Your first hard disk story...  - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: x86guru
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2021, 03:11:31 pm
content: My first hard disk was a huge 8" Winchester Corvus Systems 20MB for the Apple ][ when I was 14 years old. I bought it used from the want-ad section in the back of Computer-Shopper back in the 80's. I had been saving up for around 1 year with my paper route to buy a hard disk. I was ~14 years old and originally wanted an Apple ][ Sider 10MB hard disk system. I just entered high school and they had an Apple ][ computer lab. All of the Apple ][ systems were networked together with a Corvus Omninet system which I thought was the coolest thing in the world. When I saw the want-ad in the back of Computer-shopper for a used Corvus Systems 20MB system for the Apple ][ for $750, I knew I wanted it. It was basically the same price as the Apple ][ Sider 10MB I was drooling over in the magazines.The problem was, I was in Washington state (Mercer Island) and the owner selling the Corvus was in Florida. As it turns out, the owner's wife worked for an airline. He did not want to ship the Corvus but offered to have it flown down and he (His friend actually) would carry it as luggage on the plane.So my parents picked him up at the airport carrying the Corvus, brought him back to our house, we setup the Corvus on my Apple ][, then my parents dropped him back off at the airport.Sadly, the Corvus crashed hard about 1 year later. I never figured out what happened but it sounded like a mechanical issue. I then discovered the ST225 20MB SCSI drive and the Apple ][ SCSI controller, but I often think back to those wonderous feeling of owning my very own hard disk on my Apple ][.

author: jmelson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2021, 05:26:21 pm
content: In about 1980 or so, I had a CP/M system with a Z-80 pretty tricked out. I saw an ad in the back of a computer/electronics magazine from Memorex, an introductory offer for a SASI 10 MB winchester drive for $1600. I bought it, and wire-wrapped up an interface to the S-100 bus. Basically an 8-bit bidirectional port with a few handshaking signals, and whipped up a "device driver" for it. It worked very well! Before packing it up for permanent installation, I bumped the SASI interface board against the drive's spindle driver heatsinks, there was a spark, and it all stopped working. UGH! Well, first thing was the finger test, feel for any hot chips, there were a few, replace those. Then, scope around for any bad logic levels, replace chips connected to those nodes. Finally, it started running again. I sholud have chopped up the drive into a bunch of 1 MB partitions and had a program that would alter the driver to assign partitions to the A and B CP/M drive. But, I left it one GIANT disk, which was pretty confusing without directory heirarchies in CP/M. Just one huge pool of files.I later added mag-tape backup on 1/2" 9-track tape, and backed it all up before I got rid of it.Jon

author: David Hess
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2021, 08:06:43 pm
content: Not counting a few 5 and 10 MB hard drives on other people's PCs, the first ones I regularly used were 20 MB ST225s, often with RLL controllers to get 30 MBs. The first hard drive I bought with my own money was a Maxtor 8760E (5.25 inch full height) with a Western Digital 1007 2:1 controller for $1100, which I later replaced with a 1:1 controller (DTC? I forget). I still have the ESDI stuff in a box somewhere. All of the ST225s and similar eventually died of stiction.

author: DrG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 10, 2021, 11:31:16 pm
content: ~1986-1987DEC PDP-8/e with a hard disk pack. Taught me not to allow DEC preventive maintenance personnel in the lab.

author: HarryDoPECC
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 03:35:09 am
content: As I student in the 80s a few of us had what I guess would now be called a startup - building data acquisition hardware and associated software to replace paper chart recorders with direct digital acquisition.I did the software on IBM PC with MS C - editor and compiler each on a floppy, load whichever required into the A: drive and source/object stored on B:With my share of first income I splashed out on a 10MB HDD with RLL controller to get 20MB.Still remember feeling like a master of the computing universe - all software at my fingertips and more storage left over than I could even dream of being able to use.And perfectly happy with 640k RAM "more than anyone could ever use......"

