Patent ID: 8199425

Claim:
A method to at least temporarily replace air with an alternative gas in a first disk drive having a breather filter port, the method comprising: placing the first disk drive in a chamber filled with air, the first disk drive having an initial internal air pressure; evacuating the chamber to establish a sub-ambient air pressure in the chamber during a first period; waiting, during the first period, for air to bleed out of the first disk drive through the breather filter port until an internal pressure within the first disk drive reaches a reduced internal air pressure that is less than one third the initial internal air pressure; filling the chamber with the alternative gas to establish an alternative gas pressure in the chamber that is higher than the sub-ambient air pressure, during a second period; and waiting, during the second period, for the alternative gas to bleed into the first disk drive through the breather filter port until the internal pressure within the first disk drive reaches a restored internal gas pressure that is in the range 0.5 to 1.25 times the initial internal air pressure; wherein the breather filter port is coupled to a breather filter of the first disk drive.