Seagate ST3250A relic!

[STeALtH]

I was digging around in an 'old' box of bits this morning that I keep in the loft for a couple of IDE leads and found an old Seagate ST3250A 213.9Mb HDD.

I have no idea how old it is or why I kept it, but it has to be from the mid 90s?

Just for fun I plugged it into a spare box I have for Linux and it actually spun up, not only did it spin up but it booted into MS DOS.

There's nothing else on it I was just amazed that a drive that old rattling round from move to move for something like 15 years totally unprotected in the bottom of a cardboard box full of junk would still work.

Awesome! Just gotta think of a use for it now, I haven't the heart to take it to bits to play with or retire back to it's cardboard tomb. Got an old Pentium box somewhere I might just turn it into a pure DOS box for all the DOS utils I have collected, can't think of anything else that'll fit on a 210Mb drive lol.

S

[northwind]

Maybe you can make a clock of it

That's what I did with my Medallist drives

[STeALtH]

Haha, yeah have seen those on You Tube, they do look good.

Can you get the electronics pre programmed or do you do them yourself? Electronics aren't my thing at all lol. Used to chip the consoles and phones years back, but that was about the extent of it.

S

[northwind]

I have made analog clocks, so electronics not really needed. Just put the analog clock mechanism on the back of the drive, create a stand for the clock and there you go.
Nice for my desk

[STeALtH]

Ah right I see, I thought you meant the ones with the disk spinning and the slot cut into it.

Yep I reckon the analogue ones would look pretty cool too, I've got a couple of 'clickers' to have a go at that with.

S

[fzabkar]

I was digging around in an 'old' box of bits this morning that I keep in the loft for a couple of IDE leads and found an old Seagate ST3250A 213.9Mb HDD. :)

I have no idea how old it is or why I kept it, but it has to be from the mid 90s?

ISTR that 200MB capacities were already in the marketplace by 1991 or 1992.

Anyway, assuming you can't find a date code on the label, you could examine the ICs for YWW or YYWW (Year/Week) date codes.

[STeALtH]

Hehe, mate, I'm crackin on a bit, my eyes just aren't that good nowdays, will see if I can find a magnifyer or something. To me 91/92 doesn't seem that long ago, I was born in the 60s lol, but for a drive that age to still work is quite something to me.

What it has got is:

Model : ST3250A
Drive Parameters: 1024 CYL-12 Heads-34 Sect-213.9 mb
9A6001-308
CBMSFAGB09
03-2.02-A1
Made in Singapore

No idea if there's some reference in those numbers?

Still find it astonishing that it boots, it hasn't been wrapped in bubble wrap or anythin else and was literally in a box full of 'junk', built em tough back in the day it seems.

S

[Cris]

built em tough back in the day it seems

I just had a computer come in for repair and it had 500MB drive from 1994; it certainly lasted a while.

[dobrevjetser]

I got a 40 mb a few weeks ago. Data recovered after head transplant!
Drive talked CHS, no LBA.

Dobre

[STeALtH]

Weird that these things are still about let alone working or still containing data important enough to warrant recovery?!?!

S

[rameez]

Strange thing is that u had Donor for this drive

[dobrevjetser]

Thats whats friends (colleagues) are for

[STeALtH]

What's the oldest drive you guys have worked on or seen still running in a system?

I know, it's all old hat, water under the bridge, yada yada, but since reading through this place and finding out how they're built and how they work, and what goes wrong with 'em I've kinda become obsessed with HDDs, sad I know...

S

[dobrevjetser]

1986 8-platter drive. Something like 40 MB.
Failed 4 years ago.

[STeALtH]

Wow! 8 platters for 40 mb!

S

[platonsim]

Do you still got the ST3250A drive???

[jermy]

are you for real ? it's more than 3 years old

[Keatah]

I still have a Sider HDD from 1985'ish. It's 10MB and still retains the data I put on it when last seriously used in 1991. Every 5 years more or less I check it out.

It has either 3 or 5 platters, a Z80 CPU on one of the two 10"x10" boards, it comes with its own power supply which is suitable for a small PC, and it has a stepper-motor with metal band for the head positioner. It is SASI. But the speed is limited by the host's 1MHz 6502, however.

I don't doubt it will last another 30 years. I am concerned about spindle motor lubrication. And may address that in the future. Though I suppose intermittent power ups from time to time is a good thing here.

[jermy]

just for curiosity?

what difference does it make if it's gonna last for the next 30 or 100 years or 10 days

[Keatah]

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