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 04:17:37 am
content: The first hard drive I personally owned was a 20MB Seagate ST-225, it was ancient when it was given to me around 1994 and I used it for a while before upgrading to the 30MB RLL version of the same drive which I actually still own. The first hard drive I ever used was a 20MB hard card my dad paid a fortune for and installed in our original 5 slot IBM PC.

author: Ed.Kloonk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 10:13:48 am
content: My first must have been a ~35Mb Samsung that came with the box. Nothing to write home about and got replaced by a bigger Maxtor shortly after.The third(?) drive might be of most significance. It was a SCSI-II 2Gb Seagate. Cost about $2k. It allowed us to non-destructively edit a full CD's worth of music. That thing sure earned it's keep. Eventually the ISA-SCSI2 controller got replaced with a PCI one and we saw the drive really stretch it's legs.

author: cliffyk
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 11:31:57 am
content: 10 MB for a TRS-80 Model III in late 1980--$699 w/ the controller...

author: Phil_G
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 12:51:33 pm
content: I didnt have a hard disk until the PCXT era, my first was an ISA card with 20mb mounted on the card.Later, I dont remember how, we changed it to RLL encoding and that gave us 30mb from the same hardware.I used it to run a Fido BBS. These days 30mb isnt worth bothering !

author: Johnny10
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 12:56:05 pm
content: Summer 1988Macintosh II with Color monitor and 20MB Hard Drive.Had almost $10,000 into it after buying color monitor, software and later one of the first (#009) 32bit color graphics card.Drive lasted a little less than a year but Apple replaced it on warranty.I think everything but the monitor is still around here somewhere? Maybe.Where did the time go?

author: Selectech
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 02:20:10 pm
content: Around 1980-81, got a couple of 1 mbyte fixed head units. Made an interface to a 6800 system that ran USCD. That system also had a couple of 8" floppy disk drives.By 1983 that was upgraded to a 68K UCSD system ( my design ) with a 5 mbyte 5 1/4" disk drive & 5 1/4" floppy drives.

author: MarkL
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 04:51:02 pm
content: Quote from: DrG on December 10, 2021, 11:31:16 pmI also have a very similar souvenir hung on my wall.This platter is from a PDP-11/23 that was deep underground in the Homestake gold mine in South Dakota. The computer was recording data from a neutrino telescope, and at that time sections of the mine were still active, so conditions were extremely dusty.Unsurprisingly, the disk crashed one day. The mine was very remote from our location and no one was able to get to it for a couple of months. The read/write head just sat there grinding its way into a groove on the platter. It was a fixed disk, so supposedly was sealed, but no matter.Circa 1983 or so when I was a student working for the researcher.EDIT: There's no comparison for scale in the photo, but thought I'd mention these platters back then were 14" (35cm) across.

author: DrG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 07:01:15 pm
content: Quote from: MarkL on December 11, 2021, 04:51:02 pmGood times eh?Here is an older pic of the same platter with a size reference, but your approximation is correct. It was really not my first HD, but it is the experience that I most remember and those times trying to low-level Seagate 10 or 20 meg drives to salvage them pale by comparison.BTW: Our 11/73sandhad comparatively good HDs but the tape backups were evil.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 08:00:35 pm
content: Quote from: Johnny10 on December 11, 2021, 12:56:05 pmI have almost that same system in a closet here, Mac II with the original 20MB hard drive and an Apple branded Trinitron monitor. I think the graphics card is just the basic 8 bit one though.

author: Johnny10
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 11, 2021, 09:02:10 pm
content: I remember some really cool programs.Excel 1Word 1Studio 8MystWow! could you imagine spending that much money !What was I thinking? or better yet what were we thinking?I paid $999. for the 32 bit graphics card at a Boston computer show where I listened to Steve Jobs and Bill Gates as guest speakers.I did build a complete accounting system in Excel with the use of Macros.While my accountant was still using a program with batch files.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2021, 07:12:09 am
content: I got my Mac II for free, I actually don't remember where I even got it from but I know somebody gave it to me. It was about 15 years ago when it had probably bottomed out in value and was not a classic collectible yet. Somebody gave me a IIfx also but that unfortunately had suffered from a messy failure of the lithium PRAM battery which completely destroyed the motherboard and rusted out all the metal shielding inside the caseIf you're not going to use a 68k Mac for a while, pull the battery and store it separately.

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2021, 05:57:14 pm
content: Quote from: DrG on December 11, 2021, 07:01:15 pmBackups with what, TS11?I've never had a personal hard disk drive, first fixed disk drive was ST412, first floppy drive was Shugart SA800 but it missed a controller.Later had also a double SA400 set but time went by before any were used, must be around '84.I think those minifloppy drives were later used as IBM PC/XT replacements.The exact ST412 picture is in google pictures, the hardforum one with black flat bed quick lock slide in bottom, a standard DEC issue.First CD drive was/is CM 201 (DEC RRD40) with external SCSI controller and separated CD slide in holster and frame.Later an Amiga 500 peripheral.First partially owned hard disk drive was RL01 or RL02, both were VAX 11/750 peripherals we had, like was TS11.Almost a museum harware back then, must be around '90 and after things changed locally it was generally a noisy waste of space.First tape drive was Archive QIC-drive with special ISA bus adapter, 60MB something but not SCSI.Tape format was also somehow special and had to be read with those models.

