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Yay art! (Albeit hugged close to death, this morning) Story: I owned a 20MB hard drive, attached to the side of my Amiga 1200, in the 1990's. Internet was a d
by ncr100 4y ago
Yay art! (Albeit hugged close to death, this morning)
Story:
I owned a 20MB hard drive, attached to the side of my Amiga 1200, in the 1990's. Internet was a discrete, dial-up experience. One morning the drive clanged unnaturally loudly. And the shaky desk on which I computed transmitted a strong thud force. My HD had decided to slam its head into its cylinder spindle. I believed I would lose all my work. I backed it up, and later Maxtor honored its warranty, ultimately restoring my precious files.
Gibson's poetry experience reminds me of this moment - all my special data being threatened to go, "poof!"
(link to his full poem: https://web.archive.org/web/20190322065716/http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/source/agrippa.asp https://web.archive.org/web/20190322065716/http://www.willia...)
- vidarh 4y agoWhen my first HD for my Amiga refused to spin up one day (an A590 with whatever brand of drive was inside it; I can't recall), I ended up opening it up, and manually "helping" the motor. Once it had spun up, I was able to access the files again. I meticulously backed everything up (to floppies... it was only a 20MB drive as well), but could not afford a replacement at that moment. I was able to keep using the drive for another 6 months at least before I replaced it. Every time I cold-started the machine I would have to open the enclosure and help spin it up with my fingers... (of course being very careful about backing up anything essential regularly).
- ncr100 4y agoThat is a fantastic story. These HD's were EXPENSIVE, back in that day. I'm impressed no bit-errors crept into your drive, at least none that you mention here. Did you use a clean-room (a humid bathroom) or did you just YOLO it?
- hummus_bae 4y ago[dead]