I have a ST-251-1 that some computer recycler tried to wreak by removing the cover and ripping a head off. Despite all the damage to the surface I can still get the drive to load an OS and do other test to demonstrate the movements of the drive. I do also have two others that are in good shape.
Interesting how this drive seems to be missing its feedback tracks (slow seek across the whole surface, and knocking onto the bump stop) yet it appear to work just fine otherwhise
This drive is struggling to find its alignment tracks, if a LLF doesn't fix it the problem is likely to be related to the nylon head stop bumper warping over time. You can try re-tensioning the stepper band, but I found filing the stop to be the only effective fix for the problem on my drives. The ST-251 family of drives are fairly fast and reliable for the most part (except for the SCSI variants) but they are a pain to repair compared to other drives from the era.
@@bobjoe2827 I have no real reason to bother. I've got a stack of about 50 of these 200 series drives laying around and just grabbed the first one that took a format to demo.
Good ol' ST-251 and variants, very reliable
@@MyComputerStudios_ Eh about half of my 2 dozen are bad so I'm not so sure about that
I have a ST-251-1 that some computer recycler tried to wreak by removing the cover and ripping a head off. Despite all the damage to the surface I can still get the drive to load an OS and do other test to demonstrate the movements of the drive. I do also have two others that are in good shape.
@@matthewsvideos8235 That's moreso a characteristic of the wildly resilient interface and controllers than the drive itself.
Interesting how this drive seems to be missing its feedback tracks (slow seek across the whole surface, and knocking onto the bump stop) yet it appear to work just fine otherwhise
@@arnlol Indeed, I think these drives do not necessarily require them.
This drive is struggling to find its alignment tracks, if a LLF doesn't fix it the problem is likely to be related to the nylon head stop bumper warping over time. You can try re-tensioning the stepper band, but I found filing the stop to be the only effective fix for the problem on my drives. The ST-251 family of drives are fairly fast and reliable for the most part (except for the SCSI variants) but they are a pain to repair compared to other drives from the era.
@@bobjoe2827 I have no real reason to bother. I've got a stack of about 50 of these 200 series drives laying around and just grabbed the first one that took a format to demo.
Sounds like a badly misaligned track 0 sensor at the beginning
@@Kali_Krause These drives have no track 0 sensor.