I feel incredibly lucky that my SE's original 20 MB hard drive is still functioning, but I'm wondering how common this really is? It's lasted much longer than drives that I've bought in the 2000s and 2010s. Am I a unicorn? Are these older drives really more durable? I have a sample size of one and want more data.
How common is it for a compact Mac from the 80s to still have a functioning internal hard drive?
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saybur
Well-known member
Feels like it is very dependent on how the computer was stored. Drives that work fine seem to be more common in computers that are clean, less yellowed, etc... climate controlled storage basically. Most of the drives in systems I've gotten out of sheds/barns/whatever are dead. Obviously there are exceptions. On average it feels like a coin toss whether any given drive will work or not without fussing with it.
Yeah, all my Macs have working spinning disc hard drives in them. Most are not original, but I only pull the originals because 20-40MB is not enough for my liking, not because they died. The smallest one I have in service is the Quantum 80MB on the Plus. Most of the rest have been replaced with 1GB and larger drives, the newest of which I would imagine is still 25-30 years old. I still have the smaller working ones, they just aren’t being used in anything these days.
volvo242gt
Well-known member
The SE that I had in the spring and summer of 2023 was running a Miniscribe that worked fine. I still decided to swap it out with something more useful, size-wise. Dropped in a good working 230MB Quantum. Sold it as a 4/230 config, running 6.0.8. Got it as a 2.5/20, running System 7.1, which I did not expect to work with the lack of memory.
cheesestraws
Well-known member
Totally unscientific anecdata: most of the drives I've received that have ~ two digit capacities have been robust, don't think I've ever had a dead 40 or 80 meg drive that hasn't had something catastrophic happen to it. I have, however, had multiple dead in the 200-500 odd range. Best hypothesis is that this is another thing where the chunkier mechanisms for lower data densities are less fragile, which seems reasonable - but I can't rule out that it's something else like the chunkier compact chassis protecting the discs better than the desktop cases which tended to come with larger discs.
Byrd
Well-known member
Have come across plenty of early dead SCSI HDs, some low hours, others supposedly reliable models, it's just luck of the draw. They're keepers if you find one now that's quiet and without bad blocks and will probably keep going for many more years. If not, there are enough solid state solutions to keep things running.
ArmorAlley
Well-known member
I have about 6 Macs from the 1980s (with my IIfx getting an honourable inclusion and 4 (out of 5) of them had working, original/period-replacements that still work. the IIfx came with a massive, double-height 500MB HD that worked the last time I checked it.
What worries me more, though, are the floppy drives. I still haven't learn't how to grease them and I'll miss them when they are gone.
What worries me more, though, are the floppy drives. I still haven't learn't how to grease them and I'll miss them when they are gone.
There is at least one very good video that walks through the process of disassembling and cleaning 3.5" Sony drives. It's really quite simple if you take your time. I've probably done a dozen to this point with no problems or unintended damage.
