Airbozo
09-13-2006, 12:33 PM
Yes it was 50 years ago that IBM introduced the hard disk, weighing in at a ton with platters 2' across and storing an AMAZING 5MB!
http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/storage/enewscast/50yearsofdisk/?sa_campaign=message/ideas/leadspace/all/50thdiskflashicon3
I never had the opportunity to see one in person, but the first hard disk I worked on fit in a rack (19" across) with something like 19 platters and 2 large controller boards (larger than an atx mobo). When one of those units failed we would send it back for repair (99% of the time it was a faulty head). Once it came back to us we would do an initial head alignment in our lab (the whole bottom side of the bottom platter had an alignment signal burned into it), then install it in the rack where it would live and finish the head alignment (had to align the drive in the rack it was meant to be in otherwise moving it knocked the alignment off). This drive took 2 people to move and held a whopping 500mb.
I also worked on DIABLO disk drives that had removable platters. Rather than send those units in for repair, we would replace the heads in our lab and calibrate them. Heh, my first job working on PC's was to actually fix floppy drives. Yes they were so expensive that when one failed, we repaired it rather than replace it. 5.25" floppys!
Now I feel old...
http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/storage/enewscast/50yearsofdisk/?sa_campaign=message/ideas/leadspace/all/50thdiskflashicon3
I never had the opportunity to see one in person, but the first hard disk I worked on fit in a rack (19" across) with something like 19 platters and 2 large controller boards (larger than an atx mobo). When one of those units failed we would send it back for repair (99% of the time it was a faulty head). Once it came back to us we would do an initial head alignment in our lab (the whole bottom side of the bottom platter had an alignment signal burned into it), then install it in the rack where it would live and finish the head alignment (had to align the drive in the rack it was meant to be in otherwise moving it knocked the alignment off). This drive took 2 people to move and held a whopping 500mb.
I also worked on DIABLO disk drives that had removable platters. Rather than send those units in for repair, we would replace the heads in our lab and calibrate them. Heh, my first job working on PC's was to actually fix floppy drives. Yes they were so expensive that when one failed, we repaired it rather than replace it. 5.25" floppys!
Now I feel old...