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From: klm@munsell.UUCP (Kevin McBride)
Newsgroups: talk.bizarre,comp.misc
Subject: Re: What the world needs now
Message-ID: <1090@knopfler.munsell.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 24-Jun-87 11:09:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: knopfler.1090
Posted: Wed Jun 24 11:09:41 1987
Date-Received: Fri, 26-Jun-87 06:41:59 EDT
References: <1240@ssc-vax.UUCP> <631@mapper.UUCP> <3268@bigburd.PRC.Unisys.COM> <163@buengc.BU.EDU> <1739@umd5.umd.edu>
Reply-To: klm@munsell.UUCP (Kevin McBride)
Organization: Eikonix Corp., Bedford, MA
Lines: 28
Keywords: Walking disk drives
Xref: mnetor talk.bizarre:2146 comp.misc:738

In article <1739@umd5.umd.edu> davidc@terminus.umd.edu (David R. Conrad) writes:
>
>A couple of years ago I used to run dumps on a Prime system.  In the space
>of three hours, the disk drives (two big CDC cabinets) would walk about 
>two feet.  They would also vibrate like crazy.  When I first saw this my
>immediate reaction was to look for cover, figuring that shrapnel was about
>to come flying out the cabinets from the disintegrating platters.  

Back in high school (mid 70's) I belonged to a computer club.  A local BIG
corporation would let us in one night a week and give us free run of their
computer room which contained an IBM 370/158 and more disks and tapes than
I could imagine.  We had our own operator's console and card reader/puncher
and printer over in a corner behind the disk drives.

One night I *did* see shrapnel when an old 3xxx something or other washing
machine (wasn't a 3330) type drive had a pack disintegrate on the drive.
When the screeching stopped and the dust settled, there wasn't a whole hell
of a lot left of the drive.  These were the 11 platter ceramic packs
(30 pounds or so) and they spun at 3600 RPM.  That's a lot of destructive
force when it decides to give.

Well, that's my $0.02 for what it's worth (probably $0.01)

-- 
Kevin McBride         |Disclaimer:  These   | harvard -\
Eikonix - A Kodak Co. |  opinions are mine, | ll-xn ---adelie-----> munsell!klm
23 Crosby Dr.         |  not my employer's, | decvax -v  talcott -v  |
Bedford, MA 01730     |  So There!          | allegra ------------encore