Load/Unload refers to a device that controls the position of the sliders on a hard drive. If you think about a hard drive as an old fashioned record player, the platters of the hard drive would be the record, while the sliders on the hard drive would be the needle. The only difference here is that the sliders never actually make contact with the platters. Instead, an air current provided by the platters rotating keeps the slider and the platter apart by a precise distance known as the flying height. Significant damage to the disk could occur if the slider was in contact with the platter during a sudden jarring moment (like dropping your laptop). To provide a bit of safety in mobile applications (and in some cases desktop as well) load/unload technology was introduced. Essentially, there is a small device that moves the slider off the platter. When data needs to be accessed, the sliders position themselves back over the platters and make contact with them only once they’ve reached the proper rotational speed.