r/askscience • u/Cryogenicastronaut • 6d ago

Engineering How are hard disk drives' read/write heads assembled in a factory?

So the read/write head floats only a few nanometres from the disc. How is this assembled in a factory to such precision? Is the entire process done by machines? How can a machine position something so precisely?

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u/[deleted] 5d ago

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u/KE55 5d ago

But wouldn't that magnetism mess up the magnetic data storage?

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u/Fourhundredbread 5d ago

For most modern hard drives you need an incredibly powerful magnet (ie an industrial degausser) to have any potential of causing data loss

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u/wjdoge 4d ago

Or to be nanometers away, since the read head can do it. Yes. It potentially would if the system worked that way, but it doesn’t, as that’s one of the many reasons drive heads aren’t magnetically actuated.