[vcf-midatlantic] Bernoulli Drives needed in working condition

[Jeffrey Brace]

 <jeffrey at vcfed.org>

On Tue, May 18, 2021 at 5:06 PM Herb Johnson via vcf-midatlantic <
vcf-midatlantic at lists.vcfed.org> wrote:

> This caught my attention, because I likely have a clue about this tech.
>
> http://www.retrotechnology.com/aux/iomega10.html
>
> Are these the 'droids you are looking for?
>

Yes! They are the droids that I'm looking for! And FYI: Jedi mind tricks
don't work with me ;)


> First: the propositions, as stated by Jeff Brace:
>
> > Someone donated two 10x10 Bernoulli drives to VCF. They are in unknown
> > condition. She gave us the manual, a cable and one cartridge. She wants
> to
> > donate the remaining cartridges, but would like to supervise the deletion
> > of the data they have on them. So we need one in working condition first.
>
> and:
>
> > It is payroll data that the couple used for their business for many
> years,
> > so it is quite sensitive.
> First:  this appears to be a legal contract over property and services.
> Not that I'm a lawyer. VCFed Incorporated may wish to examine these
> terms, as Dave McGuire pointed out, and see if the Corporation wishes to
> engage in such contracts with clients. Hint. Hint.
>

Yes, Dave gave us some contract and we are looking to use it out of an
abundance of caution.


> Second: how many carts is this about, anyways? Ebay price - by luck I
> happened to look recently - some tens of dollars each. Point being: why
> spin all our wheels, just over a few carts? And: *are there any in the
> VCFed Inventory already*? Just a thought.
>

There are about 30 to 40 cartridges, maybe 50. I had them give me one for
testing purposes because I'm pretty certain that VCF *doesn't* have any of
these. Tony and the Inventory Committee would know better than me, but I
have never seen any in the warehouse.

Related: "two 10X10 drives" is ambiguous. Is it one cabinet with two
> drives, as per my unit? That's my guess, and I show an example.
>

It is two cabinets with two drives per unit. So two units like the one that
you have. One is labeled "working", but who knows when it was last working.


> Third: I see no "data recovery" in these terms, as suggested in the
> chatter. Just data security. So: let the client keep the carts, if they
> choose to destroy them, that would be sad. But that solves the problem,
> no. further. fuss. needed. That's my recommendation.


She wanted to destroy the cartridges. I didn't have time to research how
rare they were, so I asked if we could have them. Then she said that there
was payroll data that she wanted deleted. She wanted to go through the data
herself and delete it herself once we got the drives working.


=========================================
Jeff Brace
Vice President & Board Member
Vintage Computer Festival East Show-runner
Vintage Computer Federation is a 501c3 charity
http://www.vcfed.org/
jeffrey at vcfed.org