Wanted: tech docs on original Iomega 8-inch full height 10MB Bernoulli drive (Alpha-10) - test-drb@ccmp.vtda.org

16 Oct 2018

On 10/15/18 1:00 PM, cctech-request at classiccmp.org wrote:
...
  From: Michael Brutman <mbbrutman at
brutman.com>

 Hi Eric,

 I have working 10MB and 20MB units here being driven by a PC XT with the
 Iomega specific card for them.

 I've had to puts lots of effort into cleaning the heads on them.  I'm not
 sure if there is an oxide shedding problem or just 30 years of dust that
 I'm fighting, but they do seem to be very finicky at this stage.  It also
 could be a media formatting problem; I think they have servo tracks that
 were laid down at manufacturing time, so if you have a read error on the
 servo track there is no way to fix it.

 Mike 
I've got a collection of 1/2 height 8" drives, and one among them (a 20 
MB unit) is able to come online with a cartridge inserted.  Maybe head 
cleaning is what is troubling the others - but I have no idea how I'd 
jam a cotton swab in there and find the heads to attempt a cleaning.

I have a Bernoulli card in a PC that will lift the bits from 
DOS-formatted cartridges, and I hook the drive up to an old Mac with a 
SCSI card in it to image other arbitrary types (I've seen them used as 
audio recording devices as well as external storage for HP equipment).

- David