I’d just like to say that 25 years ago, RD53’s were *EVIL*. I do have one that I should try taking apart. I failed to back it up the first time I powered it on. It didn’t boot the second time.
ESDI or SCSI is the way to go, at least that was true 20-25 years ago. Today I’d be inclined to say SCSI is the way to go. Zane > On Feb 3, 2023, at 7:48 PM, Chris Zach via cctalk <cctalk@classiccmp.org> > wrote: > > Some thoughts on this day of working on MFM drives: > > 1) MFM drives are just going bad. They were always kind of meh in terms of > reliability, but I think even since 2019 (the last time I checked these > drives) things have gotten worse. Drives which were readable and good then > are now either shot or throwing errors and they have had an easy 3+ years in > my upstairs room. > > 2) There are at least two RQDX3 ROM sets. The earlier one does not support > the RX33 floppy and doesn't give any info during formatting. The later > version (Version 4) does support the RX33 and is a lot nicer. > > 3) Seagate drives seem to be pretty good, especially the 20mb ones. They have > no problems, work well, and are pretty right-sized for an RT11 system. > > 4) RD53 drives are weird. Their main failure is the drive head positioner > just gets stuck and needs to be worked loose. Unfortunately that requires > removing the lid. Fortunately there is a good filter in the drive along with > an air handler that runs air from inside the drive body through the filter, > then into the spindle where it is blown over the heads. Result is a pretty > clean drive on the inside and so far opening the lid doesn't seem to be a > recipe for instant destruction. Go figure. > > I may try an RD53 in one of my Pro/380's. It's about time I loaded up the > final version of P/OS, as I can use the Gotek floppy to load everything > instead of screwing with the RX50's. Or can I do that and switch disks on the > fly with a single Gotek... Hm. > > 5) For anything bigger, it's time to retire the MFM drives. Unlike RL02's > these things just were not that reliable when new and at this point are kind > of falling apart. I have not had any trouble with the ESDI disks, but it > might just be a matter of time. Perhaps I should look into duplexing my 330mb > CDC drive in the 11/84.... > > CZ
