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actuator
Last modified: Thursday, October 19, 2006
The part of a hard disk to which the read/write arms
attaches. All the heads are attached to a single head
actuator, also called an actuator arm, that moves the heads around the
platters. Older hard drives used a stepper
motor actuator, which moved the heads based on a motor reacting to stepper
pulses. Modern hard drives use a voice coil actuator, which controls the
movement of a coil toward or away from a permanent magnet based on the amount of
current flowing through it. This guidance system is called a servo.
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