gets picked up by the actuator arm, or it leaks depending on the position of the arm. 

But yes, I have seen it. I have taken apart a couple dead quatums, one was a notebook drive (the worst), and one was a 230mb quantum desktop drive. Both of them the rubber turned into a liquid goo and was slung all over the place by the actuator arm and platter. But on some other drives, the rubber just goes sticky and hasnt turned into goo. Yet..... 

I have pictures somewhere I ended up posting on the subject.