Keeping It Clean

March 1997 / Reviews / This Cartridge is Loaded / Keeping It Clean

Maintaining data reliability in a high-capacity removable-cartridge drive is no easy feat, considering the microscopic tolerances involved and the lack of the factory-sealed environment found in a conventional hard drive. SyQuest handles the problem by thoroughly cleaning a cartridge when it's inserted and creating a closed filtered-air system that employs positive air pressure to keep contaminants outside the cartridge while it's runni ng. That's buttressed with minimal moving parts to avoid contamination and materials chosen for stability. Also, when the drive is idle, the read/write heads do random "butterfly sweeps" to remove any foreign matter.

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Matthew Wilson
My approach to software engineering is far more pragmatic than it is theoretical--and no language better exemplifies this than C++.

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