I have a couple Macintosh external drives that aren't working properly. Would it be the right venue to bring them to VCF East to the class? Or should I wait for a repair workshop? Thanks, Eric On Wed, Apr 17, 2019 at 12:36 PM Dave McGuire via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
On 4/17/19 11:46 AM, Jason Perkins via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Another issue we'll run into is servo tracks, and no way to re-create them once they fade. With the software / fixtures only available at the factory I don't know how we could recreate those tools.
First you'd need to first determine the exact format of the servo tracks. Keep in mind that they may not be "digital" tracks. If the format cannot be determined from patent info, etc, then the only choice might be to temporarily disassemble a functioning drive of the same model, identify the servo head (assuming a dedicated head for early drives), connect it to a signal processing chain and then digitize it.
In fact, that's probably something that should be done sooner rather than later, for some makes and models of drives that are dropping like flies now.
Then it should be possible to synthesize those waveforms and lay them back down on the platter.
Not easy, of course, but similar things have been done by smart and motivated people with, say, QIC tapes. (I'm looking at YOU, AJ!)
-Dave
-- Dave McGuire, AK4HZ New Kensington, PA