Panasonic luggable

[Tony Duell]

> I'm surprised there's not some sort of damper to slow it down.

Indeed. I guess they assumed that users would be careful with such an 
expensive drive.

I don't know whether it's bevcause I know how these things are made, and 
the sort of materials used, but I rarely break things like this muself. I 
guess I know the sort of force it could stand, and if it appears to be 
needing more, I investigate rather than force it.

> Something like the "soft eject" things on old cassette decks maybe,
> where you've got a little rack on the curved "rail" on the door, a
> little pinion and two plastic plates stuck together with grease.  Or

There is a similar damper in the eject mechanism of the Sony 
full-height 3.5" drives. It's a round black thing at the back, near the 
head load solenoid. It often seems to be leaking grease...

I've seen them in some later 3.5" drives too.

-tony