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From: caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Anti-static(?) device on Seagate 4051
Message-ID: <550@omen.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 21-May-87 16:29:09 EDT
Article-I.D.: omen.550
Posted: Thu May 21 16:29:09 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 23-May-87 14:45:26 EDT
References: <347@micropen> <633@zaphod.UUCP>
Reply-To: caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX)
Distribution: world
Organization: Omen Technology Inc, Portland Oregon
Lines: 27

In article <633@zaphod.UUCP> dick@plx.UUCP (Dick Flanagan) writes:
:In article <347@micropen> dave@micropen (David F. Carlson) writes:
:>There is a copper strap that apparently discharges the rotor
:>of a Seagate 4051 (and other Seagates I believe) to the case
:>of the drive.  The hassle is that this strap makes a loud 
:>vibrating noise after several months.  [...] I have removed the strap
:>from one drive.  [...]
:
:This is a very common problem.  Instead of removing the strap, 
:however, I would recommend you first try dampening the vibration
:that is causing the noise.  A piece of foam, double-sided sticky
:tape pushed against the strap will usually quiet them right down
:without any ill effects.

I have a Microscience 10 MB half height that developed a noisy static
brush in early 1984.  I fought with it for a month or so, until I
dropped the drive one of the times I had removed it to adjust the brush.
Dropping the drive while it was running and shorting out the power
genrated a spat of bad blocks.  Enough.  I removed the brush (humidity
here is fairly high) and reformatted the drive.  It has not had a bad
sector since then, despite continuous 24 hour operation since then.

I also have a Seagate 4051 about a year old with no static brush noise.

The IBM PC/AT 20 MB disk drive never made any static brush noise, its one
redeeming virtue.  (It doesn't make *any* noise now, having gone the way
of its bretheren).