Fortune Systems / freezer trick for hard drives

Seriously, the freezer trick might be worth trying :-) The spindle bearings on my drive make weird noises that change pitch as the drive heats up. After a while, it gets really loud and the drive stops working. I think when the drive is cold, the bearings tighten a little -- due to themal contraction. If the head actually crashed, I don't think there is any hope, however. I have a little thermoelectric cooler/fan for a CPU chip. I have thought about sticking it to the drive with some heat-sink compound. Continuing on the other topic -- Data interchange with my Fortune is a pain because the 5-1/4 floppies have their own unique format which nothing else will read. Last time I looked at my floppies, it looked like they had a very thin layer of mold growing on them. (I think I had them in a damp place for a while) Anyone have experience reading moldy floppies ? -Rob -----Original Message----- From: Sellam Ismail [SMTP:foo@siconic.com] Sent: Saturday, December 16, 2000 1:43 PM To: 'classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org' Subject: RE: Anyone else with an interest in Fortune Systems ? On Sat, 16 Dec 2000, Rob Kapteyn wrote: Sounds like you need to stick it in the freezer :) Try adding some more fans to the box to help keep the drive cool. It'll probably run stably for great lengths of time (until it just up and crashes). I have a Fortune 32:16 as well. The only one I've ever seen. I guess that makes it uncommon too, by my own standards :) The floppy mechanism on mine needs work. I have a Fortune terminal but I don't think it's the special kind that was mentioned was required to interface with it. I don't have a keyboard either. Sellam Ismail Vintage Computer Festival ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Man of Intrigue and Danger http://www.vintage.org