Well, that was silly

That doesnt work anymore.

If it wasnt powered when it was dropped, no rush to get the data off if you can get it to spin up again by repairing what broke.

That wouldn't be the case because it was dropped with no power or data connected.

Yes you are.

Yes it is and it is stored on the pcb.

I'm so pleased that it turned out to be the caddy (probably the USB/SATA interface) and not the drive. I'd be cautious about trusting the drive for more than the time it takes to copy off the data, in case there was damage to the drive spindle and/or heads that will take time to manifest itself. At least you've not lost the file and folder changes that you spent time implementing.

I've not seen the single-platter drives in the flat cases about the size of a reel of mag tape, only the multi-platter ones in the case that was about 9" high.

For the first couple of years that I worked at ICL, I sat in an office on the gallery overlooking the machine hall, watching the "worker ants" on the floor below swapping tapes and drives, retrieving paper from line printers and typing away at teletypes and (later) VDUs. I've also vague memories of being taken there in the mid-70s when I was on a course from school that was held at ICL's training headquarters at Old Windsor. Little did I know then that I'd end up working there.

Around 1980 I worked on a TV character generator which was built around a DG Nova minicomputer, and optionally used one or two IBM drives of this kind. Without a drive, it loaded programs and fonts from paper tape, using an optical reader.

Excellent advice, thanks. I plan to replace it with an SSD.

I was mightily relieved when I discovered that, as you can imagine.

Whoops. Already ordered...

All of our 11/34s had a pair of RK05 drives each. Two independent drives, both removable, 2.4MB each on a single (double sided) platter.

Our first UNIX system arrived on three RK05 cartridges in 1975.

The RL drives (RL01 and RL02) came a bit later - 5MB for the RL01 (I think) and 10MB for the RL02.

I have a stack of RL02 cartridges and two RL02 drives.

There wasnt just that drive for the 11/34

If it's worth it you can build a handling cabinet with water or adhesive to filter the air. The op is wasting time, 3 hours work is the easiest option.

There are big mechanical shredders for that, which grind hard drives up. As magnetic erasure, they can't be sure it is erased enough.

Bending a platter, it is unlikely an MFM can "climb a hill" from the bend, and image the platter. It does not take much, to make recovery difficult. A hole in the platter, the head would be destroyed if it hit that.

Shredding a drive, at least that is easy for staff to understand. And that's a start at a method, as it makes the method an obvious one. If your "method" did not leave a mark on the drive, you would have no visual means of certifying the "job was done".

Paul

While that's a tempting plan, remember that *some* drives have a shock sensor, and if you make a warranty claim, they plug in the drive and query the shock sensor to see if you exceeded spec or not. You will receive your broken drive back with a PostIt note indicating "excess shock".

Some warranty claims have been rejected, just by finding scratches on the drive exterior. Which doesn't mean a thing.

If you check the online database, you may be surprised to find the recorded warranty terms, do not match what you were told. Some drives have apparent "shady origins" and the serial number you enter on the web site cannot be found.

Paul

Heating to red heat will destroy any magnetism.

I thought magnetism was recoverable once back under the curie point?

As an aside I have recently stripped 6 failed HDDs down to their platters so I have 12 platters to destroy for data security.

Answers on a postcard please! I have access to a chop saw, angle grinder, flat bed sander, various drills and drill bits....

P.S. I also have MAPP blow torches too....