[Coco] Replacement for possible bad AT 286 hard drive subsystem

[Stephen H. Fischer]

> Some times the older drives will freeze after years of sitting.

Actually being off for a hour can cause the drive stiction (Drive will not 
spin).

I hit my Seagate so many times that when it finally failed I opened it up 
and the head was following the arm with just one wire connected.

The proper method I learned many years later was to place the drive on the 
floor and spin it with your hand.

SHF

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Spencer via Coco" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
To: "Salvador Garcia via Coco" <coco at maltedmedia.com>
Cc: "Spencer" <spencerjar at yahoo.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 20, 2017 6:46 PM
Subject: Re: [Coco] Replacement for possible bad AT 286 hard drive subsystem


> Run fdisk to see if it sees the HDD. If it does that's good; fdisk for 
> partitions; format it; install DOS. If fdisk doesn't see it can you tell 
> if the HDD spins up? The older drives will almost sound like a toy jet 
> taking off. Some times the older drives will freeze after years of 
> sitting. If it's not spinning you can resurrect them sometimes. I've 
> simply taken the drives out and shake them a little back and forth. Also 
> go into the cmos and make sure you see it there - actually do this before 
> you run fdisk. If not add it or try an auto-detect if the system can do so 
> then fdisk. If no auto-detect add the specs on the face plate label of the 
> HDD. If no label you add ad-lib specs. Resurrecting old systems are a lot 
> of fun; you may find yourself determined to get it running. For parts 
> ebay; likely you'll find parts. Blow out the system real well.
>