomes useless.

Why?

If you break the seal and the helium escapes, that alone will not cause the drive to fail. What will cause the drive to fail, however, is the bolder size (microscopically speaking) dust particles that would get inside.

As for lower weight - I am amazed how this nonsense is being spewed, even by those you would expect to know better. A hard drive does not have 100 gallons of empty space to fill with gas!!! Yes, helium is lighter than air but just how much space do you suppose is inside a hard drive? A few CCs, maybe?

 

[ir_cow]

@Bill_Bright I am no expert of the subject at all, but from what I've been told by data recovery techs is those drives with Helium is sealed because the head now is microns above the platter. Normal mix of our air will ruin the read/write head. Thus it is $$$$$ to recovery data. Once the drive is open, it has to be resealed with Helium after repairs. They can't do the old swapping with heads and motors anymore like the normal mix ones.

 

[Bill_Bright]

those drives with Helium is sealed because the head now is microns above the platter.

That's kinda backwards. The drives are sealed to keep the helium from leaking.

The helium poses less friction allowing more platters per drive.

Normal mix of our air will ruin the read/write head.

Ummm, no. Air simply creates more friction which MIGHT cause turbulence and MIGHT allow the densely packed platters to collide with the head. Normal air will not "ruin" the heads.

I've done support for several server farms and data centers. We never opened drives to swap heads or motors. You need a "clean room" environment for that, plus the replacement parts, and time - and time is money. It simply is not cost effective. It makes much more economical sense to "hot" swap in a new drive - it literally takes seconds to do that.

Data recovery was never an issue either. That's what back up copies are for.

 

[Steevo]

There seems to be a lot of nonsense "floating" (pun intended) around here.

Most hard drives are NOT "sealed" at all. In fact, most have a tiny vent hole specifically designed to allow air in and out as the atmospheric pressure changes. This change in air pressure is very common - for example, for travelers who fly and change altitude. Our ears pop, hard drives vent through those tiny holes. They are filtered to prevent dust but make no mistake, they are NOT sealed, hermetically or otherwise.

Helium drives are sealed, however. This is to prevent the helium from escaping. Helium is good in this usage because being much less dense than air, changes in altitude do not result in any significant change in pressures, that may affect the drives performance.

As mentioned above, helium does not promote corrosion and being less dense, allows the platters to spin while encountering less resistance.


Why?

If you break the seal and the helium escapes, that alone will not cause the drive to fail. What will cause the drive to fail, however, is the bolder size (microscopically speaking) dust particles that would get inside.

As for lower weight - I am amazed how this nonsense is being spewed, even by those you would expect to know better. A hard drive does not have 100 gallons of empty space to fill with gas!!! Yes, helium is lighter than air but just how much space do you suppose is inside a hard drive? A few CCs, maybe?

Helium allows the heads to fly closer to the disc, air will cause all sorts of read/write errors as the heads will be further from the surface.

https://groups.google.com/g/datarecoverycertification/c/Q9EdF6I0lIk?pli=1

 

[natr0n]

The helium helps the platters spin faster/easier/have less resistance.

 

[Steevo]

The helium helps the platters spin faster/easier/have less resistance.

Partially this, it’s more about head height, these drives are about 5nm of fly height with helium, still 5400 or 7200 RPM.

 

[Dr. Dro]

That's kinda backwards. The drives are sealed to keep the helium from leaking.

The helium poses less friction allowing more platters per drive.

Ummm, no. Air simply creates more friction which MIGHT cause turbulence and MIGHT allow the densely packed platters to collide with the head. Normal air will not "ruin" the heads.

I've done support for several server farms and data centers. We never opened drives to swap heads or motors. You need a "clean room" environment for that, plus the replacement parts, and time - and time is money. It simply is not cost effective. It makes much more economical sense to "hot" swap in a new drive - it literally takes seconds to do that.

Data recovery was never an issue either. That's what back up copies are for.

Given how expensive helium is, the might is a bit of an understatement there. Data recovery from He-filled drives is an extremely delicate and expensive process, requiring specialized tooling. That was @ir_cow's point. Modern 10 TB drives won't require this level of advanced servicing because they're perfectly achievable with conventional technology nowadays, you'll only see use of He on ultra-high capacity drives.

You pop one of these open and the drive is effectively dead.

https://documents.westerndigital.com/content/dam/doc-library/en_us/assets/public/western-digital/collateral/brochure/brochure-helioseal-technology.pdf

Fortunately, there is no reason as to why would you ever want to open one, and there is absolutely no need to service or "replenish" the helium, the drives are factory-sealed to last a lifetime. If they start showing signs of defect, it's time to replace them altogether, like any other common HDD. The OP was misled by incorrect "street wisdom", and there is pretty much nothing to worry about, treated well, by 2028 it will be performing the exact same as it did back in 2018 when it was built.

 

[ir_cow]

I've done support for several server farms and data centers. We never opened drives to swap heads or motors. You need a "clean room" environment for that, plus the replacement parts, and time - and time is money. It simply is not cost effective. It makes much more economical sense to "hot" swap in a new drive - it literally takes seconds to do that.

