evans@mhuxt.UUCP (crandall) (01/05/86)
I just went through about 100 disks (a 50/50 mix of Sony and Fuji) looking for bad blocks and came out with no problems. I must be living right. The Mac is a "day 1 barefoot pilgrim" special. I did have the drive checked about 8 months ago - I wasn't having any problems, but felt that I should get something out of my Applecard. For what it is worth I have never cleaned my drive. Steve Crandall ihnp4!mhuxt!evans
carlile@trwrba.UUCP (Donald E. Carlile) (01/07/86)
(This is for the line eater) As a person who does Mac support here, I have had a lot of people come to me with blown disks, though I have never had any personally ( that weren't my own fault :-). I don't have figures, but many of the early ones were due to improper placement of the external drive. As you all know, Apple says never put the external on the left of the Mac or on top. Other than that, I have never been able to figure why some people, and they are consistent, freequently have problems, and others never have. I suspect maybe a cable problem as mentioned in another posting, or more likely magnetics in the environment and habits. Florescent desk lamps have a pretty hefty magnetic field in the base, and the ImageWriter cover has a magnet on the left side. Anybody have other ideas? Don Carlile inhp4!trwrb!trwrba!carlile DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of my employer.
bantz@clio.Uiuc.ARPA (01/21/86)
Why not put the drive on the left? It's that way on my Mac in the office and on one at home. Haven't noticed any problems. (I'm right handed and this leaves room to mouse around on the right side.)
jimb@amdcad.UUCP (Jim Budler) (01/23/86)
In article <5100003@clio> bantz@clio.Uiuc.ARPA writes: > >Why not put the drive on the left? It's that way on my Mac in the office >and on one at home. Haven't noticed any problems. (I'm right handed and >this leaves room to mouse around on the right side.) Your choice. If on the left the disk is near the magnetic fields generated by the transformer in the analog high voltage power supply. This increases the chance of errors on your disk. At least once I have seen Apple quoted as endorsing this as a fact. I don't know if Apple has endorsed it. -- Jim Budler Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (408) 749-5806 Usenet: {ucbvax,decwrl,ihnp4,allegra,intelca}!amdcad!jimb Compuserve: 72415,1200
morse@leadsv.UUCP (Terry Morse) (01/23/86)
In article <5100003@clio>, bantz@clio.Uiuc.ARPA writes: > > Why not put the drive on the left? There are two reasons not to put the disk drive on the left side. 1) That is near the power supply, which has a magnetic field. 2) More importantly, the disk drive will block the air slats at the bottom of the Mac. Free convection across the circuitry may be cut severely. -- Terry Morse (408)743-1487 { hplabs!cae780 } | { ihnp4!sun!sunncal } !leadsv!morse
berry@tolerant.UUCP (David Berry) (01/23/86)
> > Why not put the drive on the left? It's that way on my Mac in the office > and on one at home. Haven't noticed any problems. (I'm right handed and > this leaves room to mouse around on the right side.) It is a bad idea (says Apple, I havn't tried it) to put the drive on the left because of magnetic interference from the power supply. -- David W. Berry {ucbvax,pyramid,idsvax,bene,oliveb}!tolerant!berry I'm only here for the beer.
steves@kepler.UUCP (Steve Schlich) (01/24/86)
In article <5100003@clio> bantz@clio.Uiuc.ARPA writes: > >Why not put the drive on the left? It's that way on my Mac in the office >and on one at home. Haven't noticed any problems. (I'm right handed and >this leaves room to mouse around on the right side.) Because the Mac's power supply is on the left (inside), and the magnetic field generated could be a problem for your disks. -- One town looks very like another / with your head down over your pieces, brother. ---from "One Night in Bangkok" Steve Schlich, MicroPro Product Development {dual,hplabs,glacier,lll-crg}!well!micropro!kepler!steves
shebanow@ernie.BERKELEY.EDU (Mike Shebanow) (01/24/86)
(beware the line eater) To quote from the HD20 manual: "If you prefer to put the hard disk to the side of the Macintosh, place it on the right side. You risk magnetic interference from the Macintosh's power supply and video circuitry if you place the hard disk on the left side of the Macintosh" So Apple does admit that there is interference, at least as far as the HD20 is concerned. I think it is safe to assume that this applies to floppy drives as well. Andrew Shebanow
briand@tekig4.UUCP (Brian Diehm) (01/27/86)
>There are two reasons not to put the disk drive on the left side. > >1) That is near the power supply, which has a magnetic field. > >2) More importantly, the disk drive will block the air slats at the bottom >of the Mac. Free convection across the circuitry may be cut severely. I use several systems with the external drive on the left (since I'm a right- handed mouse user). We have had NO problems from this source. However, most of us maintain about 1 to 2 inches of clearance, both for reasons of field strength and because of cooling. Also, keeping it too close blocks access to the reset/interrupt switches. The point is, you can do it, the cable is long enough, and many people have no trouble. -Brian Diehm Tektronix, Inc.