How does your CPU control a HDD, does the HDD have its own tiny processor to tell the arm where to move?

Question

How does your CPU control a HDD, does the HDD have its own tiny processor to tell the arm where to move?

In: Technology

Answer 1

Not that tiny, actually!

Some mad lad [got Linux to boot on a hard disk](http://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack). Turns out it’s got 4 cores at 150 MHz and 64MB RAM. Very lightweight by modern standards, but I’ve done plenty gaming on much worse hardware than that.

But in general most devices of any complexity are going to have some sort of CPU. Some of the early laser printers even needed a CPU more powerful than the computer they were attached to.