PDP11/23+ goes on (and submission for FAQ)

[Joe R.]

At 01:57 PM 6/18/05 -0700, you wrote:
>On Sat, 18 Jun 2005, Philipp Hachtmann wrote:
>
>> thank you all for the tips around my harddrive desaster. Next time I
will be 
>> wiser.
>> I have cleaned my removable disk's heads. Used isopropanol and a match.
>> Tried the crashed disk pack, crashed again immediately. Had to clean one
head 
>> again. Took another pack. No crash, no error display etc. Hope that it
stays 
>> ok.
>
>You're very lucky!
>
>Even though you are not having a problem now, I would spend $50 on
>real cleaning materials. Here's what I suggest (others will
>suggest other things). Mail order this stuff, you're unlikely to
>find it retail (though Fry's Electronics here in Fornicalia
>carries some of this stuff):
>
>* 99% anhydrous alcohol -- NOT drug-store alcohol. About $7/quart
>* KIM wipes or equiv 100% lint free bonded/tangle-weave wipes. $10
>* Nylon-covered, fat foam swabs on sticks. $5/$10
>* Craft sticks $5
>* Disposable nylon gloves $?
>* can of "air" (photo supply store) $10
>
>(The gloves I was never able to find less than 1000 quantity; I
>used non-powdered 8-mil latex, and washed them with
>alcohol/kimwipes after I put them on. However flawed, it's gotta
>beat oily finger prints. Cotton gloves are lint generators, might
>as well use dryer lint.)

    I never used gloves when when I worked on disk drives but I do wash my
hands frequently and I always wash them before working on any electronics.
However I do know that there are people who's hands are acidic or salty or
something and everything that they touch  corrodes. If you're one of those
people then you should use glooves.  YMMV.

    Also you need to very careful about compressed air. First it needs to
be DRY air or nitrogen otherwise it will spit water unto what you're
cleaning. Also compressed air can easily damage the gimbal springs on a
drive head and it should never be used there.

   My $.02 worth,
    Joe


>
>
>You need to clean the platters of the GOOD disks, before the
>become CRASHED disks. Here's how I did it:
>
>Before you start prep first. It takes 3 - 5 minutes.
>
>Using window cleaner or other simple cleaner, wipe off the
>exterior of the disk drive, disk pack, the table or whatever
>you will work on, and wash all you tools. Clean everything 
>you'll be touching or will be near.  NO DUST.
>
>Lay a few sheets of clean, unused paper on the table. If you end
>up with something delicate in your hand you'll ahve a place to put
>it. The alternative is juggling or dropping it. (This is a car
>trick but it's cheap and easy.)
>
>Get access to a pack.
>
>With gloved hands, dampen folded kimwipes (alcohol) and wipe
>gently the parts you can reach. For hard-to reach use the swabs,
>or wrap 2 - 3 kimwipes on a craft stick, tie a cut strip of
>kimwipe to hold it on, pour alcohol on it, and wipe the platter
>surface. Obviously I'm assuming you've wrapped it such that
>there's no danger of wood rubbing on the platter, only kimwipe.
>
>Repeat until the kimwipe is SPOTLESS WHITE.
>
>Shine a bright! light down the platter edgewise; look hard for
>lint standing up. If rare, blow 'em off with canned air. If "many"
>clean again. Repeat until spotless.
>
>Clean the heads again; on my DG drive I found the
>kimwipe-on-craft-stick thing worked great.
>
>Mount the platter, find the switch that disables head load (it
>iwll have one; I had to disassemble the drive cabinet to expose
>the guts and flip the switch.) With head load disabled, and
>assuming the disk filter is clean, power up and spin up the drive.
>
>Data General suggest ONE FULL HOUR of purge (as they call it). THe
>platter is spinning at 1800 rpm or so, there's a dozen specks of
>dust on there you'll never find. If the platter is otherwise clean
>and not sticky (the reason for all the alcohol!) it'll fling off
>in that hour.
>
>
>