You needed two guys to physically "mount" a hard drive and you needed hearing protection when it spun up...
I either fix it or break it permanently... there is no try.
Ahh, an IBM diskpack.
But do you have the ginormous mainframe that goes with it?
wierd_w wrote on 2026-03-31, 22:43:But do you have the ginormous mainframe that goes with it?
Sadly I have neither all these years later, but anyone that claims to have such a setup (especially working) gets instant nerd cred from me.
If I remember correctly some of that hardware required a 3 phase power hook up.
I either fix it or break it permanently... there is no try.
My dad used to tell me about throwing cylinder packs in the back of a wagon and driving them across town for an insurance company
98/DOS Rig: BabyAT AladdinV, K6-2+/550, V3 2000, 128MB PC100, 20GB HDD, 128GB SD2IDE, SB Live!, SB16-SCSI, PicoGUS, WP32 McCake, iNFRA CD, ZIP100
XP Rig: Lian Li PC-10 ATX, Gigabyte X38-DQ6, Core2Duo E6850, ATi HD5870, 2GB DDR2, 2TB HDD, X-Fi XtremeGamer
I didn't personally have any of the really-big iron (worked on it a lot over the years, IBM System 360, 370, 3032,3033 etc)
But up until a few years ago I had LOTs of really old computer systems in my basement, including some "mid iron"... Not mainframes, but minis, PDP-11, Vax etc.
But... In downsizing to move closer to healthcare (I'm too old to keep living deep rural), I've found new homes for most of it.
I did try to document it as I collected it over the years - check out "Daves Old Computers"
- Dave ; https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ; "Daves Old Computers" ; SW dev addict best known:
ImageDisk: rd/wr ANY floppy PChardware can ; Micro-C: compiler for DOS+ManySmallCPU ; DDLINK: simple/small FileTrans(w/o netSW)via Lan/Lpt/Serial
Isn’t it funny that the physical configuration of that monster in the 1st post is instantly recognisable as any spinning rust you’ll find today.
One or more platters offset at one end of a board hosting the circuitry.
A while back I looked at an IBM microdrive out of an old MP3 player - the same layout but in extreme miniature. It’s sort of marvellous.
Spark wrote on 2026-04-01, 10:08:Isn’t it funny that the physical configuration of that monster in the 1st post is instantly recognisable as any spinning rust you’ll find today.
One or more platters offset at one end of a board hosting the circuitry.
A while back I looked at an IBM microdrive out of an old MP3 player - the same layout but in extreme miniature. It’s sort of marvellous.
Agreed...
DaveDDS wrote on 2026-04-01, 03:34:mainframes, but minis, PDP-11, Vax etc.
Speaking of.... Nerd Cred Giveth....
https://hackaday.com/2026/03/30/pdp-11-lives- … desk-once-more/
I either fix it or break it permanently... there is no try.
NeoG_ wrote on 2026-04-01, 02:20:My dad used to tell me about throwing cylinder packs in the back of a wagon and driving them across town for an insurance company
Never underestimate the bandwidth of a wagon full of disk packs barreling down a freeway.
