NEC Hard Drive from 1992 - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 04:21:44 am
content: Digging around my junk bin and I found this NEC hard drive from 1992.I was amazed to see so many bodge wires on a production unit...especially connected to such small pitch packages like that QFP. And look at all the through hole parts! Times have changed.Oh and its 105MB..

author: Yaksaredabomb
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 04:51:33 am
content: Wow, that's really crazy. Thanks for sharing the pics. I can't believe how they soldered those resisters right to the pins on those two packages!

author: sotos
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 05:23:52 am
content: Quote from: jneumann on October 29, 2012, 04:51:33 amChinese with small fingers.

author: muvideo
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 10:46:31 am
content: Nice, I still have somewhere a pair of 1992 HDD (one is a 180MB fuji and anothera seagate if I remember correctly), and also a 1986 20MB HDD and 360K 5.25 FDD ,form an Olivetti machine, probably the M24.I should see if I find them, the Olivetti HDD electronics is all trough hole components.Fabio

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 11:26:19 am
content: We have boxes of really old HDDs (policy of never selling / throwing out HDDs), some have incredible amount of rework.I'll take some pix when I can. Yes it's unbelievable that they can afford to hand-repair a machine assembly part, but then -I also opened up a 5 channel video/kbd/mouse distribution / buffer unit ... 100s of S/Mount parts .. ALL hand soldered !!!When the fook was labour cheaper than machine assembly !!???!!I also still keep this from the old days, pulled from the ANZ bank (yup it's a cartridge) ... 10MB, cost app $250K !!The 2 gas ports were connected to super-cold halon ... there's an inspection port for sending a fibre down to inspect the heads.

author: firewalker
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 12:36:58 pm
content: This is mine Seagate ST-157A from 1991.

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 02:52:07 pm
content: digsys,That's quite a hard drive! Wow!

author: FenderBender
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 02:54:29 pm
content: firewalker,The Seagate looks very nice minus those two bodges on the bottom side.

author: mikeselectricstuff
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 04:04:20 pm
content: Quote from: FenderBender on October 29, 2012, 04:21:44 amRemember that production volumes then were a tiny fraction of today, and sale price & margins were a lot higher, ISTR my first HD was 20MB and cost about GB£200

author: Excavatoree
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 04:43:19 pm
content: Quote from: mikeselectricstuff on October 29, 2012, 04:04:20 pmMy first computer had a 10MB hard drive available, for 6000 dollars. (US)

author: T4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 05:39:27 pm
content: Quote from: sotos on October 29, 2012, 05:23:52 amWrong. It's Japanese.@digsysWow, that thing is gargantuan to say the least

author: digsys
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: October 29, 2012, 10:14:14 pm
content: QuoteThe ANZ bank complex was next door (still is) to my factory. My partner serviced their HDD array, they had ~30-50 of them.All rooms were air tight and sealed in case of emergency. If it was a fire, halon would gush in and you had ~5-10 secs to get toan oxygen mask !! or you were TOAST !! I still remember the massives red cylinders of halon.When this series was upgraded, I grabbed a couple (~25KG each) .. undid several unbrakos, and as I broke the seal, a suddenwhoosh of condensing halon gas enveloped me ... I remembered thinking "goodbye cruel world" the instant I realised what I did.Halon was banned a few years later.

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: October 30, 2012, 04:45:18 am
content: Still got a few halons around, though they are no longer used. Waiting for a bank to open to flog them off, as they are still used in aviation and on the ISS.