Disk drive head locking (DEC RA-82 and HP 7920)

Hi Dan. AFAI can tell from memory, you do the following. 1) find the opening in the front that is a little larger than the other openings (for cooling). 2) Use a screwdriver to push the plate that is behind the opening mentioned in 1). 3) While that plate is pushed in, you can lift the top cover including the electronics of the RA82. 4) In the middle yoy see the large (black) cilinder thing. That is the HDA. When you stand in front of the drive you see a small lever at "6 o clock". Rotate that level 180 degrees to lock the heads. You must lift the level at the end a little to be able to rotate it. On the HDA is a text that tells you the position of the level. (At least, that is the case with my *RA81*. 5) At the right hand side, near the chassis plate of the drive is a handle. This handle releases/sets the drive belt free/tension to the HDA. I do not know if the tension should be released when you transport the drive. If you are not going to use the drive for say, several months, you could release the tension to prevent deforming (flatten) the drive belt at one location. Take care, RA82's are heavy, - Henk.