Whopping 120MB (MEGAbyte) HD

I considered data-wiping an old Seagate ST4144 HD the other day prior to taking
it out of service, but then I thought why bother?, since it was going into the
trash. I like to look inside electronic and electrical stuff so I disassembled
the drive. (It's an RLL. Does anyone today know from RLL?!) This thing is a
doorstop! You could make a car engine out of all the steel and aluminum. I
tossed everything except the platter assembly ... it's a great paperweight and
lovely conversation piece. Five thick, shiny, silver-brown platters .... and
all that real estate to hold just 120MB. When the drive was new the average
power user's HD could hold 80MB drive, tops.

On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 18:47:09 GMT, Michael <NoSPAM@gmail.com> put
finger to keyboard and composed:

>I considered data-wiping an old Seagate ST4144 HD the other day prior to taking
>it out of service, but then I thought why bother?, since it was going into the
>trash. I like to look inside electronic and electrical stuff so I disassembled
>the drive. (It's an RLL. Does anyone today know from RLL?!) This thing is a
>doorstop! You could make a car engine out of all the steel and aluminum. I
>tossed everything except the platter assembly ... it's a great paperweight and
>lovely conversation piece. Five thick, shiny, silver-brown platters .... and
>all that real estate to hold just 120MB. When the drive was new the average
>power user's HD could hold 80MB drive, tops.

When I dismantled a 250kg 80s era 300MB drive, I got $70 in scrap
value for the aluminium casting. I'm now using the chassis as a tool
trolley.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

Previously Michael <NoSPAM@gmail.com> wrote:
> I considered data-wiping an old Seagate ST4144 HD the other day
> prior to taking it out of service, but then I thought why bother?,
> since it was going into the trash. I like to look inside electronic
> and electrical stuff so I disassembled the drive. (It's an RLL.
> Does anyone today know from RLL?!)

Yes, I considerd once, a long time ago to get an RLL controller
instead of MFM. But I "inherited" a blasingly fast (1.5MB/s!)
ESDI disk instead. That was real hardware!

> This thing is a doorstop! You
> could make a car engine out of all the steel and aluminum. I tossed
> everything except the platter assembly ... it's a great paperweight
> and lovely conversation piece. Five thick, shiny, silver-brown
> platters .... and all that real estate to hold just 120MB. When the
> drive was new the average power user's HD could hold 80MB drive,
> tops.

Yes, there has been a little advancement in storage densities, my guess
is mostly due to increases in bloatware.

Arno

Previously Franc Zabkar <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote:
> On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 18:47:09 GMT, Michael <NoSPAM@gmail.com> put
> finger to keyboard and composed:

>>I considered data-wiping an old Seagate ST4144 HD the other day prior to taking
>>it out of service, but then I thought why bother?, since it was going into the
>>trash. I like to look inside electronic and electrical stuff so I disassembled
>>the drive. (It's an RLL. Does anyone today know from RLL?!) This thing is a
>>doorstop! You could make a car engine out of all the steel and aluminum. I
>>tossed everything except the platter assembly ... it's a great paperweight and
>>lovely conversation piece. Five thick, shiny, silver-brown platters .... and
>>all that real estate to hold just 120MB. When the drive was new the average
>>power user's HD could hold 80MB drive, tops.

> When I dismantled a 250kg 80s era 300MB drive, I got $70 in scrap
> value for the aluminium casting. I'm now using the chassis as a tool
> trolley.

A drum? I have seen one in an exhibit once. Impressive hardware!

Arno

Arno Wagner wrote in news:5qa0jfFujnf3U4@mid.individual.net
> Previously Franc Zabkar <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote:
> > On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 18:47:09 GMT, Michael <NoSPAM@gmail.com> put
> > finger to keyboard and composed:
>
> > > I considered data-wiping an old Seagate ST4144 HD the other day prior to
> > > taking it out of service, but then I thought why bother?, since it was
> > > going into the trash. I like to look inside electronic and electrical
> > > stuff so I disassembled the drive. (It's an RLL. Does anyone today know
> > > from RLL?!) This thing is a doorstop! You could make a car engine out
> > > of all the steel and aluminum. I tossed everything except the platter
> > > assembly ... it's a great paperweight and lovely conversation piece.
> > > Five thick, shiny, silver-brown platters .... and all that real estate to
> > > hold just 120MB. When the drive was new the average power user's HD
> > > could hold 80MB drive, tops.
>
> > When I dismantled a 250kg 80s era 300MB drive, I got $70 in scrap
> > value for the aluminium casting. I'm now using the chassis as a tool
> > trolley.
>
> A drum?

> I have seen one in an exhibit once.

Which shows you are still a kid, babblebot.

> Impressive hardware!

Does Vermont ring a bell.

>
> Arno

On 18 Nov 2007 05:23:59 GMT, Arno Wagner <me@privacy.net> put finger
to keyboard and composed:

>Previously Franc Zabkar <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> wrote:
>> On Sat, 17 Nov 2007 18:47:09 GMT, Michael <NoSPAM@gmail.com> put
>> finger to keyboard and composed:
>
>>>I considered data-wiping an old Seagate ST4144 HD the other day prior to taking
>>>it out of service, but then I thought why bother?, since it was going into the
>>>trash. I like to look inside electronic and electrical stuff so I disassembled
>>>the drive. (It's an RLL. Does anyone today know from RLL?!) This thing is a
>>>doorstop! You could make a car engine out of all the steel and aluminum. I
>>>tossed everything except the platter assembly ... it's a great paperweight and
>>>lovely conversation piece. Five thick, shiny, silver-brown platters .... and
>>>all that real estate to hold just 120MB. When the drive was new the average
>>>power user's HD could hold 80MB drive, tops.
>
>> When I dismantled a 250kg 80s era 300MB drive, I got $70 in scrap
>> value for the aluminium casting. I'm now using the chassis as a tool
>> trolley.
>
>A drum? I have seen one in an exhibit once. Impressive hardware!
>
>Arno

Control Data BK7XX storage module drive with removable disc pack.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

Franc Zabkar wrote:
> When I dismantled a 250kg 80s era 300MB drive, I got $70 in scrap
> value for the aluminium casting. I'm now using the chassis as a tool
> trolley.
>
> - Franc Zabkar
> --
> Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.


I read "250kg" + "300MB" a coupla times before it sank in. (Then I saw later
post, that the drive you were referring to was CDC ... i.e. "big iron") Yeah,
those things sure were some kinda big, compared to any PC HD. In another life I
had a lot of hands-on with IBM 3330's removable packs.