Had to jump in to say few about these hds...from my years long experience with them... Those ST2xx series was the most number produced in old days and I always have them in varying conditions especially ST225/ST225R series is remove the logic board and gently rock the motor rotor housing, if it makes clunks or moves, it's junked. Next test is to spun them up and listen and feel the pack for condition of the bearings, the spindle often "grinds or soft ticking" at full speed. The ones that feel smooth and like new feel is real rare! Only advice when to asolutely avoid the seagate is those ST125 series, these always heads gets stuck on platters. If you have a ST251 series, if working, handle them more gently because the spindle with motor in it, that axle is not that strong, warps easily if handled roughly. Very usual like that... :) What else, if you find any different brands that is MFM/RLL, SCSI or such that uses voice coil, they're very reliable and lasts long time. Not those early ST4 series that uses linear voice coils! If you see miniscribe drives, good luck, I have no positive experience about them! What else is worst hd from different brands? Tip: Most Unusual and I mean it: is ST212, uses 1 platter. 4 heads to a platter, two heads per surface. What else? This hd that grates was from the arm hitting the adjustable track 0 stop that got bit different position becasue the top was unbolted therefore the bottom part got UNwarped, when cover is bolted back on warps back to correct position. :) YOUR'E LUCKY that you did get it back working again. :-( ) My experience like that is not successful and lose the data to LLF in order to remarry the controller and the tracks back together if cover was removed/put back on. Other thing, the constant slowly warbling grinding or more warbling vibrations when the platter spinning shows that bearings are dead. Yes, I was experimenting with lots of hds/models/brands which I got some experience with them. If you have any questions about hds, floppy drives, fire yours to me. :) Jason D.

Fujitsu Eagles GOOD? I remember that Fujitsu made a bunch of real dogs in the line, with new drives crashing all over the place. Tucked inside my Sun-4/280 was a thinly veiled letter of apology from Sun, basically stating that they were sorry that they had to ship units with Eagles, and the problems would be sorted out as soon as possible. Incidently, comparing modern micros to yesterday's minis I feel is a bit silly. The minis, being big expensive things, perhaps doing mission critical tasks, were produced to very high standards. One bad unit could really cause a stink and a customer, perhaps worth millions, could be lost. Fujitsu still is "known" for Eagles. Micros (even the classic ones), on the other hand, are built with every cost cutting trick known (including in the QA department), and individual failures, if kept in low numbers, are relatively harmless to the business. No folks, the overall quality of computers has not changed. There were gems and junk in the past, just as there are gems and junk now. William Donzelli william(a)ans.net