What is the purpose of the hole in my HD?

[Passions]

How come there is a hole in my HD?

 

[Gunbuster]

When air heats up it expands

 

[AndyHui]

Breather hole.

 

[jonmcc33]

With heat (just as mentioned above) within the drive it starts to build up air pressure. The hole is to relieve that. It's the same purpose behind the hole in the heat spreader on the P4 Northwood.

 

[HappyPuppy]

Atmospheric equilibrium. If you bought it in San Diego at sea level and then transported it in a Boeing 747 at 42,000 feet the internal expansion would cause the HDD to blow up like a baloon an burst like a small bomb. It's all part of Homeland Security.

 

[SCSIRAID]

Behind that hole is a filter which used to be referred to as the barometric filter. It lets the HDA breathe. If it was totally sealed then the pressure would EQ thru things like bearings which are not exactly clean and could cause real trouble.

 

[lenjack]

The beebee fell out. Sorry, I couldn't resist.