From: bbreynolds@aol.comskipthis (Bruce B. Reynolds) Newsgroups: alt.folklore.computers Subject: Big Destructo Drives: was Re: PDP-10 Emulator Lines: 63 NNTP-Posting-Host: ladder05.news.aol.com X-Admin: news@aol.com Date: 19 May 2000 00:58:47 GMT References: <3923A91F.35469A6F@dallas.net> Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com X-Newsreader: Session Scheduler Message-ID: <20000518205847.23178.00000141@nso-fz.aol.com> Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!News.Amsterdam.UnisourceCS!skynet.be!newsfeed.skycache.com!Cidera!152.163.239.131!portc03.blue.aol.com!audrey04.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Xref: chonsp.franklin.ch alt.folklore.computers:56630 In article <3923A91F.35469A6F@dallas.net>, Charles Richmond writes: >> While not as large as some drums, there are examples of single disk >> platters 1.25 meters in diameter. These were usually head-per-track >> drives, used for swapping. At one point, a platter from such a drive >> was turned into a coffee table at SAIL. >> >> I have heard of such a drive getting disturbed, and shedding a >> platter. Since I haven't heard any more details, I assume it was an >> urban legend. (neat story, had it leaving thru a concrete wall) >> >Could you be refering to Bryant disk drives??? My understanding is that >the Bryant drive had one huge platter in the range of 1.25 meters across. >This platter spun verically instead of horizontally, and it did spin >fairly fast. I have heard stories of these platters getting loose and >cutting through walls, etc. IMHO this is *not* an urban legend... > Perhaps you're thinking of my posting to a.f.c. in 1997: +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Subj: From an Old Thread Date: 97-01-13 10:31:44 EST From: BBReynolds To: beeej@juno.com, rljnjld@sierratel.com CC: BBReynolds From the thread on alt.folklore.computers: ======================================================== Subject: Re: NCR 315 with CRAM: Was CRAM what it sounded like? From: bob jackson Date: Sun, 08 Dec 1996 01:01:57 -0800 I worked on a machine in the late 70s that had two head per track disks. Each held 100MB, huge in those days. IIRC the transfer rate was around 25MB/sec. The platters were 31", mounted on a 6" diameter spindle. There were 512 heads per surface, 16 surfaces per module. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Bob Jackson beeej@juno.com rljnjld@sierratel.com Dovie'andi se tovya sagain ------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================= By any chance, a Burroughs system? The B3500 at Long Binh RVN had six units, each with two head-per-track platters of about the size you describe, spinning on a horizontal axle. One day, the bearings seized on on of the units, breaking the cast metal A-frame. The twin platters spun out of the inner glass or Plexiglas case, through the steel cabinet, across the computer room floor, cut through the sheet steel wall of the building, and buried themselves in the sand bags surrounding the building. Somewhere in an old desk drawer, I have one of the head units from the unit. -- Bruce B. Reynolds, Independent/Legacy Systems Consultant: Trailing Edge Technologies, Glenside PA---Sweeping Up Behind Data Processing Dinosaurs