David Roode <ROODE@SRI-NIC.ARPA> (02/02/85)
I brought up the issue of RA81 reliability with the DEC disk specialist installing our new RA81 drives today. This disk specialist is known to me to be an above average DEC field service engineer. He stated that there is a known problem that results from poor attention to Preventive Maintenance. The RA81 includes a spindle ground device which tends to flake off with age and to contaminate the HDA. If the ground device is attended to regularly, much better results can be attained. I pass this along in the even it explains some sites' poor experience. He stated that the problem has been described in recent "Tech Tips" and all field engineers should be aware of it. -------