Wanted: tech docs on original Iomega 8-inch full height 10MB Bernoulli drive (Alpha-10)

[David Schmidt]

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