Data recovery was never an issue either. That's what back up copies are for.

Don't need a clean room for the older drives if your just getting the data off.

Once again I am no expert on the subject. I just know from being told that because it's helium filled the data recovery is $$$$ more due to being sealed. Hence why I said once you pop it, there is no going back.

Ever seen those old 60s drives what just had air blown between the platters to keep them separated? We are well past that now. The data tracks are so close together and the head error range is tiny. Putting air into helium drive will result it in not functioning.

 

[Steevo]

Don't need a clean room for the older drives if your just getting the data off.

Once again I am no expert on the subject. I just know from being told that because it's helium filled the data recovery is $$$$ more due to being sealed. Hence why I said once you pop it, there is no going back.

Ever seen those old 60s drives what just had air blown between the platters to keep them separated? We are well past that now. The data tracks are so close together and the head error range is tiny. Putting air into helium drive will result it in not functioning.

Before the forum crash I had a thread where I showed drives running in open air for recovery. I have swapped guts on drives to recover users data before and only had one drive not recoverable.

The only way I would do this with a He drive is with a tank of helium, a vacuum chamber and I would never tell them it was more than a remote possibility. The layers on the platters has such high arial density that a visual inspection without a microscope means nothing.

 

[Oldschool297]

Don’t take off the stickers….. it says to not remove the stickers so it keeps the helium IN the drive.

The helium is not to make it “light weight” it’s in there to reduce the chances of corrosion, decrease frictional losses and the heads float more consistently.

They can’t refill them, it would require a lot to refill it and know how much pressure/partial pressure is required. Plus a vacuum chamber and tank of helium.

It was only the little silver sticker that was over the manufactor date. I would never remove the big white label sticker. I read online that helium will escape after 5 years but it may have been wrong. I guess you have a point. To refill the drive must cost more then a used disk.

 

[Shrek]

Hydrogen can pass through steel (given time), so I imagine Helium will eventually make its way through rubber seals.

 

[eidairaman1]

Don’t take off the stickers….. it says to not remove the stickers so it keeps the helium IN the drive.

The helium is not to make it “light weight” it’s in there to reduce the chances of corrosion, decrease frictional losses and the heads float more consistently.

They can’t refill them, it would require a lot to refill it and know how much pressure/partial pressure is required. Plus a vacuum chamber and tank of helium.

Nitrogen anyone?

 

[Dr. Dro]

It was only the little silver sticker that was over the manufactor date. I would never remove the big white label sticker. I read online that helium will escape after 5 years but it may have been wrong. I guess you have a point. To refill the drive must cost more then a used disk.

Whoever wrote that doesn't have the slightest clue about what they're going on about. The drives don't leak anything. It's just scaremongering the reliability of newer tech, sounds like the same type that refuses to use SSDs because muh writes.

 

[Bill_Bright]

Helium allows the heads to fly closer to the disc,

This has been said over and over again - and NOT the main point. Because the gaps between the heads and platters can be closer, this means they can fit 1, maybe 2 additional platters inside the HD case. It does NOT mean if the helium escapes, suddenly the drive becomes useless.

Helium also allows the platters to spin with less friction between the platters and the helium gas molecules. This means it takes less energy (about 25% less) to spin the drive. When a data center has 100s, maybe 1000s of drives, those energy savings add up. Also, less friction means less internal heat. Less heat reduces cooling costs.

IT IS CRITICAL to note, while turbulence "may" be an issue, that does not mean it "will" be an issue should air get in there. To suggest that, all of a sudden, if there is a leak the platters are going to start flapping about like a wobbling frisbee about to fall out of the sky, and start banging into the heads is once again, nonsense.

Disk platters are extremely rigid disks being spun by extremely stable motors made with precision bearings designed to vibrate as little as possible.

To be clear - I am NOT saying nothing will ever happen should the helium suddenly escape. I am saying air getting in there will not suddenly cause the drive to vibrate itself to death as some here seem to be suggesting - assuming a quality drive in the first place.

air will cause all sorts of read/write errors as the heads will be further from the surface.

Huh? Nonsense.

For decades and decades hard drives had air in them - without "any" sort of read/write errors. Most hard drives today still have air in them and are not causing all sorts or any sort of error.

Should a helium drive leak and air gets in there, the read/write heads won't suddenly move further from the surface.

Don't need a clean room for the older drives if your just getting the data off.

Clean rooms have ALWAYS been preferred, and always been used in professional data recovery centers. That said, older drives didn't have helium so that point is moot in this discussion.

I read online that helium will escape after 5 years

It is important to read these claims carefully. To suggest helium "will" escape is not correct. I suspect the claim really says something along the lines of the helium is guaranteed to last for at least 5 years. WD says the helium "remains contained within the drive throughout its operational lifespan", but does not define how long that is. I will note many of their drives have a 5 year warranty so I suspect that is where that 5-year value came from.

