Special laptop hard drive for aircraft use

On 6 Jun 2006 04:09:55 -0700, "Denny" wrote:

I'm a bit of an armchair astronomer so I follow the various astronomy
groups... Astronomers who work at the high altitude observatories
around the world use laptops all the time for data logging, capturing
pictures off the telescope camera, controlling the telescope, etc...
These observatories are above 10,000 feet... The astronomers have no
hard drive problems I am aware of... The OP is repeating old wives
tales without any real knowledge...

HDD crash due to density altitude is a real problem, as the heads
float above the platter on a cushion of air. Higher DA = less dense
air = easier to contact the platter.

Having said that, I have a 40G drive on my tablet PC. I regularly fly
at 11.5k in an unpressurized, and have had zero problems.