2 May
2008
2 May
'08
3:17 p.m.
On Friday 02 May 2008 11:40, Bob Armstrong wrote:
. and, although I use RL02s all the time, this is
the first time it's
happened to me. The odd thing is, the pack was clean and in good shape -
in fact, the same pack had been used within the last week without any
problems. I knew right away when I spun up the pack that something wasn't
quite right - it made an unusual noise when heads loaded. Not a horrible
screeching or even the metallic "tinging" sound associated with a crash;
more like a soft "swish" noise that I hadn't heard before. It wasn't
very
loud at all; if I hadn't been right in front of the drive I wouldn't have
heard it over all the fans.
Yes, I've heard that "sound"...
--snip---
The drive appears to be OK despite its adventures, so
I'll count myself as
lucky this time. The original crashed pack is a write off as far as I'm
concerned. Maybe I'll make a clock out of it.
Yes, forget the pack... You lucked out on the heads :-)
I'm really curious though as to what could have
gone wrong. The original
pack had been used before, and recently too, without any problems and when
they're not mounted the packs are stored inside plastic garbage bags to
keep dust and dog hair out of 'em. I'm always really fastidious about
keeping the drives closed and clean inside, and RL02s usually aren't that
fussy anyway. It kind of worries me that despite all the precautions they
might decide to up and crash at any time, but I guess that's life with a
classic computer. Anybody else have any similar experiences?
I use my RL02s regularly - and had this happen to me once. AFAIK, it
was "operator error" (ME). I had become somewhat complacent about mounting
packs - because my RL02s were always so reliable. I dropped a pack in a
drive, spun it up and heard an "unusual" sound.
As you said, it wasn't a metallic "crash" sound - in fact, I wasn't even
sure
anything was wrong - except I found the pack wouldn't boot. I shut down the
drive and discovered a "ring" of oxide worn off of the pack. I, too, cleaned
the heads and tried again with another good, but expendable pack. It got
zapped as well. I replaced the heads and all has been well since.
Now I'm super careful about mounting packs. If they sound the least
bit "different" when I initially place them in the drive (that
initial "thunk" sound) - I remount them.
Since that crash, I've mounted RL02's literally hundreds of times since then
(several years ago) - and that problem hasn't re-occurred (thank God).
Cheers,
Lyle
--
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
Mountain View, CA
http://bickleywest.com
"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"