Re: VMS SIG discovers what Billy really relies on


"Tim Wilkinson" <tjw@(remove).twsoft.co.uk> wrote in message
news:qslMk.76951$E41.47625@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I'll never forget my first head-crash! It was an IBM 2311. For those to
young to have ever seen one, it was a "washing machine" with a top
loading disk pack of 6-8 platters. I think it was a whole 7.5
megabytes!

The console started logging errors and there was this high pitched
screeching. . . .

There was a story then current about an operator who tried to deal with a
head crash by mounting the crashed pack on another drive. . . . ISTR
that the total carnage was something like seven drives and seven disk
packs destroyed!

One of my operators managed to go through 5 cdc 400mb drives (Long time
ago so I might not be quite accurate with the make/size, but size of a
washing machine), connected to a pair of Computervision Cadds 4 systems.
When he tried to install/format a new disc pack

When I conducted the inquest, you could see the lowest platter on the
first pack was bent by about 1/2". As if the pack had been dropped. It
appeared he put it in the first system and crashed it, his first crash and
had not realised, put it in the second drive and crashed that. Decided it
must be the system at fault and moved the damaged pack to the second
system and crash.

So having decided it must be the pack. He then moved the two packs he had
installed into the first systems crashed drives into the second systems
remaining last two drives. I then get a phone call at home to tell me he
was having problems. err yes you have a problem.

To be honest, he was installing 2 brand new packs. It had not occurred to
anyone when we wrote his instructions to visually check a pack for damage.
We attempted to recover the costs from the pack supplier who argued the
damage was as a result of installing the pack in a crashed drive etc.
total of 5 drives and about 9 disc packs after he had installed original
packs/backups and new in the crashed drives

My company was not happy that we had about 30 cad operators idle for a few
days whilst the drives were rebuilt.


Now for another lesson from them systems. Each had 1/2" tape drives and we
had a problem reading tapes from 1 to the other, the technician decided
the problem was a result of an alignment/speed problem and reset the
heads/motor etc. We then discovered that we were now unable to read
archives tapes of our cad parts and the tech was unable to undo his
realignment.

Talking of alignment, when was the last time anyone used a floppy
alignment disc/scope?


Still on discs, my first VAX was an 11/750 we were given by a sister
company, but had to source new drives. My boss went for a System Industries
solution and Fujitsu "Super Eagles". Only problem was these new drives were
very prone to failure, I think it was eventually attributed to bearings
leaking. Well our computer room was on the second floor. No lifts and
carrying 6 drives up 4 flights of stairs, then the replaced ones back down,
multiply by at least 5 for the amount of swap outs we must have had and it
is no wonder I suffer back problems 25 years later.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: VMS SIG discovers what Billy really relies on
    ... disk pack of 6-8 platters. ... installed into the first systems crashed drives into the second systems ... he was installing 2 brand new packs. ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: RL02 drives on a PDP 8/E
    ... The only thing I can add to this is that an RL02 drive cannot normally read an RL01 pack. ... we had an RL02 which had been modified so it could read both RL01 packs and RL02 packs. ... I have found RL02 drives to be very reliable in my personal experience. ...
    (comp.sys.dec)
  • Re: VMS SIG discovers what Billy really relies on
    ... There was a story then current about an operator who tried to deal with a head crash by mounting the crashed pack on another drive. ... He then moved the two packs he had installed into the first systems crashed drives into the second systems remaining last two drives. ... he was installing 2 brand new packs. ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: VMS SIG discovers what Billy really relies on
    ... Imagine how the image would look with8 itanics in a rack with 3TB disk array ... head crash by mounting the crashed pack on another drive. ... installed into the first systems crashed drives into the second systems ...
    (comp.os.vms)
  • Re: VMS SIG discovers what Billy really relies on
    ... disk pack of 6-8 platters. ... installed into the first systems crashed drives into the second systems ... he was installing 2 brand new packs. ...
    (comp.os.vms)