Re: VMS SIG discovers what Billy really relies on

Imagine how the image would look with8 itanics in a rack with 3TB disk array
It would look like a lame little server setup for a local elementary school
The big vaxen and Ra series disks did and still do look very impressive
I saw an array (SA482) on some Steven Segal movie the other day (with a
limey Michael Caine as the bad guy)

Come to think of it, why are the Bad Guys always English in American movies?
I am English and I personally think I'm a really nice person.... nay,
extremely nice...

And if anyone wants to counter my belief then I'll find out where you live
and...


--
David B Turner

=============================================

Island Computers US Corp
PO Box 86
Tybee GA 31328

Toll Free: 1-877 636 4332 x201, Mobile x251
Email: dturner@xxxxxxxxxxxx
International & Local: (001)- 404-806-7749
Fax: 912 786 8505
Web: www.islandco.com

=============================================
<norm.raphael@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:OFFA63360E.C18526C9-ONC22574EC.00539355-852574EC.005391EB@xxxxxxxxxxxx

"Tim Wilkinson" <tjw@(remove).twsoft.co.uk> wrote on 10/24/2008 11:02:46 AM:


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.

I remember one fateful, fatal evening when two DEC (remember them) field
service engineers were doing preventative maintenance on the RM05's and
placed the alignment pack on the top of one while they worked on another.
In due course, the "washing-machine effect" caused the alignment pack to
topple off onto the floor, trashing a roughly $20K investment. One of them
had to drive 30-odd miles away to get a backup from another office.
Talk about embarrassing.



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?



.

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