Actually had an RL02 crash today....

[Lyle Bickley]

On Friday 02 May 2008 11:40, Bob Armstrong wrote:
>    . and, although I use RL02s all the time, this is the first time it's
> happened to me.  The odd thing is, the pack was clean and in good shape -
> in fact, the same pack had been used within the last week without any
> problems. I knew right away when I spun up the pack that something wasn't
> quite right - it made an unusual noise when heads loaded.  Not a horrible
> screeching or even the metallic "tinging" sound associated with a crash;
> more like a soft "swish" noise that I hadn't heard before.  It wasn't very
> loud at all; if I hadn't been right in front of the drive I wouldn't have
> heard it over all the fans.

Yes, I've heard that "sound"...

--snip---

> The drive appears to be OK despite its adventures, so I'll count myself as
> lucky this time.  The original crashed pack is a write off as far as I'm
> concerned.  Maybe I'll make a clock out of it.

Yes, forget the pack... You lucked out on the heads :-)

>   I'm really curious though as to what could have gone wrong.  The original
> pack had been used before, and recently too, without any problems and when
> they're not mounted the packs are stored inside plastic garbage bags to
> keep dust and dog hair out of 'em.  I'm always really fastidious about
> keeping the drives closed and clean inside, and RL02s usually aren't that
> fussy anyway.   It kind of worries me that despite all the precautions they
> might decide to up and crash at any time, but I guess that's life with a
> classic computer.  Anybody else have any similar experiences?

I use my RL02s regularly - and had this happen to me once. AFAIK, it 
was "operator error" (ME). I had become somewhat complacent about mounting 
packs - because my RL02s were always so reliable. I dropped a pack in a 
drive, spun it up and heard an "unusual" sound.

As you said, it wasn't a metallic "crash" sound - in fact, I wasn't even sure 
anything was wrong - except I found the pack wouldn't boot. I shut down the 
drive and discovered a "ring" of oxide worn off of the pack. I, too, cleaned 
the heads and tried again with another good, but expendable pack. It got 
zapped as well. I replaced the heads and all has been well since.

Now I'm super careful about mounting packs. If they sound the least 
bit "different" when I initially place them in the drive (that 
initial "thunk" sound) - I remount them.

Since that crash, I've mounted RL02's literally hundreds of times since then 
(several years ago) - and that problem hasn't re-occurred (thank God).

Cheers,
Lyle
-- 
Lyle Bickley
Bickley Consulting West Inc.
Mountain View, CA
http://bickleywest.com

"Black holes are where God is dividing by zero"