In the late 1970s/early 1980s VAX hard drives usually took cartridges which could be conveniently unplugged and carried across to a drive on another machine. Bu

In the late 1970s/early 1980s VAX hard drives usually took cartridges which could be conveniently unplugged and carried across to a drive on another machine. But by 1986 drives were often "Winchesters" - sealed, rack width, a foot high, and weighing maybe 100kg. The cables were an inch thick and the plugs the size of a large ham and cheese sandwich. Hence the comment in the article that they'd need to pay a DEC technician to come out and physically do the move.