Abstract: A system for characterizing vibration of a rack structure having at least one hard disk drive disposed therein and a vibration exciter operatively associated with the rack structure includes one or more computers. The one or more computers are configured to command the vibration exciter to provide vibration input to the rack structure and to command a plurality of reads from the at least one hard disk drive such that, for each of the plurality of reads, data stored on the at least one hard disk drive is retrieved from the at least one hard disk drive. The one or more computers are also configured to obtain read rate information related to the plurality of reads and to identify at least one resonant frequency of the rack structure based on the read rate information.

Abstract: A heat sink for use with a heat generating component includes a molded cooling block including a molded cooling passage for receiving a cooling medium. The cooling block is configured to be positioned in sufficient heat transfer relationship with respect to the heat generating component so that the cooling medium is able to receive heat from the heat generating component. Furthermore, the cooling block includes first and second sections that are connected together and that each partially define the cooling passage.

Abstract: A method for processing packets. The method includes receiving a first packet by a network interface card (NIC) from a network, determining, using a first classification level, a first receive ring group (RRG) for the first packet, determining, using a second level classification, a first receive ring (RR) in the first RRG for the first packet, sending the first packet to the first RR, and sending the first packet from the first RR to a host operatively connected to the network interface card, wherein the first packet is received by a first virtual network interface card (VNIC) associated with the first RRG, where the first RRG is located in the NIC.

Abstract: A system for characterizing vibration of a rack structure having at least one hard disk drive disposed therein and a vibration exciter operatively associated with the rack structure includes one or more computers. The one or more computers are configured to command the vibration exciter to provide vibration input to the rack structure and to command a plurality of reads from the at least one hard disk drive such that, for each of the plurality of reads, data stored on the at least one hard disk drive is retrieved from the at least one hard disk drive. The one or more computers are also configured to obtain read rate information related to the plurality of reads and to identify at least one resonant frequency of the rack structure based on the read rate information.

Abstract: A transducer positioning apparatus is provided that supports a read/write head on a data storage machine and biases the head against rotation. The transducer positioning apparatus may comprise a base that includes a linear drive motor and a support frame to which the read/write head is secured. The support frame is reciprocally driven by the linear drive motor relative to the base. A magnetic coupling is provided between the base and the support frame that resists movement of the frame other than the reciprocal movement of the support frame relative to the base. A method is also disclosed for magnetically biasing a movable head of a transducer against rotation.

Abstract: A system for matching impedance in a flexible trace interconnect array. The array comprising a flexible dielectric film, a plurality of trace conductors disposed along a longitudinal axis of the dielectric film, and a shield disposed along a section of the array, wherein at least one parameter of at least one of an unshielded section and of the shielded section is selected such that impedance of the unshielded section and impedance of the shielded section are substantially the same.

Abstract: A method of retaining a transducer for a digital storage apparatus that reads and writes data to a tape as the tape is moved in a tape drive path across the transducer. According to the method a head assembly is attached to the base to be movable relative to the base in a linear path that is perpendicular to the tape drive path. Movement of the head assembly is guided on a track that is partially defined by the head and partially defined by the base. At least two balls are disposed in the track between the base and the head assembly. A magnetic coupling retains the balls within the track. A linear motor operatively engages the head assembly to move the head assembly to follow the tape.

Abstract: A mechanism is disclosed for implementing fast locking in a multi-threaded system. This mechanism enables fast locking to be performed even on an operating system platform that does not allow one thread to assign ownership of a lock on a mutex to another thread. In addition, the mechanism performs locking in a manner that ensures priority correctness and is low-memory safe. In one implementation, the priority correctness is achieved by using operating system mutexes to implement locking, and the low-memory safe aspect is achieved by pre-allocating a memory section to each thread. This pre-allocated memory section ensures that a thread will have sufficient memory to obtain a lock, even when a system is in a low-memory state. With this mechanism, it is possible to implement locking in a safe and efficient manner.