Hydrogen can pass through steel (given time), so I imagine Helium will eventually make its way through rubber seals.

I doubt they use "rubber" - certainly not in its pure form as even monster air molecules can easily pass through rubber. Just ask any cyclists who has to top off his or her bike tires every couples days due to the rubber inner tubes leaking like sieves.

That said, is is important to remember the helium inside drives is NOT under pressure, "trying" to get out, as they are in a bicycle tube under 120psi of pressure.

 

[chrcoluk]

To me the advantage of helium is 7200rpm drives become quieter and consume less power, because the lower air resistance allows them to spin with less energy required. I find standard 7200rpm too annoying.

 

[Steevo]

The Rise of Helium Hard Disk Drives

A lot of things have to come together to make the impossible possible. Our helium sealed (HelioSeal™) hard drive is the perfect example.

blog.westerndigital.com

First benefit listed.

• Squeezing tracks closer together means more data tracks per disk = more data per HDD.

Accomplished by flying heads in helium closer to the platter. 5nm away to be exact.

https%3a%2f%2fwww.seagate.com%2ffiles%2fwww-content%2fproduct-content%2fenterprise-hdd-fam%2fenterprise-capacity-3-5-hdd-10tb%2f_shared%2fdocs%2fhelium-drive-launch-tp686-1-1602us.pdf/RK=2/RS=EjUQ0FyM7gYdy3V07UKu13FTwr8-

The power saving is nice, but it wasn't the primary goal, keeping heads that float on a cushion of gas at a consistent height from the media was the primary goal. Reading recovery service notes they say a compromised helium drive may work but will eventually crash the heads in air.

 

[Bill_Bright]

keeping heads that float on a cushion of gas at a consistent height from the media was the primary goal.

Primary "goal"? No it wasn't. That was their primary obstacle they needed to overcome.

Their goal was to increase density/storage capacity and lower the cost per TB.

Your seagate link doesn't work. But note this link where, in the conclusion, it states,

With an eye to even higher capacities to meet the cloud-based exabytes that are on the horizon, Seagate is building a solid foundation of enterprise-class technologies and solutions to increase throughput and areal density in HDDs

 

[Steevo]

Primary "goal"? No it wasn't. That was their primary obstacle they needed to overcome.

Their goal was to increase density/storage capacity and lower the cost per TB.

Your seagate link doesn't work. But note this link where, in the conclusion, it states,

I'm not trying to argue, that power saving was not a primary goal. The way they could get heads to fly closer to the platter surface was with helium and that allowed more tracks per platter, higher density.

Goal/obstacle are two sides of the same coin.

 

[eidairaman1]

The Rise of Helium Hard Disk Drives

A lot of things have to come together to make the impossible possible. Our helium sealed (HelioSeal™) hard drive is the perfect example.

blog.westerndigital.com

First benefit listed.

• Squeezing tracks closer together means more data tracks per disk = more data per HDD.

Accomplished by flying heads in helium closer to the platter. 5nm away to be exact.

https%3a%2f%2fwww.seagate.com%2ffiles%2fwww-content%2fproduct-content%2fenterprise-hdd-fam%2fenterprise-capacity-3-5-hdd-10tb%2f_shared%2fdocs%2fhelium-drive-launch-tp686-1-1602us.pdf/RK=2/RS=EjUQ0FyM7gYdy3V07UKu13FTwr8-

The power saving is nice, but it wasn't the primary goal, keeping heads that float on a cushion of gas at a consistent height from the media was the primary goal. Reading recovery service notes they say a compromised helium drive may work but will eventually crash the heads in air.

Youd think the head arms would have a stop to maintain a certain level of clearance for the head so no crashing could occur

 

[Bill_Bright]

I'm not trying to argue, that power saving was not a primary goal. The way they could get heads to fly closer to the platter surface was with helium and that allowed more tracks per platter, higher density.

I am having a hard time following you as you keep flip flopping all over the place.

I never said it was a primary goal - but cutting "overhead" costs is always a goal. But I would argue when energy costs are one of any organizations major expenses, it sure becomes "a" primary goal.

And please note I specifically did say the goal (for using helium) was to increase density (storage capacity) of these drives. As a bonus, it takes less energy to operate these drives and these drives generate less heat. That in turn, decreases demand on cooling, again reducing energy costs.

Goal/obstacle are two sides of the same coin.

Perhaps, when assuming a goal is to overcome an obstacle.

But again you flip as you previously said, "keeping heads ... at a consistent height" was "the primary goal". No it wasn't.

The primary goal of was increasing density. That was accomplished by decreasing the size of the magnetic particles. Smaller particles means more particles in the same amount of space (higher densities) representing more 1s and 0s of data per platter.

One of the "obstacles" they needed to overcome was keeping the platters at a consistent and much closer distance from the heads by reducing turbulence caused by friction from the air molecules. Helium did that for them. Helium was the solution to their primary goal of increasing density.

I'm not trying to argue

Then let's move on.