Here's my best story along these lines. I've had a NeXT Cube for quite a while
and it sat for some time in my parent's basement while I went off to school and got my
adult life together.
A few years ago, I made a pass through the town where I grew up with a box truck (on the
way to Indiana to grab my ROLM CBX) and picked up all the remaining stuff I had in storage
there and brought it home with me.
I connected the monitor, keyboard and mouse and plugged the Cube in. Hit the power button
on the keyboard and it powered up and booted right into NeXTstep as if it had just run a
few days ago. I think the system must have been sitting idle for almost fifteen years
before I got back to it. I even managed to remember the password ;)
Since then, I've restored pretty much everything I was able to bring back to running
condition. I try to fire them all up a few times a year, at a minimum. In general, things
have held up pretty well. Drives tend to be the greatest challenge - but can sometimes
present the greatest surprises as well :O
Best,
Sean
NeXT cubes are amongst the "most coveted" systems I don't currently have in
my collection.
Whilst being devoid of value in market terms, I agree that the old data on some of these
systems is a real period treasure trove. Take the Colour Classic in my original post. It
came from a school (since demolished) and has lots of old, crude work on it - seemingly
from a Geography department. I actually learned something about glaciers by reading some
tonight!!
-Austin.