Maxtor full-height 5.25" drives of death

[Fred Cisin]

On Fri, 9 Feb 2018, js--- via cctalk wrote:
> A tangential question out of curiosity: who here has 5.25" MFM drives 
> they're extremely surprised are still working, and which model(s)?
> I'll start.  I've quite a few MFM drives, but the ones that really surprise 
> me are (2) Seagate ST-506, and (2) IMI CM-5412.   My surprise is b/c these 
> are amongst the earliest of models.

One factor may be that the earliest models were new attempts, and tended 
to be very carefully engineered, and often conservatively, due to lack of 
prior experience.  On the later drives, they had "learned" and "realized" 
some of the corners that they could cut.  "On analysis of failed drives 
from various problems, it is clear that none of the failed drives were 
even halfway through the life of the lubricants.  Therefore, cheaper 
lubricants and smaller quantities with half the expected life would still 
be adequate to outlast, on average, the other components."?

> I've performed *some* work on all these drives, such as cleaning and caps 
> reforming, but haven't yet discovered a way to lube motors & bearings.   I 
> think lube issues will spell their ultimate demise.

One of the first corners to cut, once analysis of failed units from other 
causes shows that it is outlasting the rest of the unit.

In addition, of course, some lubricants can deteriorate, whereas many 
other components may have no significant impact from time.  Lubricants can 
fail from contaminants that would not affect most other components.