{"id":3247,"date":"2019-08-29T07:00:37","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T11:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=3247"},"modified":"2019-08-27T11:20:07","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T15:20:07","slug":"yes-your-hdds-and-ssds-really-do-weigh-more-when-in-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/29\/yes-your-hdds-and-ssds-really-do-weigh-more-when-in-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Yes, your HDDs and SSDs really do weigh more when filled with data."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s odd: Questions about the physical weight of data<\/strong><\/em> get asked fairly often — I don’t know what’s prompting it. Perhaps the move to SSDs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most recent iteration phrased it this way:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Does data have physical weight? If something is 10 gigabytes, does it actually weigh whatever system you have it installed on down?”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My previous, less complete answer appears here<\/a>; but since the question comes up repeatedly (and has generated some fun “angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin”-type arguments), I’ll update and add more detail here:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For electronic storage (RAM, SSDs, flash memory, etc.), yes<\/em><\/strong>, adding data directly increases its weight<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For traditional magnetic HDDs, also yes<\/strong><\/em>(!), but indirectly<\/strong>. An actively in-use HDD will weigh more than an inert HDD<\/b>, but due to side effects of adding the data — not from the data itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s all small-scale physics, way below the level of human senses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In electronic storage:<\/strong> Adding information to RAM, SSDs, flash memory<\/strong>, etc. \u2014 that is, storing a 1, instead of a 0 \u2014 requires storing an electric charge. Each electron has a very small weight (something like 9.10938215 \u00d7 10\u221231 kg), so adding electrons does mean adding a tiny amount of weight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How much weight? To get a real-world answer, you have to make assumptions about how many electrons constitute a useful charge-state for whatever device you\u2019re talking about, but one calculation says that 1GB of flash memory completely filled with 1s weighs something like 729 femtograms more than the same memory filled with zeros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A femtogram is tinier than tiny: 0.000000000000001 kg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Want the math? See How much does a gigabyte worth of data physically weigh on a hard disk?<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, yes: Electronic memory filled with ones will weigh a ridiculously small amount more than memory filled with zeros.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In magnetic storage: Hard drives (HDDs)<\/strong> work by flipping magnetic domains from North to South and back again. That, in and of itself, doesn\u2019t change the weight of the drive, and that’s what my previous answer stated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, as was pointed out to me (in the very best angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin tradition), writing data to an HDD inevitably produces some waste heat in the magnetic domains being written — adding heat energy that wouldn’t be there if no data were being written. Very strictly speaking, heating anything<\/strong><\/em> increases its mass because energy and mass are equivalent (yup: E=mc2<\/sup>). So, very, very strictly speaking (look at those Angels dance!), an actively-writing HDD has a teeny-tiny bit of extra mass compared to the same HDD when it’s not writing. It\u2019s an even smaller effect than trying to weigh electrons — already a ludicrously small amount! But if you’re a stickler (or are a fan of angelic footwork), then yes, the effect is there. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So: Yes, drives really do<\/em><\/strong> weigh more when in use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But don\u2019t worry. You won\u2019t notice the extra weight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permalink: https:\/\/langa.com\/?p=3247<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It’s odd: Questions about the physical weight of data get asked fairly often — I don’t know what’s prompting it. Perhaps the move to SSDs? The most recent iteration phrased it this way: “Does data have physical weight? If something is 10 gigabytes, does it actually weigh whatever system you have it installed on down?”…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7,30,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-reader-asks","category-hardware","category-science-and-tech"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paaiox-Qn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2430,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/21\/a-reader-asks-do-solid-state-drives-ever-fail\/","url_meta":{"origin":3247,"position":0},"title":"A reader asks: “Do solid state drives ever fail?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-03-21","format":false,"excerpt":"Reader Raleigh K. is wondering about the longevity of solid state hard drives (SSDs). Early SSDs did have some problems, not least because the operating systems of the day treated SSDs as if they were standard spinning-platter hard drives. SSDs are fundamentally different, so trouble cropped up: Mismanaged by the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wd-500gb-SSD-drive.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wd-500gb-SSD-drive.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wd-500gb-SSD-drive.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3135,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/23\/why-do-hdds-follow-the-doubling-rule-256gb-512gb-1tb-etc-but-ssds-dont\/","url_meta":{"origin":3247,"position":1},"title":"“Why do HDDs seem to follow a doubling rule (256GB, 512GB, 1TB, etc.), but SSDs don’t?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-07-23","format":false,"excerpt":"(Answer requested by Nelson Vidinha) Because you can't add half a platter to an HDD. HDD capacity is usually added in large-ish chunks, a platter at a time. An HDD might have one, two, or many platters. For each drive type and geometry, there's a commercially-ideal capacity per platter. Hence:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Misc"","block_context":{"text":"Misc","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/misc\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3153,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/01\/why-are-external-hard-drives-so-big-when-the-iphone-can-fit-512gb-along-with-other-components-in-a-thin-package\/","url_meta":{"origin":3247,"position":2},"title":"“Why are external hard drives so big when the iPhone can fit 512GB along with other components in a thin package?”","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2019-08-01","format":false,"excerpt":"A classic hard drive is a complex mechanical assemblage consisting of a circuit board, one or more spinning platters, a spindle, a hub, bearings, several read\/write heads on actuating arms, at least two electric motors, and miscellaneous wiring, connectors, and other parts. (Examples.) A disassembled IBM hard drive. 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Mostly, it depends on how you handle the drive. SSDs should be handled\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "A reader asks..."","block_context":{"text":"A reader asks...","link":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/category\/a-reader-asks\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wd-500gb-SSD-drive.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wd-500gb-SSD-drive.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/langa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/wd-500gb-SSD-drive.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1257,"url":"https:\/\/langa.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/06\/a-reader-asks-is-it-ok-to-use-ntfs-on-a-ssd-why-or-why-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":3247,"position":4},"title":"A reader asks: Is it OK to use NTFS on a SSD? Why or why not?","author":"Fred Langa","date":"2018-12-06","format":false,"excerpt":"A reader* asks: \"Is it OK to use NTFS on a SSD? Why or why not?\" With any reasonably current SSD and operating system, it's perfectly fine. An SSD (or any disk, for that matter) really doesn't care what's in the bits it stores. 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