hard disk 20

[Macintoshguy1984]

I found a hard disk 20 on a auction site and am able to pick it up if i win the auction. The auction says that it has  cosmetic wear. It Powers on.  And say it Runs quite. Flashing green light for a few seconds, then turns solid. Cooling fan works. What are the chances it would work?

 

[unity]

I find this post ironic since I just asked about failure rates.

https://68kmla.org/forums/index.php?/topic/29308-hd20-failure-rate/

But based on what you are saying, its acting normal. If the green light went out, for example, I would suspect a problem. But the behavior your describe is how they function. Flashing is usually during spin-up, then solid when ready.

 

[Macintoshguy1984]

Ok thanks, what are the chances it whould't work?

 

[unity]

Give that it seems to power up properly, I would say good. But until its fully tested, one can never be certain. Thats the gamble with vintage hardware. You need to determine if the risk is worth it. I just bought a small label printer. Its NOS but I could not get it working, found some broken gears from brittle old plastic. There is a 7-day return from seller, but Im not going to bother. Its old, not worth the trouble. I will just order another and reenforce the gears before firing it up. Part of the problem is a lot can happen in shipping.

 

[Macintoshguy1984]

Shipping is one of the big problems, but luckily the seller lives near me so maybe i could pick it up

 

[Anonymous Freak]

I've acquired three over the years.  Only one was fully working, even though all three power up, have the light turn on, and the drive platters spin.

One of the broken ones appears to have dead drive electronics - while the platters do spin up, it doesn't identify to the system AT ALL. And yes, having three of them, I tried moving around various bits of electronics - no good.  The drive electronics on that one are dead.

The other broken one identifies itself to the system, but fails all checks/formats/etc.

 

[Macintoshguy1984]

What is wrong with the other 2

 

[techknight]

I have found 2 over the years. The first one worked and I gave it away, the 2nd one works as well. 

 

[Juror22]

If you have the option of picking it up, I would suggest doing that.  Shipping is a nightmare with these older pieces, no matter how well they are packed and picking it up, allows you to control one of the variables.