HPE GreenLake Administration
- Community Home
- >
- Storage
- >
- Legacy
- >
- Disk
- >
- Internal tech specs on old scsi hdds
Disk
1833467
Members
3995
Online
110052
Solutions
Forums
Categories
Company
Local Language
back
Forums
Discussions
Forums
- Data Protection and Retention
- Entry Storage Systems
- Legacy
- Midrange and Enterprise Storage
- Storage Networking
- HPE Nimble Storage
Discussions
Forums
Discussions
Discussions
Discussions
Forums
Discussions
back
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
- BladeSystem Infrastructure and Application Solutions
- Appliance Servers
- Alpha Servers
- BackOffice Products
- Internet Products
- HPE 9000 and HPE e3000 Servers
- Networking
- Netservers
- Secure OS Software for Linux
- Server Management (Insight Manager 7)
- Windows Server 2003
- Operating System - Tru64 Unix
- ProLiant Deployment and Provisioning
- Linux-Based Community / Regional
- Microsoft System Center Integration
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Discussion Boards
Blogs
Information
Community
Resources
Community Language
Language
Forums
Blogs
Topic Options
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Mark Topic as New
- Mark Topic as Read
- Float this Topic for Current User
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Printer Friendly Page
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
12-13-2000 04:00 PM
12-13-2000 04:00 PM
Internal tech specs on old scsi hdds
I recently had to destroy some old scsi drives taken from a VAX workstation used here at work. We were required to permanently wipe the contents of the drive, and to do this disassemble the drive and wave a magnet over the drive platters.
2 of the drives this was done to were full-height 5.25" scsi hdds, one 330MB and one 600MB. I don't have the exact model numbers, unfortunately. One drive was built by DEC, one by another maker, but very similar construction inside. Inside the drive, the mechanism that moves the read-write head was driven by a coiled wire (electromagnet) inside an enclosure with 2 rather powerful permanent magnets. It's a very interesting mechanism, and I've had some fun playing with it.
I was wondering if it would be possible to get some information on the types of magnets used, construction, materials, and that sort of thing.
Anyone able to give me some pointers or places to look?
Tim
2 of the drives this was done to were full-height 5.25" scsi hdds, one 330MB and one 600MB. I don't have the exact model numbers, unfortunately. One drive was built by DEC, one by another maker, but very similar construction inside. Inside the drive, the mechanism that moves the read-write head was driven by a coiled wire (electromagnet) inside an enclosure with 2 rather powerful permanent magnets. It's a very interesting mechanism, and I've had some fun playing with it.
I was wondering if it would be possible to get some information on the types of magnets used, construction, materials, and that sort of thing.
Anyone able to give me some pointers or places to look?
Tim
3 REPLIES 3
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
12-19-2000 04:00 PM
12-19-2000 04:00 PM
Re: Internal tech specs on old scsi hdds
Don't have that kind of information available on them... Especially as old as they must be.
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
01-02-2001 04:00 PM
01-02-2001 04:00 PM
Re: Internal tech specs on old scsi hdds
The mechanism is a voice-coil actuator, so called because it moves the heads in a similar way to how the cone is moved in a speaker. It replaces the older stepper motor method of moving the read heads. All modern drives use voice coil actuators AFAIK.
Ray
Ray
- Mark as New
- Bookmark
- Subscribe
- Mute
- Subscribe to RSS Feed
- Permalink
- Report Inappropriate Content
01-05-2001 04:00 PM
01-05-2001 04:00 PM
Re: Internal tech specs on old scsi hdds
Voice coil mechanisms also have the nice feature of being auto-parking. When power is cut off, the drive heads move back to the landing zone. Something that's very handy.
Remember being admonished to use the "park" utilities before shutting down your old MFM/RLL hard drives?
Remember being admonished to use the "park" utilities before shutting down your old MFM/RLL hard drives?
The opinions expressed above are the personal opinions of the authors, not of Hewlett Packard Enterprise. By using this site, you accept the Terms of Use and Rules of Participation.
Company
Events and news
Customer resources
© Copyright 2025 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP