On Sun, 20 Mar 2005 07:54:06 +0000, Gordon JC Pearce <gordon at gjcp.net> wrote:
Ethan Dicks wrote:
... I have several DF32 drives that I expect have
seriously worn plating...
What about RL02s? Are they meant to be left alone once mounted and run
up, or can you treat them like big Zip disks?
RL02s are frequently mounted/dismounted, changed, etc. It's somewhat
common on a stable system to leave the system pack mounted, but
changing data packs is quite ordinary. The heads never rest on the
platters, so there's no question of wearing off the oxide. When it
_does_ happen, it's a head crash.
I thought the coating was sprayed on? Looking at the
edge of an RL02,
there are clear "dribble marks" where it's run down the side of the disk.
An RL02 platter is a modern-style oxide-and-binder-coated thin
aluminum platter. A DF32 disk is a nearly 1cm-thick hunk of steel
with a chrome-like plating. One problem with the DF32 is that
repeated spin up/spin-down cycles wear through the plating.
-ethan