PG Manney wrote:
>
> > I recall a warning about the datadrives or the Adam in general: don't
> > turn on the Adam with a datatape in the drive, the drive will send out a
> > pulse that may damage data stored on the part of the tape next to the
> > write head (some said up to a few feet away, I don't know about
> > that...:/ )
>
> I remember my heathkit (H-89) had a similar warning about starting up with
> a disk in the drive.
I remember _many_ disks being destroyed in old 5.25 drives attached to
TRS-80s, Apples, Commodores and other machines. All single-sided. And
the single-sided 8" drives were even more destructive -- a disk in an old
TRS-80 Model II would die at least 50% of the time if it was inserted at
power-on, especially in the external expansion box. I remember damned
near pissing my pants when I first saw the docs for a PC software package
read "insert the diskette and turn on the computer". Since I know well
that a PC drive could eat its children before 360k became standard. I
don't know enough about head technology, though I assume that the heads
in double-sided drives need to be much more delicate to avoid destroying
each others' work, where single heads (especially when densities were low)
could just blast away and let the domains hit by the field lines lie where
they fell.
--
Ward Griffiths
Two thousand yeare since Bethlehem and still we hear the lie,
that after years of hopes and fears the best part's when we die.
Received on Wed Dec 24 1997 - 19:16:51 GMT