denbeste@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Steven Den Beste) (08/15/87)
With the rash of "my disk drive has quit working" reports I have read here
recently, I thought it might be appropriate to issue a warning about
something that can cause a lot of grief.
DO NOT SMOKE NEAR YOUR COMPUTER. The smoke (which is small oily
particles suspended in the air) will settle in the drives and foul the heads.
It can be corrected with a head-cleaning kit, but it still isn't a good idea.
--
Steven C. Den Beste
Bolt Beranek & Newman, Cambridge MA
denbeste@bbn.com (ARPA or CSNET or UUCP)
harvard!bbn.com!denbeste (UUCP)farren@hoptoad.uucp (Mike Farren) (08/16/87)
In article <351@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> denbeste@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Steven Den Beste) writes: > >With the rash of "my disk drive has quit working" reports I have read here >recently, I thought it might be appropriate to issue a warning about >something that can cause a lot of grief. > >DO NOT SMOKE NEAR YOUR COMPUTER. The smoke (which is small oily >particles suspended in the air) will settle in the drives and foul the heads. > >It can be corrected with a head-cleaning kit, but it still isn't a good idea. While not smoking IS a good idea, in general, I would say "take this with a grain of salt". I am a smoker, and my at-home computer room is not a smoke- free area by any means, and I have never had a problem with any of the drives in any of my computers. Not to say it can't happen, but I think the probablility is low. At work, on the other hand, I don't smoke around the computers or the non-smokers. None of them have failed, either. -- ---------------- "... if the church put in half the time on covetousness Mike Farren that it does on lust, this would be a better world ..." hoptoad!farren Garrison Keillor, "Lake Wobegon Days"
billd@crash.CTS.COM (Bill D'Camp) (08/17/87)
In article <2756@hoptoad.uucp> farren@hoptoad.UUCP (Mike Farren) writes: >In article <351@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM> denbeste@cc5.bbn.com.BBN.COM (Steven Den Beste) writes: >> >>With the rash of "my disk drive has quit working" reports I have read here >>recently, I thought it might be appropriate to issue a warning about >>something that can cause a lot of grief. >> >>DO NOT SMOKE NEAR YOUR COMPUTER. The smoke (which is small oily >>particles suspended in the air) will settle in the drives and foul the heads. >> >>It can be corrected with a head-cleaning kit, but it still isn't a good idea. > >While not smoking IS a good idea, in general, I would say "take this with a >grain of salt". I am a smoker, and my at-home computer room is not a smoke- >free area by any means, and I have never had a problem with any of the >drives in any of my computers. (deleted a couple of lines) Not too suprising, while smoke particles are quite large, generally bigger around than a human hair, I would be quite surprised to find them doing much damage to floppies, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT I ENDORSE SMOKING AT ANY TIME. But if you must it probably won't hurt your drive. > At work, on the other hand, I don't smoke around the >computers or the non-smokers. None of them have failed, either. Unless you have SMD type drives, smoke is unlikely to do much damage to them. It's when them large smoke particles run into those flying heads that the problems arise. Digital Equipment Corporation includes a diagram showing the relative sizes of various things which can damage such drives and illustrating the distance between the head and the surface of the disk, you'd be surprised what things are large enough to cause problems. >Mike Farren that it does on lust, this would be a better world ..." >hoptoad!farren Garrison Keillor, "Lake Wobegon Days" -- _ /| Fundamentally Oral Bill \`o_O' UUCP: {akqua,hplabs!hp-sdd,sdcsvax,nosc}crash!billd ( ) Aachk! Phft! ARPA: crash!billd@nosc.mil U INET: billd@crash.CTS.COM