author: guenthert
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 12, 2021, 06:27:07 pm
content: My first HD was a 65MB drive which came with a RLL controller for the ISA bus. I don't quite remember the manufacturer ('Micropolis' comes to my mind) nor what happened to it in the end (IthinkI was able to sell it cheaply). I do remember however very clearly that it was screeching so loud (frequency depending on track!), that I attempted to ban the PC (side-desk 'tower' case) into a closet, but that turned out to be insufficient ventilation.I was quite happy, when I replaced it with a fairly quiet 200MB (Maxtor) SCSI disk not long after.

author: MarkL
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: December 12, 2021, 07:24:13 pm
content: Quote from: DrG on December 11, 2021, 07:01:15 pmSome of the best! I think I learned more about real-world electronics design in that research lab than in all the EE classes I took.What's additionally interesting about that failed drive is that when it came back from the mine, we ordered a new platter and head assembly from DEC and installed them. DEC was adamant about using a torque wrench to re-tighten the spindle hub bolts, lest the platter have any planar wobble. We didn't have one on hand, so we borrowed a spring force-measurer from one of the student physics labs, marked the one foot radius on the wrench, and tightened the bolts to the right force while pulling on the force-measurer attached at the one-foot mark. Why not. And also not in any kind of clean room.Although the drive was not re-deployed to the field (and rightly so), it ran fine in the lab for several more years of local computing.

author: DrG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2021, 03:13:39 am
content: Quote from: m k on December 12, 2021, 05:57:14 pmWith TK-50s like theseand whatever OS was on the machines at the time...and, as I mentioned, they were not terribly reliable...failing to load data you had backed up at the worst times (as is often the case)..also quite slow...as in start the backup when you left for the day and come back the next morning hoping it had finished.

author: m k
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2021, 07:01:59 am
content: Oh yeah, and just when you thought you have left all those 9-track thingies behind you were introduced a takeup leader.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2021, 06:29:04 pm
content: Yeah, my first HD was an external 40 MB one (SCSI) for the Macintosh Plus I had at the time. Never failed for as long as I used it.IIRC, it was a Maxtor HDD inside.

author: bingo600
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 13, 2021, 06:49:30 pm
content: First i had was a ST-225 in an XT Clone.I thought i'd never be able to use 20MB space ....But i remember some years later , when i got a Quantum 700MB from a Tech friend.Made up of 2 drives , where one had logic board fail , and the other the Platter unit.Was still on DOS , andnow my last drive was Q:Had a hard time finding stuff with all those partitions.Edit : Quantum was SCSI w. an Adaptec 1540 controller ... i think it was/Bingo

author: saipan59
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 14, 2021, 03:26:01 am
content: Worked for DEC beginning in 1981. At one point DEC did a sale to employees of a "Tandy-DEC" PC (80386 at 16 MHz, 1MB of RAM, 20 MB SCSI drive with an Adaptec 1540 controller, running DOS).For most of us, SCSI was a new thing. The drive's activity light was connected to an LED on the front panel of the PC box. The support folks got a lot of questions from employees, because while sitting at the DOS prompt, sometimes the drive LED would start blinking for no apparent reason. Folks wondered "what is it doing to my data? - I didn't tell it to do anything!". The drive was doing periodic 'calibration' on it's own, which was unexpected...They also got questions/complaints because the system had 1MB of RAM, but DOS would only use and report 640K. Some folks thought they had been duped.Pete

author: fordem
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 14, 2021, 02:58:43 pm
content: The first discs I worked with were the 5MB/platter CDC Hawk & Falcon units, the Falcon had two 14" fixed platters, the Hawk was one fixed platter, one removable cartridge - got a service call one morning and went over to the bank, there had been a head crash during the night, there was no oxide of the platters, it had all been scraped away, the aluminum substrate had turned blue from the heat, the heads were completely gone, ground away leaving nothing but the actuator arms.I rebuilt that unit, a thorough cleaning, four new heads, one new platter and a new cartridge and it was good to go.The first disc I owned would have been a Seagate ST4051 - a 40MB, 5.25 full height, MFM drive, got it used from my boss after one of the heads failed - set it up telling the controller it had four heads instead of five, did a low level format and got a little over 30MB out of it, ran it for several years like that.

author: x86guru
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 16, 2021, 03:31:24 pm
content: I love collecting and refurbishing (as best as I can without a real cleanroom) old spinning rust drives from the personal computer era. Especially Corvus Systems since that was my first personal hard disk.