I'm just speculating here, but Cortex-M series are known for their DSP capabilities. DSP is used in hard drive control. From wikipedia [1], "Typically a DSP i

I'm just speculating here, but Cortex-M series are known for their DSP capabilities. DSP is used in hard drive control. From wikipedia [1], "Typically a DSP in the electronics inside the hard drive takes the raw analog voltages from the read head and uses PRML and Reed–Solomon error correction to decode the sector boundaries and sector data, then sends that data out the standard interface. That DSP also watches the error rate detected by error detection and correction, and performs bad sector remapping, data collection for Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology, and other internal tasks." And one of the comments on the blog[2] mentions "...whereas the Cortex's ID turns up relevant boundary scan file..." [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive_interface http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive_interface [2]: http://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack&page=8&showall=true http://spritesmods.com/?art=hddhack&page=8&showall=true