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Lots of 5.25" full & half height MFM, RLL, SCSI on ebay!

aaron7

Experienced Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2003
Messages
456
If it were years ago I'd do it but I just don't have the equipment or time to do it. Just letting them go for whatever they go for!

I just dug out another ST-412... with a four digit serial number :)
 
If it were years ago I'd do it but I just don't have the equipment or time to do it. Just letting them go for whatever they go for!

I just dug out another ST-412... with a four digit serial number :)

I'm just saying that the difference is between a potential doorstop and something that really works and someone may find useful. But if you can't test them, I guess it's best to get whatever you can.
 
Are there any MFM controllers for S-100? I suspect maybe the 10mb Seagate was once in a N* Horizon chassis
 
I did strip out some Northstar S100 systems about 10 years ago before I knew better. Very good chance this drive is from there!

If there's interest I can spin them up and make sure they aren't loud and the heads move.
 
If there's interest I can spin them up and make sure they aren't loud and the heads move.
Spin up and noise are one thing but how do you hear if the heads move?

FWIW, I have lots of older FH MFM drives that spin up and sound 'good' but still can not be accessed at all. By that I mean that I can not low level format them. I guess that makes them doorstops. If anybody's interested in them for parts I can list the models.
 
That will just have to be part of the risk in the purchase.
If he did pull them from northstar systems it's possible they were working pulls and if they spin up they should still be okay. Them working after being shipped however is another story.
 
If he did pull them from northstar systems it's possible they were working pulls and if they spin up they should still be okay.
This is the part I don't agree with. I have lots of so-called 'full height working pulls' that just..... don't work. They all spin fine. But these drives have electrolytic capacitors in their circuitry and that can be a real problem as this particular electronic component deteriorates more rapidly then all the others. The liquid contained in them leaks or evaporates and the component fails. This kills lots of power supplies, too, at least the older ones. Electrolytics are probably the weak link in the electronic chain of old.
 
There are other issues--rubber bumpers that get sticky, bearings that dry out, coatings whose binder has failed, etc. If I get an old 5.25" low-capacity hard drive, I find that a safe assumption is that it's failed and I prepare to be surprised.
 
Well, last auctions ended quite well. Got a good chunk of change for holding on to these drives for so many years :)

Listed the last of my 5.25" drives... including my favorite drive ever! My ST-412 serial number 6612. So cool!

Miniscribe 2012 10mb MFM: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Min...857?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0e955b19
Miniscribe 3180E 157mb ESDI: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Min...918?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0e956326
Miniscribe 4020 17mb MFM: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Min...123?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0e956bc3
Seagate ST-412 10mb MFM: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Sea...213?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0e957fa5
Seagate ST-412 10mb MFM #6612: http://www.ebay.com/itm/VERY-low-se...269?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3f0e95780d
 
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